Skip to main content

Congressman Bob McEwen
Distinguished Fellow

Congressman Bob McEwen currently serves as Executive Director of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a nonpartisan, educational foundation of more than 400 members including the nation's premier conservative leaders in government, business, academia, media, religion, and politics.

Mr. McEwen meets regularly with members of Washington’s diplomatic community by co-hosting with former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese a weekly breakfast for leading Ambassadors during their posting in the United States. He appears frequently on such network programming as Fox News, CNN’s Crossfire, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and others. His writings have appeared in numerous national publications.

An outstanding communicator, Congressman McEwen is a leading advocate for Democracy and free market economics. As such, he maintains an active international speaking schedule. He has been invited as the featured guest speaker at Presidential Prayer Breakfasts in more than 20 countries.

Mr. McEwen was elected to represent Ohio’s Sixth district in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms. During his congressional service, Mr. McEwen filled a variety of positions. He was asked to serve as Special Presidential Envoy for both Presidents Reagan and Bush. He also was selected as a U.S. representative to the European Parliament from 1985 to 1993. As such, McEwen was a participant in a variety of political and military negotiations within the European Union.

On August 23, 1989, Congressman McEwen and Senator Robert Dole participated as United States observers in Warsaw, Poland to the first ever Parliamentary election of a non- Communist leader of a Soviet bloc country. Hours later, the new Prime Minister, in his first official act, received the Congressman and Senator prior to meeting with the Soviet representatives of the regime that had occupied that nation for 50 years. This action was the spark that encouraged the collapse of Soviet dominated governments throughout Eastern Europe culminating in the destruction of the Berlin Wall 10 weeks later. Congressman McEwen and Senator Dole met the following day with the President and U.S. National Security team in Kennebunkport, Maine to fashion the U.S. response and position in support of Warsaw Pact nations seeking to break away from Soviet domination.

Congressman McEwen served as an official U.S. observer in Moscow during both the 1991 Soviet Coup attempt and was the only American present in the Kremlin in January of 1992 when the Soviet Union was dissolved.

Mr. McEwen was elected by his colleagues to the two most coveted positions in the U. S. Congress: the Select Committee on Intelligence which oversees all of our nation’s secrets and the powerful House Committee on Rules which has jurisdiction over all legislation in Congress. As one of only four Republicans on the 13 member Rules Committee, Mr. McEwen managed nearly one-third of all legislation on the House floor for the Republican side of the Congressional aisle.

Mr. McEwen remains a member of a select Congressional leadership team that meets weekly when Congress is in session. This exclusive group includes leaders of both the House of Representatives and Senate. Its purpose is to design the legislative strategy and calendar for floor action. Annually since 1996, McEwen is one of a quartet of Members of Congress from both the House and Senate to host a gathering of Balkan Prime Ministers and Parliamentarians for the purpose of facilitating dialogue and reconciliation in that troubled region of the world.

Prior to joining CNP, Mr. McEwen served as a Senior Advisor to Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald, a leading national law firm with offices in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. He also led Empower America along with his colleagues the Honorable Jack Kemp, former drug czar and Education Secretary William Bennett, and United Nations Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick.

Prior to his Congressional service, he served as Vice President of one of Ohio’s largest Real Estate and Development firms as well as serving three terms in the Ohio House of Representatives as the Senior Republican on the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.

Among Congressman McEwen’s many awards are: • Watchdog of the Treasury (each year in office) • Guardian of Small Business, NFIB (each year in office) • American Conservative Union: ACU 95% lifetime average • Golden Plow Award from the National Farm Bureau

Congressman McEwen attended the University of Miami and Ohio State University, College of Law.

Mr. McEwen is married to the former Liz Boebinger of Canton, Ohio and together they have four children and eight grandchildren. Bob & Liz have volunteered as speakers at Family Life Marriage Conferences in the U.S. and Canada. Bob was both a deacon and an elder at the Hillsboro Church of Christ.

bob_mcewen_300.jpg