Bob Woodward to speak in Lisle

Renowned investigative journalist Bob Woodward is expected talk about wars and the foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. during a visit next week to Benedictine University.

Woodward, a Wheaton native, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the second floor of the Krasa Student Center at the Lisle campus. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the school’s Center for Civic Leadership and Public Service.

Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan, who founded the center and is a distinguished fellow at Benedictine, said Woodward’s speech is going to give audience members “an inside look” at President Barack Obama’s handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Woodward’s latest book, “Obama’s Wars,” will serve as a starting point for the discussion, Ryan said he’s asked the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to also touch on some of the foreign policy challenges facing the nation.

“So he’s going to talk about probably Libya and some of the other places that have been in the news recently,” Ryan said. “I think it’s going to be very informative. Woodward has amazing sources.”

Woodward will talk for about 30 minutes and then answer questions.

Ryan said he’s long wanted to have Woodward speak at Benedictine. “I was always intrigued by the fact he grew up in Wheaton,” Ryan said.

Woodward is best known as The Washington Post reporter who, with colleague Carl Bernstein, broke the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Woodward still works at the Post as an associate editor.

In the past 36 years, Woodward has written or co-authored 16 nonfiction books. All the books have been national best-sellers, and 12 have been No. 1 national nonfiction best-sellers.