FREEDOM LOSES A FRIEND:

In Memoriam: Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, 1926-2006 (AEI.org, 12/08/06)

AEI senior fellow Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, who joined the Institute in 1978, died yesterday. As a young political scientist at Georgetown University, Kirkpatrick wrote the first major study of the role of women in modern politics, Political Woman, which was published in 1974. Her work on the McGovern-Fraser Commission, which was formed in the aftermath of the Democratic Party's tumultuous 1968 convention and changed the way party delegates were chosen, led to Dismantling the Parties: Reflections on Party Reform and Party Decomposition, which AEI published in 1978. Yet it was an essay written for Commentary magazine in 1979, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," that launched her into the political limelight. In the article, Kirkpatrick chronicled the failures of the Carter administration's foreign policy and argued for a clearer understanding of the American national interest. Her essay matched then-governor Ronald Reagan's instincts and convictions, and when he became president, he appointed her to represent the United States at the United Nations. Ambassador Kirkpatrick was a member of the president's cabinet and the National Security Council. The United States has lost a great patriot and champion of freedom, and AEI mourns our beloved colleague.

We were privileged enough to get to use one of Ms Kirkpatrick's essay in our book. We of a certain age can little forget how bracing it was after the moral abyss of the 60s & 70s to hear her read the riot act to totalitarians and their toadies at the UN.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 8, 2006 9:35 AM