AEI senior fellow Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, who joined the Institute in 1978, died on December 7, 2006. 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" (later expanded into a full-length book), 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 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.
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View the invitation to the memorial service for Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, held on February 6, 2007]
[More on the life and work of Jeane J. Kirkpatrick]
AEI Scholars Comment on the Loss of Their Colleague
"On April 25, 2007, friends, colleagues, and family of the late American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Jeane J. Kirkpatrick gathered in Washington to celebrate the publication of her final book, Making War to Keep Peace. Allan Gerson was counsel to Ambassador Kirkpatrick during her service at the United Nations beginning in 1981. He was a resident scholar at AEI from March 1987 to September 1989. In 1991, he published The Kirkpatrick Mission: Diplomacy without Apology. Excerpts from his remarks about his dear friend and colleague appear below. Mr. Gerson took the photograph of Ambassador Kirkpatrick that graces the cover of the book.
"Jeane Kirkpatrick's Making War to Keep Peace captures not only the life of her mind, but her spirit. It is Jeane in the virtual flesh.
"Who is Jeane? Anyone who knew her well knows her abiding characteristics: First, seriousness of purpose. Second, clarity of expression. Third, no shyness whatsoever in asserting herself. Every page in this book bristles with those traits.
"Let's begin with seriousness. This book is serious. It is dedicated, as Jeane was, to scholarship, because scholarship is serious, pillared on careful documentation and all the evidence that can be brought to bear. Jeane had a lot of book offers after she left government service. They were for megabucks, but she abhorred the idea of doing a "kiss-and-tell" book. At heart, she saw herself as a political scientist and as a person, in her words, driven by a "deep, deep desire to understand political, social, cultural, problems." She wished to write only in that vein. Her belief that life had to be taken seriously stemmed from an innate awareness of how easily things can go awry. Thus, she often said, we have to plan to expect the unexpected and to grapple with the hard intellectual tasks of setting priorities among competing demands. . . ."
--Allan Gerson, counsel to Ambassador Kirkpatrick
Click here to read excerpts of Gerson's speech upon the publication of Kirkpatrick's final book
"With the death of Jeane Kirkpatrick this country has lost one of its most effective champions, and I have lost a dear friend. Others will speak of her public service, and there’s much to be said about it, but on that subject I shall only say that her career should remind us that this country had enemies then, as well as now, domestic as well as foreign, and that she faced them down, one and all. But I want to speak mainly about our friendship.
"She pronounced a moving benediction at Georgetown on my retirement from teaching, and she warmly welcomed me on my return fulltime to AEI; she counseled me when I took a minor UN position; she defended my friends when they were in need of friends; she taught me that, like her mentors Hubert Humphrey and Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, Republicans could also be generous in spirit; and she revealed much about herself in her most beautiful of eulogies on her friend, Ann Crutcher. Now, and not the least of her gifts, she leaves me with the sweetest of memories."
--Walter Berns, AEI resident scholar and professor emeritus at Georgetown University
"Jeane worried more about ideas than party, largely because she believed that ideas--more than institutions--shaped the future. It was, of course, her ideas that brought her to Reagan’s attention, and then to the United Nations.
"Central to that article in Commentary, 'Dictatorships and Double Standards,' was her support for John Locke’s three fundamental conditions for representative government: 'One, that the people should be willing to receive it; two, that they should be willing and able to do what is necessary for its preservation; three, that they should be willing and able to fulfill the duties and discharge the functions which it imposes on them.'
"These are tough and unpleasant truths, and hard tasks, the sort Jeane confronted unceasingly during her diplomatic and academic careers, never flinching from the consequences, yet always handling herself with grace and dignity. She inspired generations of students and research assistants; colleagues and adversaries; friends and family; and successors. We will all miss her."
--John R. Bolton, AEI senior fellow and permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations (2005-2006)
[Click here to read the full text of Ambassador Bolton's remarks at Ambassador Kirkpatrick's memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on February 6, 2007]
AEI receptionist Doris Gibson probably interacts with more scholars than anyone else at the Institute. Here she remembers her friend Jeane:
"Dear Jeane,
"I thought I would take a moment to let you know how much you touched me. It wasn't in a political way, it was in a motherly way. I remember when we met. During our first 'girl talk,' you said, 'Oh, Doris, please call me Jeane. You're one of my favorites.' Thank you so much for treating me so kindly and with such respect.
"In my eyes, you are a woman of elegance. You're the world's greatest diplomat. You are strong, tough, intelligent, deeply respected, and charming--all wrapped into one big package.
