Bruce Cole

Bruce Milan Cole (August 2, 1938 – January 8, 2018) was a longtime professor of art history at Indiana University, a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a member of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, and the eighth Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

[4] He was a corresponding member of the Accademia Senese degli Intronati, the oldest learned society in Europe, and a founder and former co-president of the Association for Art History.

[1] Cole promoted some key initiatives at the Endowment, including We the People, a program designed to encourage the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture, and Picturing America, which used great American art to teach the nation's history and culture in 80,000 schools and public libraries nationwide.

[7] After leaving the NEH, Cole served as president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, until 2011.

Cole served on the board of advisors for the National Civic Art Society, which supports classical architecture and remained a critic of Gehry's memorial design.

[17] In November 2008, President Bush awarded Cole the Presidential Citizens Medal "for his work to strengthen our national memory and ensure that our country's heritage is passed on to future generations."