Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the Dean of Belmont University’s college of Law. Gonzales currently is the highest-ranking Hispanic American who has served in an executive position in the United States government.
He started his political career in Texas, when then-Governor George W. Bush appointed him as his general council in 1994. Gonzales consequently served as Secretary of State of Texas in 1997 and was named to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999. In 2001, he started working as White House Counsel under President George W. Bush and was appointed by the President as U.S. Attorney General in 2005.
With such strong roots in Texas and D.C., The Contributor wanted to know what brought Gonzales to Nashville.
“Coming to Nashville was purely by chance,” Gonzales said, adding that his son was looking at faith-based colleges including Lipscomb, Trevecca, and Belmont. “My wife normally took him to college visits, but she was sick, so I brought him.”
Belmont University had just launched its College of Law and when founding Dean Jeff Kinsler heard that Gonzales had been on campus, he reached out and inquired whether Gonzales would be interested in teaching at their brand-new law school. Gonzales said no, he had no intention of leaving Texas. Kinsler persisted, Gonzales’ son chose to go to Belmont, and Gonzales himself got offered a job at a local law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, which is now Holland & Knight.
So, he and his wife moved to Nashville, and Gonzales also started teaching at Belmont’s new College of Law. Two years later, he became the Dean.
You have been closely involved in state and federal politics. What are some of the biggest lessons you would like to share with our readers from that time?
I’ve been very fortunate. First of all, let me just say I’ve had some incredible opportunities primarily at the hands of George W. Bush. As you might imagine, [I’m] very grateful. I’m a big fan of his and his family.
I had a great salary working in a private firm in Texas before he became governor. Then I realized being in public service is rewarding, perhaps not in terms of a salary but certainly rewarding in terms of experiences and satisfaction, knowing that you’re doing something for the benefit of others. The main thing I learned about my service is how challenging it can be. I worked in the White House during 9/11, of course, so I know how difficult public service can be.
I talk to our students here at Belmont a lot about public service, about the fact that you have a lifetime to make money. Try to dedicate a few years of your career to public service, because it is so rewarding. I warn them, however, that it can be challenging. Sometimes, even when you make the right decisions, you’re going to be criticized. You’re going to make mistakes. If you think the President is not making a mistake from time to time, you have no appreciation of the difficulty and the magnitude of the decisions that are actually made by people in public life. You have to be willing to withstand the arrows that come with those kinds of positions.
How would you explain or define what the term public service means?
Public service can mean so many different things. It obviously includes serving in local, state, or federal government at either elected or appointed positions. But also, public service can simply mean being a volunteer.
Most of the volunteering that happens in this country happens at the local level where you meet face to face to help those in need. And in many ways, it’s even more gratifying than serving in Washington. The things that we do in Washington, you don’t really see the effect that it has on a person or individual case because it’s so far away. But when you volunteer locally, particularly here in Nashville, you get to see the faces. You get to see the impact, and that is extremely rewarding as far as I’m concerned.
Some people use your career’s history as an example of the American Dream. In your opinion, is the American Dream still possible?
Absolutely. I really think it is still possible. It is what makes America so great.
We are going through a challenging time; I think everyone would admit to that. But our country has been through challenging times before. I think about the Civil War, the Vietnam War. We’ve had our struggles before, but we’ve always overcome those struggles mainly because of the leadership that we’ve had in our country and also because I think American citizens generally have an ethos of working hard and being optimistic about their future success.
I think around the world, while there may be some questions about America’s leadership, I still believe that America is the greatest country on the face of the Earth. When other countries get into trouble – they’re attacked, they suffer financially, whatever — they look to America. We are considered the beacon of hope as far as I’m concerned.
You have served as the 2024 Board Chair of United Way of Greater Nashville. What are some of the achievements of this past year you would like to highlight?
We have a staff with a lot of longevity, a lot of experience. The senior leadership starting next year will be entirely female. Maybe even the only all-female leadership team in the United Way family across America. They are so good that they made the work of my chairmanship relatively painless.
Every year we provide backpacks for school children, food baskets for people during the holiday season. This year, we responded to those affected by tornadoes and disasters. We have nine satellite offices, the most recent in Clarksville, which unfortunately was targeted by tornadoes this past year. We stepped up and worked with volunteers at Fort Campbell.
It was somewhat an unusual year in that our CEO Brian Hassett is stepping down this year. That means Erica Mitchell who heads up our community involvement efforts is going to be the first female, black CEO of the United Way. We’re really proud of her. There is going to be a seamless transition from Brian Hassett to Erica, and there is going to be seamless transition from my [chairmanship] to Lee Blank who is a senior executive at Regions [Bank].
With new leadership at United Way starting in 2025, what are some of the goals you would like to see, and can we expect specific changes?
Obviously there are challenges that sometimes cannot be predicted and that may change the focus of the United Way. But people are still hungry in this community. People need help preparing their taxes in this community. People need employment training. Those kinds of efforts are going to continue.
We want to formalize our role in disaster response. Perhaps set up a fund or endowment because if you have a tornado and people suffer, you go out in the community trying to raise money for it. But it may be a better structure to have an endowment to have money readily available, so we don’t keep coming back to businesses over and over in a short period of weeks because of disasters that happen, say multiple tornadoes. And so, we want to formalize that effort.
We want to solidify our relationship with Clarksville, solidify our volunteer structure and the leadership there. That’s an important partner for us. And then of course, we want to make sure that Erica’s transition as CEO goes as smoothly as possible. We have every expectation that will happen. She will have her own set of priorities in terms of what she wants to focus on. I can assure you the work of the United Way will continue uninterrupted and will continue as dedicated and focused as ever to serve the people of Middle Tennessee.
In the current political climate, what is the role of local government and local leadership such as that of United Way and other community organizations in your opinion?
Leadership can come from the state or the White House and Congress. That’s all good, if they can make resources and expertise available. That’s all very helpful. But at the end of the day, it’s going to be the local folks, the local volunteers, local organizations. They are going to do the heavy lifting — local individuals, local government, the Mayor’s Office, the County Commissioners Office, and the local nonprofit organizations. They are going to make the big difference, and of course the state as well.
Everyone has a defined role, but I would argue it’s the local response that is the most critical in responding to an emergency or disaster.
How can local government, universities, and other institutions ensure that people with lived experience such as homelessness are included in shaping our local community?
It requires local involvement on the ground. Having actual communications with people in need, trying to get a better understanding of what the needs are. What are the reasons for those needs? Education is critical. Healthcare is critical. Hunger is critical. These are all things that we know exist. We want to get a better idea of the scope of the problems, but even more important is to understand what the causes of these challenges are. I think that’s the thing that the local folks can do best, and it’s a responsibility that they should take on.