"You've always told me that I was very strong and a faithful friend to you and everyone. Well, I draw my strength from you. But you also said to include in life a nice cup of tea, a nice restaurant, and chocolate cake. That's what life is all about, you told me.
"Thank you, too, for your motherly advice regarding my son and my parents. You've always been a mother figure to me. You helped me win first place in my 'models of the South' competition.
"I could go on, but I'll end by saying: I can't cry any more. It's time to rejoice. God lent Jeane Kirkpatrick to the world only for a little while. Your maker is telling you: 'Job well done. It's time to come on home.'
"I love you and will miss you dearly."
--Doris Gibson is the receptionist at AEI.
"I first began working with Jeane Kirkpatrick when she was President Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations and was immediately struck by her intensity, intelligence, and courage.
"She was comfortable standing up in the United Nations and representing America against all comers. She was comfortable arguing in the Reagan Cabinet against those who did not understand the need to defeat Communism.
"In some ways Jeane Kirkpatrick rivaled Margaret Thatcher as one of the most effective women warriors I have ever seen.
"I was delighted years later to be able to work with her at the American Enterprise Institute where her wisdom and her memories of what had worked for Ronald Reagan helped me understand how we could apply Reagan’s principles in defeating our enemies today. She was enormously influential in shaping Winning the Future and shaping the work I’ve being doing on the Defense Policy Board.
"Everyone who knew Jeane had their life enriched by her and all of us will miss her deeply."
--Newt Gingrich, AEI senior fellow and speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-1998)
"For her magnificent contribution to the triumph of freedom over totalitarianism, the entire world owes a lasting debt to Jeane Kirkpatrick. Beyond that, I owe her other debts. As a leader of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, for which I was a young staffer, she showed me how an otherwise powerless intellectual could influence political life on the strength of knowledge and insight. She inspired my emulation and changed my career. She made this possible by helping to get me a fellowship for doctoral study at Georgetown, where she was my teacher and adviser until higher duties called. Later, her sponsorship brought me to AEI. She never asked anything in return for all her kindness to me. She commanded my enduring admiration and deep affection. I will miss her sorely."
--Joshua Muravchik, AEI resident scholar and author of The Future of the United Nations.
"Jeane Kirkpatrick had been failing for some weeks, with many ailments including heart, a loss of desire to eat, dislike of medications. At last, not long after she had reached the grand age of 80, on December 7, this sturdy Oklahoman succombed quietly in her bed, one of her best friends at her side.
"Jeane Kirkpatrick was loved by Soviet dissidents whose cause she so bravely championed. In Jeane Kirkpatrick, Israel had one of its firmest and warmest friends. In Afghanistan under Soviet occupation, her name came to be revered. In Nicaragua a large unit of freedom fighters against the Communist regime called themselves 'the Kirkpatrick brigade.' In Angola, in Chile, in the Philippines, in Poland, Hungary, and Cuba--everywhere that people suffered under oppression, and found few others to champion their dignity and aspirations and human worth, the name 'Jeane Kirkpatrick' brought cheer.
"In the United States, though, we may have had more need of Jeane Kirkpatrick than anyone else did. After four years of a foreign policy described by Margaret Thatcher as 'Lose a country, gain a restaurant,' Jeane Kirkpatrick insisted on respect for the United States at the United Nations, on straightforwardedness in talking to this nation and about this nation, and on integrity in matching words to actions. No more of this double dealing--with one hand begging the United States for aid, money, food, aircraft, military intervention,--and with the other hand slapping the cheeks of this nation in public, and (until Jeane came along) with impunity. Jeane said to the United Nations: 'Play it straight, and play it fair.' To the San Francisco Democrats (no longer her kind of Democrats) she said: “They always blame America first!'
"Where Jeane grew up, the corn was as high as an elephant’s eye, and the sky above was vast and free and inspiriting. She grew up with dignity and freedom in her bones. When I hear the words of our national anthem, 'The land of the free, and the home of the brave!' I think of Jeane. Freedom--for others too--is what she lived for. She fought to make others free, and she was very, very brave. She took much abuse. She thought it worth it."
--Michael Novak, AEI's George Frederick Jewett Scholar and ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (1981-1982)
[Click here to read Michael Novak's remembrance of Ambassador Kirkpatrick on FirstThings.com.]
"I knew Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick since 1972 when she was member of the of the original board of directors of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, a 'ginger group' formed to get the Democratic Party away from it leftward tropism, then called 'McGovernism.' A few years later we both arrived at AEI.
