Charles Krauthammer died earlier today at the age of 68, only days after he told the world that his doctors had given him no more than a month to live.
That he is being grieved by people from across the political spectrum is a testament to the depth of a significant life lived well despite obstacles that would cripple most others.
He came to Washington a thoughtful liberal, writing for The New Republic in the days when it was still one of the country’s most challenging and intellectually entertaining magazines. Those who knew him in those days, or who, like me, first encountered him sparring with old-guard journalism lions like Carl Rowan and James Jackson Kilpatrick, recognized an unusual wit and a wonderful passion for discussion and debate.
There were two pivotal moments in Krauthammer’s life. First was the horrendous swimming pool accident, of course, in 1972, when he was just 22. The manner in which he overcame the physical and psychological challenges that followed this pivotal event revealed a depth of will that carried him through times of darkness that would defeat many other people.
The other pivotal moment was the ascendancy of Ronald Reagan to the presidency of the United States, which paralleled Krauthammer’s tenure in the Carter administration as a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale. It came as a shock to Krauthammer when he progressively found himself agreeing with Reagan, especially after the Californian took up residence in the White House.
Whatever internal struggles were involved, Krauthammer followed the logic and common sense he recognized in Reagan’s forthright assessment of the threat of the Soviet Union and collectivism to the values and nobility embodied in the American experience.
From then on, there was never any doubt where Krauthammer stood, as Reagan implemented the diplomatic and economic strategy that ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. I suspect Reagan’s adage about how he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left him, had a particular resonance for Krauthammer.
The rest of the story is familiar and encouraging to everybody with even the mildest passion for politics. Krauthammer was the intellectual anchor of the Fox News commentariat for years and a fixture on the masthead of The Weekly Standard, the intellectual magazine on the Right that most resembled his former liberal publishing home in its best moments.
Many are the tributes being heard tonight to this remarkable man, all of them well-deserved. My favorite experience with him came on the set of Fox News’ “Special Report” one evening in 2009. He had recently published an essay entitled “Decline Is A Choice,” which I then and continue to this day believe to be seminal.
As he took his regular place at the table, I complimented his essay and told him I expected it would still be read long into the future. He quietly said thank you and smiled, but I sensed he was a bit uncomfortable with such praise being offered in public. He knew to wear compliments like a loose shirt.
His thesis in the essay, which was adapted from a lecture he had delivered a few weeks before at the Manhattan Institute, was characteristically to the point and heavy with implications for policymakers.
In retrospect, it also gave the attentive reader a flash of insight into how Krauthammer had met his life’s difficulties:
“The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written.”
He continued, “For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. Two decades into the unipolar world that came about with the fall of the Soviet Union, America is in the position of deciding whether to abdicate or retain its dominance. Decline — or continued ascendancy — is in our hands.”
“Resist retreat as a matter of strategy and principle.”
He concluded the essay with a classical reference that was perfectly apropos and characteristic.
“There are things to be done. Resist retreat as a matter of strategy and principle. And provide the means to continue our dominant role in the world by keeping our economic house in order. And finally, we can follow the advice of Demosthenes when asked what was to be done about the decline of Athens. His reply? ‘I will give what I believe is the fairest and truest answer: Don’t do what you are doing now.'”
Krauthammer’s wisdom will stand the test of time.
Senior editor Mark Tapscott can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
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