Senator Christopher Dodd: Reflections from a Friend on His Lifelong Service
By Kandie Stroud, Skytop Host and Contributor / March 26, 2025
Kandie Stroud was voted a top female political strategist by Business Insider in 2021. Stroud has over 40 years of experience in strategic communications, political campaigns and journalism. She has worked in nine presidential campaigns and provided advice and communications strategy for gubernatorial, senate and congressional candidates, corporations and law firms. She was the first woman to serve as the chief diplomatic correspondent for CNN and has worked as a correspondent and/or commentator for Capital Cities Broadcasting, WRC-TV, WTOP-TV, ABC and Talk Radio News Service,
She was the Director of Broadcast Communications for the Democratic National Committee for a decade and has managed the radio bookings for six Democratic National Conventions. Stroud served as a senior advisor and communications director for John Delaney’s presidential campaign during the 2020 election cycle. She served as Director of Media Relations for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).
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T.S. Eliot wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” For Senator Christopher Dodd, the conclusion of his half century of public service marks the start of new beginnings.
On January 2nd, President Joe Biden awarded Senator Dodd the Presidential Citizens Medal for his lifetime of exemplary service. Biden praised Dodd for his service to America. A time for reflection, I recently sat with Chris—my friend and colleague—where he shares with us his behind-the-headlines thoughts on his career and where he drew a lifelong sense of purpose in serving others.
50 Years of Service to the American People
At age 30, Dodd entered Congress, and now at age 80, he celebrates half a century since he first took office as a freshman member of the United States Congress. He referred to the 75 freshmen members elected with him as the “Watergate Babies,” noting the significant changes they brought to the nation’s capital. “You could see change happening,” he says. “Traditions and institutions that existed throughout the 20th Century were about to disappear.” A new generation, with a new vision, was emerging.
As January came to a close and a new administration took office, Dodd submitted his resignation as President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy to the Americas. This region has been a passion of Dodd’s since he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic 58 years ago.
The Final Chapter
Economic prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South America is a fundamental requirement in achieving our policy goal of reducing migration. This was and remains a core assumption that Chris lives by, pointing out that most individuals and families emigrate out of necessity, not desire. “Most people emigrate because they have no other alternative and they’re doing the most difficult thing in the world-- packing up and leaving the country of their birth, language, culture, their neighbors and their family. ...They want to come here because the United States represents hope, a brighter future, aspirations.”
In Senator Dodd's last political assignment, he served as the leader of the American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, bringing Latin American heads of state to Washington–a group of leaders from 14 countries, some of whom shared free trade agreements with the U.S. During the three-day program, hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), they presented investment opportunities to American CEOs and board directors. As a part of this initiative, he secured capital to support the IDB Invest Fund from 48 member countries.
As part of the annual conference, meetings were held at the Inter-American Development Bank, the Senate, the Atlantic Council, the Treasury Department, and the White House, where President Biden was presented with initiatives designed to expand economic cooperation between the U.S. and Central and South American countries.
Dodd admits, even when considering his role in the Dodd-Frank Act–a body of legislation that reshaped the policy landscape of Wall Street and one that is considered to be the most significant since the Securities Acts–that the highlights of his career have been his work in bringing the U.S. and Latin America together.
Beginning on His Path
Dodd's keen interest in Latin America began at 22 when he joined the Peace Corps, serving in Latin America. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” he signed up as a Peace Corps volunteer, an experience that profoundly changed his life.
His assignment was to the Dominican Republic. There, he converted a building into a maternity hospital, restored a library, built a school, and improved local infrastructure while learning the importance of community in the creation of policy initiatives. “I became a local promoter. I made assessments of the problems and would ask ‘what do you think we need to be doing.’ I would work with the people and help them put together projects.”
Driven by a desire to explore and connect, Chris traveled throughout the region to Haiti, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
Through his Peace Corps experience, Dodd became relatively fluent in Spanish and immersed himself in regional cultures. He learned the impact he could have on the lives of others through community organizing, learning how to effectively bring about change.
He points out, “They always say if you want to succeed in life, do something you love. Steve Jobs however said it’s better to “do something you’re good at.” That’s the advice I followed. I knew I liked working with people and liked public service, but I also said to myself, ‘I think I’m relatively good at this.”
