History of The Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation
In 1983, Rear Admiral (USN, Ret.) and U.S. Senator from Alabama, Jeremiah A. Denton, founded the National Forum Foundation (NFF), (renamed in January 2004, the Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation or AJDF) which was dedicated to issues regarding national security, the concept of One Nation under God, the institution of the family, welfare reform, and peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs.
The NFF, a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, has sponsored hundreds of conferences, press briefings and congressional seminars on a wide variety of domestic and international public policy issues.
The NFF was a major factor in stemming the tide of communism in Central America. The NFF held many widely reported seminars with bi-partisan participation, and many behind-the-scenes meetings with congressional members of both major political parties who sat together with such individuals as Pedro Chamorra, then the editor of La Prensa, the courageous newspaper in Nicaragua, and Archbishop Obando y Bravo (now Cardinal). These meetings provided both men the opportunity to present the truth of what was going on in Nicaragua to the leaders of our country. This helped turn the tide in Congress, which under Carter had been giving U.S. aid to the Sandinistas (communists) in Nicaragua. Nicaragua, with Cuban and Russian prompting and aid, was pinging on El Salvador with military force and was intimidating other nearby nations such as Costa Rica and Honduras. Though it appeared at the time (early 80’s) that we were losing ground in these countries, the influence of the NFF along with that of Senator Denton assisted President Reagan in turning around this explosive situation.
While in the U.S. Senate, Denton used the NFF to rally bipartisan support for many of the successful pieces of legislation which he originated and managed on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Click legislation on left menu for examples.
After Jeremiah Denton concluded his two year (1988) stint as Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Merchant Marine and Defense, he retired and James S. Denton, his son, who had been serving as Executive Director took over as President of NFF.
In 1989 and 1990 NFF organized delegations of election observers in Poland and Nicaragua. In February 1992 NFF organized workshops in Prague on "The Commercialization of the Media in Central Europe." Taught by U.S. media managers, the seminars focused on such issues as sales techniques, budgeting and business planning, distribution, and advertising.
In January 1990 NFF launched a major program to bring legislators, journalists and entrepreneurs from Central and Eastern Europe to the U.S. for three-month training fellowships. The program, which has since expanded its pool of applicants to the Baltic states, Russia and Ukraine, ahs placed more than 160 emerging leaders in practical internships with such offices as: Time magazine, CNN, the American Stock Exchange, U.S. Senator John McCain, the presidential campaigns of George Bush and Bill Clinton, the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and the Minnesota office of tourism. Recent fellows have included St. Petersburg City Council member, Dr. Sergei Brezinsky and Yuri Lukanov, information director of Rukh. Most interns are relatively young people who have demonstrated 'their capabilities and their potential to affect the transition underway in their respective countries." All participants are fluent in English and have been chosen following a highly competitive selection process.
In October 1991 NFF initiated a new program, American Volunteers for International Development (AVID), which by the end of 1992 had placed about 40 Americans and volunteers for 3 to 12 months to work with their counterparts in government, business, and independent media organizations in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. AVID volunteers have worked at the Investicni Banka in Prague, Krakow TV, and the Institute of Social and Economic Problems in Kiev.
In 1997, by mutual agreement James became Executive Director of the Freedoms Foundation, and Jeremiah came out of retirement and resumed the Presidency of NFF. James took the European programs he had started with NFF to Freedoms Foundation. Jeremiah immediately made TRANSFORM the first new program of NFF, and in 2000 introduced the One Nation under God program.
In January 2004, the name of the National Forum Foundation was changed to the Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation (AJDF). That year was also the first year that AJDF became a member of the "Combined Federal Campaign".