The Mansfield Legacy and Its Enduring Lessons

Senator Mansfield’s legacy of service points us toward fidelity to our Constitution, our fellow citizens, and a shared set of values. That legacy—the Mansfield Way—is defined by humility, respect, integrity, and bipartisanship. While Mansfield has been gone for twenty years, his legacy as a Senator from Montana is still recognized and celebrated with reverence and affection. His life of service reveals the essential and everlasting values upon which the life of the Constitution and American democracy depend.

Founded by an Act of Congress in 1983, the Mansfield Center fosters globally minded leaders of integrity in honor of the legacy of Senator Mike Mansfield and his wife, Maureen Hayes Mansfield. We honor their legacy of patriotic statesmanship to bridge divides from a variety of perspectives, unified by our love of country and commitment to democracy.

“We must, finally, as each generation must, pledge ourselves anew to freedom and rededicate ourselves to its survival and growth.”
-Senator Mike Mansfield

Event Schedule

• SEPTEMBER 14th:How to Depolarize American Democracy with Larry Diamond, Global Democracy Expert visiting from Stanford University.
• SEPTEMBER 27th:Lessons from the Edge: A moderated conversation with former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch about her best-selling memoir, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and current U.S. policy. 
• OCTOBER 9th:Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Korea-U.S. Alliance Part I: Democracies Bolstering Global Security.
• OCTOBER 26th: China’s Global Activities: Growing Threat or Failure? with Josh Kurlantzick, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
• NOVEMBER 13th: A Shared Commitment to Further Deepen the Japan-U.S. Alliance in a New Era with His Excellency Noriyuki SHIKATA, Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs under Prime Minister Fumio KISHIDA.
• NOVEMBER 16th: A Montana Legacy: Mansfield's Fidelity to Bipartisanship, Integrity and Ethical Leadership with Marc Johnson, author and historian, and Marc Racicot, former Governor of Montana.
• NOVEMBER 30th: A Conversation on Myth, Misperception, and Reality in the West with Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of "True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America," Chris La Tray, Métis Storyteller and Montana Poet Laureate, and Kathleen McLaughlin, Montana journalist and author of "Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America's Blood Industry."

Thank You

Thank you to all who joined in the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Congress’s founding of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center. Our anniversary series brings citizens together to embrace our collective responsibilities in recognition that our way of life, our freedom, and our democracy cannot exist without our union.

Our nation is facing challenges not seen in generations and many are increasingly concerned about American democracy. A strong and enduring democratic republic is not a natural default setting; it is only sustained by our constant caretaking and renewed dedication as citizens. Montana’s Mike Mansfield, the longest serving Senate Majority Leader, understood this, and his example provides a North Star for the preservation of our constitutional democracy and its institutions.

“To me the preservation of our country and our democracy are of paramount importance and I feel that we are now engaged in a life and death struggle––a struggle for existence.”
- Senator Mike Mansfield