As part of the South Dakota Vietnam War Memorial Dedication, South Dakota is fortunate to have Vietnam-Era Air Force Broadcaster Adrian Cronauer as our master of ceremonies for the weekend's celebration!

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BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Cronauer is Special Assistant to the Director of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). In this position he serves as a confidential advisor to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) Jerry Jennings. He is responsible for ongoing outreach to family, veterans and activists groups, regular management oversight visits to the worldwide units over which DPMO has policy responsibility, frequent media interviews and public appearances on behalf of DPMO. He represent DASD at meetings within OSD/ISA and at various outside functions and has lead responsibility for DPMO’s dealings with international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Tripartite Commission.

Before joining DOD, Cronauer was Senior Attorney and Corporate Vice President of Burch & Cronauer, a five-lawyer firm located in Washington DC. He concentrated in communications law and his clients included radio stations, a satellite radio network, and extensive representation of firms engaged in newly emerging technologies including wireless cable systems, satellite, PCS, cable and common-carrier. He also practiced in the areas of publishing, copyright, and trademark law.

A former U.S. Air Force sergeant Cronauer co-authored the original story for the major motion picture, Good Morning, Vietnam! In that film, Cronauer was portrayed—loosely—by Robin Williams whose performance was nominated for an Academy Award. A subsequent special program on National Public Radio about the role of military radio in Vietnam earned Cronauer a 1992 Ohio State Award and two 1991 Gold Medals from the New York Radio Festival.

Cronauer is a national director of the Citizen's Flag Alliance, a coalition of approximately 120 groups united to pass a Constitutional amendment protecting the American flag from being physically desecrated. He is a life member of the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, the VFW and ViêtNow. He serves as a national officer of the Knights Templar, is an honorary Kentucky Colonel, and is a member of the Australian Returned & Services League. The U.S. Infantry Reserve awarded him the Order of St. Maurice. A popular after-dinner speaker and lecturer, he spends much of his spare time speaking throughout the country before veterans and military groups espousing patriotism and flag protection.

In 1992, he was invited to Australia to participate in the dedication of that country's Vietnam Forces National Memorial. While there, he emceed a four-hour, nationally televised, outdoor concert featuring Aussie entertainers who went to Vietnam during the 60's and 70's to entertain the troops from "Down Under."

Cronauer periodically has appeared as a guest on radio and television talk shows, including NBC-TV's Today; the PBS series, Freedom Speaks; ABC-TV's former late night talk show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and Hannity & Colmes on the Fox News Channel; also, numerous stints on NBC Radio's Jim Bohanan Show; and the Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy radio programs. His commentaries have been featured in many major newspapers throughout the country and on the NPR Radio Network.

Mr. Cronauer received his Doctor of Law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was Special Projects Editor of the Law Review. He also holds a masters degree in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research in New York City; his undergraduate studies were at the University of Pittsburgh (where he founded the University’s Radio Station) and the American University in Washington DC. He clerked at the Federal Communications Commission for Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis and was honored with the FCC's Special Service Award. He was invited to deliver the annual, Decker Lecture in April, 2004 at the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General School on the campus of the University of Virginia. He has been a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Federal Communications Law Journal and among his serious published works are The Fairness Doctrine – A Solution In Search Of A Problem, Federal Communications Law Journal, Oct. 1994; and Copyright and Reproduction Rights, Art & Design Magazine, July/Aug. 1993. He is a member of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the Pennsylvania Bar and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

He has served as a member of the Virginia Public Broadcasting Board, on the Arlington County (Virginia) Cable TV Advisory Committee, and the Board of Governors of the New School for Social Research in New York City. He served two terms as a trustee of the Virginia War Memorial and is a former member of the national board of the Armed Forces Broadcasters Association and the board of the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition.

An active Republican, he was a National Vice-Chairman of Veterans For Bush and, for over a year, spent much of his spare time traveling throughout the country as a speaker for the Bush/Cheney campaign.

Prior to turning to the law, Cronauer spent seven years in New York City voicing television and radio commercials. Before that, he owned his own advertising agency, managed a radio station, was program director of a television station, and was a TV news anchorman. He has taught broadcasting at the university level and authored a textbook on radio & TV announcing, used by many colleges and universities.

He and his wife, the former Jeane Steppe, have two adult children and five grandchildren ranging in age from seventeen to twenty.