Having first met the late Sen. Lindsey Graham when he was a newly elected congressman in the Gingrich Revolution of 1994, conservatives knew this man from South Carolina was one of a kind. There was no doubt he was a Reaganite on foreign policy and had America’s enemies in his sights. From the get-go, his national security judgment and acumen were spot on. 

Graham’s belief in American leadership in the world was grounded in a conservative and hard-nosed view that disengagement invites danger and that American leadership abroad is a direct investment in security at home. Within the Republican Party, his position often set the terms of the debate. As one of the Senate’s foremost national security leaders, he innately understood that military might alone cannot keep America safe and that it also takes diplomacy and international assistance to help protect our nation and keep our service members out of harm’s way.