Back to Latin America
In the Dodd household there is a family policy, strictly enforced by his wife, Jackie, that mandates never to pick up a phone call from an “unknown caller”. But in December 2021 he probably should have. This time, the caller was President of the United States, -President Biden. He left a voice message, one that Chris was delighted to receive.
The message left was an offer for Chris, his close friend and former Senate colleague, to help him organize a Summit on the Americas in Los Angeles the following June. Without hesitation, Dodd accepted the opportunity. He began by recruiting leaders of Latin countries to attend. Right away, he faced significant challenges.
He faced headwinds securing these leaders’ agreement to participate. President Bolsonaro of Brazil initially declined to participate. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also declined to participate along with the Argentinean President Alberto Fernández. Lackluster interest was driven by the resident haze of the previous administration’s lack of attention to the region.
But Dodd’s supportive demeanor helped change their minds. His commitment was to inspire them to reconsider, adding, “My job was to convince people to attend. I spent a lot of time with various heads of state throughout the Americas.”
Bolstered by the prospect of Biden White House support, the leaders came to the summit which, says Dodd, was “a huge success.” Dodd helped secure their participation but also their agreement on a forward-looking agenda spanning economic cooperation, migration, health, human rights, food security and more.
Dodd speaks proudly of his last political assignment. The major effort was The American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, building on previous efforts of President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy and President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress.
Dodd emphasizes, “The key word is ‘partnership’. How do we work together to improve the lives of those who live in the Americas.” Dodd contends that it is “fundamental” to build economic prosperity in those countries so that people have good jobs. Decent paying jobs at home means people won’t feel the necessity to leave their country and emigrate.
Landmark Legislation
Twice elected to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate in 1980, Dodd became Connecticut's longest-serving Senator. He chaired several committees, including the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Health and Education Committee.
For those of us who remember the financial crisis of 2008, the impact on global markets was devastating, resulting in the near meltdown of the world’s capital markets. Core to the government's response was a need for an overhaul of the legal and regulatory oversight of markets. The policy framework had not been updated in decades.
Chris organized and sponsored this overhaul, along with Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, known as The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Today, this landmark legislation, often heralded as the basis for the longest period of economic growth and market performance, updated important aspects of capital markets oversight, including expanding the role of shareholders in the governance of publicly traded companies.
In addition, Chris sponsored The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a groundbreaking new set of benefits for families and their newborn children. Dodd served for three decades on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been recognized by President Biden as “a gifted legislator.”
Dodd also served for three decades on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Dodd remained a steadfast advocate for investment in Latin America, although he states that it was more common to ignore the Americas. “Few people had any interest in Latin America” He recounts the story of FDR’s Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, who invited a young diplomat to his office for a meeting. Hull asked him where he would like to serve as a foreign service officer. The young diplomat enthusiastically replied Latin America, to which Hull allegedly replied, “I thought you wanted a career in the State Department.”
Chris stresses that after decades of lackluster attention, Central and South America have finally come into focus as a powerhouse with growing geopolitical and economic clout.
Wisdom Shared with Next Generation Visionaries
Senator Dodd has regrets about leaving his present post but remains optimistic. He emphasizes the need for regional economic integration, highlighting the shared language and culture of the region but noting the lack of unified regional economic integration. He stresses the importance of supply chains and proximity in production, citing companies in Mexico and Haiti as examples. “Latin American countries are not enemies. They share a common language–with the exception of Brazil–and diverse yet interconnected culture. However, each country in Latin America is proud of its own identity. Latin Americans rarely identify themselves so broadly. They will refer to themselves as Brazilian, Venezuelan or Mexican, but rarely as Latin Americans. However, these nations need to understand the importance of regional economic integration. The economically diverse Americas offer such an opportunity for integration through their respective supply chains.”
Alliances with China
Dodd is concerned about Brazil’s expanding partnerships through BRICS, including the risk of de-dollarization. A chief concern is China's heavy investment in the region through “debt diplomacy”, pointing out that while China’s economic power is losing momentum in the region, it remains a threat to sustained regional growth and to U.S. national security.
Dodd argues that “China is showing up with plenty of capital and seemingly attractive terms. However, their terms do not necessarily stimulate economic development. For example, in numerous examples the terms China requires the sponsoring governments must use China-imported labor. Adding to this, “debt diplomacy” has become recognized as predatory in nature, placing sovereign nations in Latin America at risk of China owning or controlling a nation’s major infrastructure.”
