The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region has announced that Ken Khachigian will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 ANCA-WR Annual Banquet for his decades of work as an American campaign strategist, political speechwriter and attorney, Asbarez reported.
Ronald Reagan became the first sitting U.S. president to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide while Khachigian was his speechwriter.
Khachigian is best remembered for his tenure as speechwriter in the Nixon and Reagan administrations. He has served as an advisor in nine presidential campaigns. In addition to his work on the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush-Quayle campaigns, he most recently served as a senior advisor to the presidential campaigns of Bob Dole in 1996; John McCain in 2000; and Fred Thompson in 2008.
“With this award, we are recognizing Ken Khachigian for his invaluable contribution to Hai Tahd and American politics throughout the last 40 years,” said ANCA-WR Chairman Andrew Kzirian. “Among his many other achievements, Khachigian proved that the pen is mightier than the sword, succeeding in bringing the history of the Armenian people and most importantly the truth of the Armenian Genocide to the mainstream public consciousness.”
Currently, Khachigian serves on the boards of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance; the California Chamber of Commerce; the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation; the UCSB Foundation; and Campaigns & Elections Magazine.
