Jeanne Kirkpatrick RIP

Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the UN, and one of the most prominent Reagan Democrats, has passed. The Great Lady has gone on, and we will all surely miss her principled reasoned approach to world problems.

kirkpatrick.jpgJeanne Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the UN, and one of the most prominent Reagan Democrats, has passed. The Great Lady has gone on, and we will all surely miss her principled reasoned approach to world problems.

Jeanne promoted liberty and perseverance at one of the darker times in America, when the Soviet Union was quietly darkening the face of the globe with world Communism.

This from her 1984 address to the Republican Convention:

The American people know that it’s dangerous to blame ourselves for terrible problems that we did not cause.

They understand just as the distinguished French writer, Jean Francois Revel, understands the dangers of endless self- criticism and self-denigration.

He wrote: “Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.”

 

From Wikipedia:

Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (November 19, 1926–December 7, 2006) was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign, she was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was the first woman to hold this position. She is famous for her “Kirkpatrick Doctrine,” which advocates U.S. support of anticommunist governments around the world, pitting authoritarian dictatorships against totalitarian regimes.. Along with Empower America co-directors William Bennett and Jack Kemp, she called on the Congress to issue a formal declaration of war against the “entire fundamentalist Islamic terrorist network” the day after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

Jeanne saw world events with clarity, and always spoke to the essentials, pragmatically asserting US interests in all things. We will certainly miss that clarity, Rest in Peace Jeanne.