The Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted a sold-out event last evening at the Pierre hotel to mark the inauguration of the Washington Institute’s Scholar-Statesman Award, which celebrates persons who “through their public service and professional achievements, exemplify the idea that sound scholarship and historical understanding are essential to the definition of wise and effective U.S. policy in the Middle East.” The evening featured a conversation with Secretary Shultz, the noted scholar Bernard Lewis, and the executive director of the Washington Institute, Robert Satloff.

“There’s a certain magic when you bring together people who have contributed so much to our nation and Western Civilization writ-large,” Mr. Satloff told The New York Sun.

James Tisch, whose wife Merryl was the co-chair of the dinner, said there were three people in the world whose presence he was honored to be in: Secretary Kissinger, Mr. Shultz, and Mr. Lewis. “To quote a Meatloaf song, ‘Two out of Three Ain’t Bad.'”

A former envoy, Dennis Ross, said Messrs. Shultz and Lewis were “two luminaries for different reasons.” He said Mr. Shultz was “the epitome of a secretary of state who operated on the basis of nonpartisanship, built consensus on foreign policy, and understood how to get things done.” Mr. Lewis was “a man of ideas but also a man of historical sweep.”

Mr. Ross added that to have the two of them together “at a time of great difficulty and challenge in the Middle East when it’s hard to be optimistic was a real opportunity to get perspective and that’s what we need more than anything else right now.”

The Washington Institute, founded in 1985, raised $1.4 million last night at the event. The dinner co-chair, Roger Hertog, who is also an investor in this newspaper, said a defining concept in summing up the work of the institute was “ideas have consequences.” He said those supporting the work of the institute were engaged in “strategic philanthropy.”

Considered the doyen of Middle East historians, Mr. Lewis, earned undergraduate and doctoral degrees at the University of London and thr University of Paris. In London, he served as professor of history of the Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, before becoming the Cleveland E. Dodge chair of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton.

There was mirth in the room when one speaker described a lecture Mr. Lewis gave at an American university. When a student asked Mr. Lewis, “How can you speak about Islam?” In his elegant wit, Mr. Lewis said, “by extension of your logic only a fish could teach marine biology at your university.”

In a video shown before dinner, Mr. Satloff said the bipartisan support for the Institute was because of its “relevance” to the American policy discussions.