Amid the national debate over his foreign policy and domestic spying program, President Bush will speak Monday at Kansas State University about U.S. efforts to fight terrorism.

Bush’s address will be part of the university’s Landon Lecture series and is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Bramlage Coliseum on the Manhattan campus. White House press secretary Scott McClellan confirmed to reporters in Washington that the speech would focus on terrorism.

With violence in Iraq continuing, the Republican president faces criticism about his 2003 decision to go to war. He also has come under fire for an October 2001 decision to allow eavesdropping on e-mails and telephone calls from people within the United States, without court approval.

Burdett Loomis, a Kansas University political science professor who formerly served on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ staff, said the Landon Lecture is a good opportunity for someone on a “public information offensive.”

“It’s highly legitimate, highly visible, and by and large, K-State would be seen as a relatively friendly venue,” Loomis said. “When the president makes a speech like this, certainly regionally, people will pay a lot of attention.”

Bush’s speech will be the 142nd in the series, named for former Gov. Alf Landon, the 1936 Republican presidential nominee, who gave the first address in 1966.

• KSU.edu: The Landon Lecture Series

Bush, a Republican, is the third sitting president to give a lecture, following Ronald Reagan in 1982 and Richard Nixon in 1970. Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford gave lectures after leaving office – Carter in 1991 and Ford in 1978. Reagan also gave a lecture in 1967, when he was governor of California.

Last year, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev gave a lecture, and other past speakers have included former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo; former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; religious broadcaster Pat Robertson; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; and former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

The president’s visit naturally pleased state officials. University president Jon Wefald gave much of the credit to Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas State University alumnus and two-time Landon lecturer.

Sebelius, a Democrat, plans to attend the lecture, spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said.

“The governor believes it’s great he’s visiting one of our fine universities,” Corcoran said.

Because demand for tickets will be high, the university said, the audience will be limited to Kansas State faculty, staff and invited guests, along with soldiers from Fort Riley.

Bush’s last visit to Kansas was in May 2004, to dedicate a national historic site devoted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing school segregation.

Despite Sebelius’ victory in 2002, Kansas has a strong Republican tradition, with Lyndon Johnson being the last Democrat to carry the state in 1964. Bush won 58 percent of the vote in Kansas in 2000 and 62 percent in 2004.

State Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, said he has a long list of topics he would like the president to address, including Iraq.

“He needs to make sure everybody understands what’s going on in Iraq and why we’re there and why we need to maintain our commitment there,” Journey said.

Rep. Tom Sawyer, of Wichita, former chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party, said he hopes Bush makes a policy speech, not a political one. He also noted Bush’s reputation for oral miscues.

“I don’t think of good speeches and George Bush in the same sentence, but there’s always hope,” Sawyer said. “I don’t plan on being there, probably.”