Remembering Jeane Kirkpatrick

On Friday, December 8, 2006, America lost one of its most brilliant minds to ever have lived, and one of my personal heroes. I was especially saddened because I worked closely with Ms. Kirkpatrick in the office right next to hers at the American Enterprise Institute, where I interned for Newt Gingrich in 2004. She was gracious, visionary, humorous, confident, and an undisputed genious in the realm of foreign policy and international relations (not to mention she helped the US win the Cold War against the Soviet Union). With her passing, we have lost a truly great American.

Remembering Jeane Kirkpatrick
Heritage.org

Jeane Kirkpatrick, who served as America's ambassador to the United Nations from 1981 to 1985, passed away last Friday. She was a champion of international freedom, a firm defender of America's foreign policy and a true patriot. Her influence was incalculable.

"The world is completely different now than it was in the 1980s, thanks in large part to Jeane, her ideas and her skill in making them work," Heritage President Ed Feulner said in a statement. "In Great Britain, they call Lady Margaret Thatcher 'the Iron Lady.' In America, they should call Jeane Kirkpatrick 'the Steel Lady'—U.S. steel to be exact—for rebuilding an American foreign policy that's so strong, we still stand on it today."

Feulner continues: "With complete support from her friend, President Ronald Reagan, she developed foreign policies that pushed back against Soviet bullying in the U.N. and across the globe. She made the United Nations more effective, less anti-American and a better instrument to deliver people their God-given right to freedom."

In his 2004 book The March of Freedom, Feulner dedicated a full chapter to discussing Ambassador Fitzpatrick's impact on the conservative movement. You can read that chapter online in PDF format.