"She was an American original.
"She had three sons as a relatively young woman and was, accordingly, able to a pursue her remarkably productive career in her chosen field of political science--decidedly not of the ivory-tower variety--for many decades.
"She was fluent in a number of languages. She was highly cultured woman. She was a great cook.
"She lived a full life."
--Ben J. Wattenberg, AEI senior fellow and host of PBS's Think Tank
Obituaries about Kirkpatrick
"Jeane Kirkpatrick was . . . a happy warrior, a warrior of words. She jauntily argued America's case with an elan and intellectual elegance that contrasted tellingly with the meretricious cant that is the rhetorical norm at Turtle Bay."
--George F. Will, syndicated columnist, February 7, 2007
[Click here to read the full text of Will's remarks at Ambassador Kirkpatrick's memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on February 6, 2007]
"[Kirkpatrick's] high-profile performance at the United Nations made her President Reagan’s favorite envoy. 'You’re taking off that big sign that we used to wear that said, "Kick Me,"' the president told her. He admired her strong diplomatic stands and her undiplomatic language. In a letter to 40 third world ambassadors in October 1981, for example, she accused them of spreading 'base lies' and making 'malicious attacks upon the good name of the United States.'"
--New York Times, December 9, 2006
"[Kirkpatrick] warned [Reagan] that she would not be "a ventriloquist's dummy" at the United Nations, mouthing administration policy, and there were times when her willingness to speak her mind ruffled feelings not only at the United Nations but within the administration."
--Washington Post, December 9, 2006
"No one ever doubted Jeane Kirkpatrick's will or courage. Among those who most appreciated her determination to speak truth to totalitarian power was the celebrated Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov. Exiled by the Soviet government to Gorky, Sakharov said later how important it was to have a person of Jeane Kirkpatrick's stature publicly identify jailed Soviet dissidents by name."
--Wall Street Journal, December 9, 2006
"'We were concerned about the weakening of Western will,' [Kirkpatrick said]. 'We advocated rebuilding Western strength, and we did that with Ronald Reagan, if I may say so.'. . . When nations opposed U.S. policy, she made sure Congress--with its power of the purse to underwrite the U.N. budget--knew their names."
--Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2006
"Reagan, of course, was [Kirkpatrick's] biggest fan. She also had strong backing from people like Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and CIA Director William Casey.
"And she enjoyed widespread public support, of course--so much so that, as Reagan's term ended, she became the first woman to be seriously talked about as a major-party presidential candidate. (She ultimately decided not to run.)"
--New York Post, December 9, 2006
"Jeane Kirkpatrick, who died on Thursday night aged 80, was America's first woman ambassador to the United Nations and one of the most controversial political scientists of her time; an indefatigable champion of democracy and an iron foe of Communism, she brooked no argument that she considered menacing to the interests of the United States."
--Daily Telegraph, December 9, 2006
"Reagan called her 'a giant among the diplomats of the world,' and, once in the White House, appointed her as his UN Ambassador, a post she held for four years.
"An ardent anti-Communist, Jeane Kirkpatrick's views were dubbed the 'Kirkpatrick Doctrine;' the support for any anti-communist government in the world. Many of these were authoritarian regimes and this brought her into conflict with her western allies."
--BBC News, December 8, 2006
"Jeane J. Kirkpatrick . . . [was] a heroine of the Reagan revolution and of neoconservative political thought, beyond which she was a champion of anticommunism and democracy promotion. A student of international relations, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a vice president of Freedom House, Jeane Kirkpatrick was the John Bolton of her times."
--Il Foglio (Italy), December 9, 2006
Landmarks of Kirkpatrick's Life
- In 1985, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was awarded the Francis Boyer Prize. Her Francis Boyer Lecture was entitled "The United States and the World."
- Her landmark essay, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," was expanded into a full-length book.
- In the late 1980s and early 1990s, her newspaper commentary and columns on the worldwide collapse of Communism was collected in The Withering Away of the Totalitarian State . . . and Other Surprises, published by the AEI Press in 1990.
- In 1985, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.
- Her other awards include the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Pentagon's highest civilian honor; the Thomas Garrigue Masaryk Order, the Czech Republic's state decoration; the Hungarian Presidential Gold Medal; the Fiftieth Anniversary Friend of Zion award from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel; the Grand Officier Du Wissam Al Alaoui Medal, presented by the king of Morocco; the French Political Prize; and the Living Legends Medal, presented by the librarian of Congress.
Books by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
In the June issue of Financial Services Outlook, 