The honoree is on display in the VIP reception.

House Minority Whip Representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Ken Mehlman and David Brooks

Georgette Mosbacher and Gay Gaines

Sameh Norquist and American for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist

AEI Trustee Bill Warton, Heather Higgins, Carol Kyl and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)

William Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Commander US Central Command General David Petraeus

Michael Novak

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)

Gretchen Bolton, John Bolton and Fred Fielding

Captain Nick Binnington and Anna Muloyan

Co-founder of Women for a free Iraq Zainab Al-Sawaij and Kurdistan Regional Representative Qubad Talabany

Gay Gaines and Norm Ornstein

Former foreign policy advisor to President George H.W. Bush Paul Wolfowitz, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Fred Fielding

Lauren Kinaid, Ellett George and Lori Sanders

Alex Stoddard, Linda Schreiner and former Virginia Republican Senator George Allen

General John M. Keane (USA-ret.)

AEI President Arthur C. Brooks applauds as Commander, US Central Command General David Petraeus, recipient of the Irving Kristol Award, salutes the crowd.

Former AEI President Chris Demuth

Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir al-Sumaydi, Katherine Birrow, Garrett Graff,  and Meridian House International head Stuart Holliday

G. Gordon Liddy

Former foreign policy advisor to President George H.W. Bush Richard Perle, Peter Huessy and Leslie Barr