Lee Edwards

For the cricketer, see Lee Edwards (cricketer).

Lee Edwards
Edwards in 2011
Born
Lee Willard Edwards

(1932-12-01)December 1, 1932
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedDecember 12, 2024(2024-12-12) (aged 92)
Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
EducationDuke University
Catholic University of America
Occupation(s)Academic, historian, writer
Known forFounder of Young Americans for Freedom, Institute on Political Journalism and Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Spouse
Anne Edwards
​
​
(m. 1956; died 2022)​
Children2

Lee Willard Edwards (December 1, 1932 – December 12, 2024) was an American academic and author and a fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He was a historian of the conservative movement in the United States.[1][2]

Early life and education

Edwards was born in South Side, Chicago, on December 1, 1932.[3] Edwards said he was influenced by the politics of his parents, both anti-communist. His father Willard was a journalist for the Robert R. McCormick-owned Chicago Tribune.[4]

He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Duke University. Three decades later he received a doctorate in political science from the Catholic University of America.[5] His 1986 dissertation was entitled Congress and the origins of the Cold War, 1946–1948.[6]

Career

Edwards helped found Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in 1960, and then worked for the YAF magazine New Guard as editor.[7] In 1963, he became news director of the Draft Goldwater Committee.[7]

His publications include biographies of Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Edwin Meese, and Barry Goldwater,[8][9][10][11] and a work of history, The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America[12] and The Power of Ideas.[13] He acted as senior editor for the World & I, owned by a subsidiary of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.[14][15]

Edwards was the founding director of the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.[16] He was a past president of the Philadelphia Society and was a media fellow at the Hoover Institution.[17][18][19]

He was a distinguished fellow in conservative thought in the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation,[20] and as of 2011, was an adjunct professor of politics at the Catholic University of America and Institute of World Politics.[21]

Edwards co-founded the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation with The Heritage Foundation's founder and chairman, Edwin Feulner, and was appointed its chairman emeritus.[22] Edwards was a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.[23]

Personal life and death

Edwards and his wife, Anne, who assisted him in all his writing, lived in Alexandria, Virginia. They had two daughters and eleven grandchildren.

Edwards died at home in Arlington County, Virginia, on December 12, 2024, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 92.[24][25]

References

  1. ^ Hoplin, Nicole; Robinson, Ron (2008). Funding fathers: the unsung heroes of the conservative movement. Regnery Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-1596985629.
  2. ^ Regnery, Alfred S. (2008). Upstream: the ascendance of American conservatism. Regnery Publishing. p. x. ISBN 978-1416522881.
  3. ^ Edwards, Lee (30 October 2017). Just Right: A Life in Pursuit of Liberty. Published as an e-book in 2017 by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Skyhorse Publishing. ASIN B076HDX4WR. ISBN 9781610171458. LCCN 2017-044065. OCLC 1399167343.
  4. ^ Spalding, Elizabeth (16 September 2010). "Edwards, Lee". First Principles. Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Dr. Lee Edwards". omeka.binghamton.edu. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Congress and the Origins of the Cold War: 1946–1948". ProQuest.
  7. ^ a b Olmstead, Gracy (14 February 2018). "Lee Edwards: When the 'New Right' Was New". The American Conservative. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  8. ^ Edwards, Lee (27 January 2011). "Reagan prepared for the presidency in the political wilderness". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved 9 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^ Judis, John B. (24 September 1995). "The Man Who Knew Too Little". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  10. ^ Lopez, Kathryn Jean (12 May 2010). "Lee Edwards on His WFB Biography". National Review. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  11. ^ Edwards, Lee (2008). "Goldwater, Barry (1909–1998)". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 211–212. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n127. ISBN 978-1412965804. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024.
  12. ^ Piper, Randy (17 March 2005). "Gingrich VisionS – Winning The Future". US Progressive Conservatives. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  13. ^ Weisberg, Jacob (9 January 1998). "Happy Birthday, Heritage Foundation". Slate. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  14. ^ Annys Shin (3 May 2004). "News World Layoffs to Idle 86 Workers". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ "Good-bye to Isolationism". The World &nd I. June 1995. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  16. ^ "Former Fellow Lee Edwards". Harvard University Institute of Politics. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  17. ^ "2009 National Presentations". Philadelphia Society. Retrieved 9 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  18. ^ "Presidents of the Philadelphia Society". Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  19. ^ "William and Barbara Edwards Media Fellows by year". Hoover Institution. Stanford University. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  20. ^ "Lee Edwards, PhD". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Lee Edwards". The Institute of World Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  22. ^ "Board of Directors | Global Museum on Communism". Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  23. ^ "Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism – Press Release". Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  24. ^ "VOC Announces the Passing of Dr. Lee Edwards". Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Lee Edwards, Historian of the Conservative Movement, Dies at 92". The New York Times. 21 December 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Edwards on The Life and Times of Walter Judd, September 2, 1990, C-SPAN
video icon Q&A interview with Edwards on Just Right, December 24, 2017, C-SPAN