“Many of these countries now realize what danger these relations with China pose.” However, Dodd points out that China is not as powerful as it was even a year ago. “China’s economy is struggling, but they’re still a threat.”
A major challenge to the U.S./Latin American partnership is the persistent force of transnational criminal organizations. Cartels are larger, more integrated networks, necessitating a cooperative approach to combat them. “Now these Cartels have formed networks. These Cartels are much larger, multinational syndicated operations. They have much more capital and they’re successful. With this we must have cooperation between the U.S. and Central and South American countries. This isn't just a Colombian problem or an Ecuadorian problem. If you’re going to deal with it, you’re going to have to consider a larger and more integrated approach.”
China, the U.S., and Latin America Partnerships
Dodd points to significant resources within Latin American countries, including fresh water, forests, and rare minerals that are important to economic development. As such, he stresses the investment opportunity and its high potential for success. Chris adds further, “We have half the fresh water and half the forests of the world in our hemisphere. We have almost unlimited deposits of the most important minerals, rare minerals that are in high demand. We need to continue to convince U.S., EU and some Asian companies that they ought to be looking at investment opportunities given that these minerals will become critically important in this century and the next. This includes sustainability investments that will support the survival of our planet.”
Last April, Senator Dodd attended the first-ever Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver, where 400 mayors from Canada, the U.S., Central and South America, and the Caribbean nations discussed urban challenges.
He noted the significant presence of female mayors and found the informal, practical discussions among mayors refreshing compared to organized presidential summits. “When there’s a presidential summit everything is organized ahead of time. Outcomes, declarations and statements are known in advance at the Summit of Americas. Mayors in Denver, they were all joined together, networking.” He highlighted the U.S. Treasury's invitation for the Dominican Republic to present an investment plan on how to bring clean energy to its country through a proposed financing idea. “I told them, we are stronger acting together than alone, and the potential of our Americas working together is limitless.”
Later, he led a delegation to Costa Rica to discuss job creation and economic competitiveness with President Rodrigo Chaves.
Dodd recognizes the region's preference aligning the U.S. and its leading companies, especially in mining rare earth minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Dodd is concerned about China's resource acquisition and port-building through its Belt and Road initiative, which poses potential national security threats. Chris reminds us that “When an outside country starts building ports you know they have more in mind than shipping trade.”
However, he remains optimistic about the region's future, praising leaders like Santiago Pena in Paraguay. Dodd also highlights the success of smaller nations like Uruguay and Costa Rica, noting Costa Rica's political stability and environmental sustainability achieved without a military. He envisions a future with regional economic integration akin to the EU for the Western Hemisphere.
Dodd underscores the need for unified leadership in Latin America. He believes that while local leaders can make good decisions, a broader, integrated approach is necessary for significant progress. “They all think they can do it themselves for their countries. While they’re making some good decisions regionally, they don’t amount to much. If you’re a country like Brazil, though, which the Amazon River flows, that’s great but other countries such as Peru and Colombia are also part of the Amazon as well. The point is Brazil must seek regional support.”
Senator Dodd Today
Although his time serving Latin America has ended, there is now a new beginning. Chris currently serves as a senior counsel at Arnold & Porter, where he advises clients on policy issues spanning across financial services, media, healthcare, and national security. Better understood through the experiences of his career, Dodd remains concerned about ongoing negative perceptions of the Americas. He believes they stem largely from a lack of knowledge. "Many don’t realize that by 2050, the Americas, from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego, will represent about 1.5 billion people—about 12% of the world’s population."
Dodd continues his advocacy of the Americas. He supported the bipartisan bill, S.3878, The Americas Act. This legislation, co-sponsored by Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in the House, and Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) in the Senate, addressed issues such as establishing a regional trade, investment, and partnership among Western Hemisphere countries, thus stimulating growth, creating jobs, and countering China's influence.
Dodd hopes the new administration will recognize the importance of comparable initiatives. "If we want a safe, secure, and prosperous America, this is the path we must follow," he asserts, and adds the imperative for the U.S. to continue fostering relationships with Central and South American leaders. As he looks to the future, Dodd remains engaged and hopeful.