Jeane (Duane Jordan) Kirkpatrick - Biography, Views, Books, Quotes

Political scientist and government official, born in Duncan, Oklahoma. She studied at Barnard College (1948) and Columbia University (1950), and gained work as a research analyst at the Intelligence and Research Bureau of the US State Department. A professor at George Washington University (1967–81), she was a Democratic activist and wrote Political Woman (1974). Opposed to President Carter's foreign policy, she switched parties, becoming America's first woman ambassador to the United Nations (1981–5), serving in the Reagan administration. She often strongly attacked Communist governments and her public profile made her a national political figure. She returned to teaching in 1985. In 2003 she was recalled into service by President George W Bush and sent to Geneva on a diplomatic mission concerning the imminent war in Iraq.

Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (born November 19, 1926) is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement. 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.

Biography

Born Jeane Duane Jordan in Duncan, Oklahoma, she graduated from Barnard College in 1948 after transferring from Stephens College, and received a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in 1968.

She became active in politics as a Democrat in the 1970s, and was active in the later campaigns of former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey. Kirkpatrick published a number of articles in political science journals reflecting her disillusionment with the Democratic Party, and was especially critical of the foreign policy of Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

In 1980, though still a long time Democrat, she became the foreign policy adviser for the Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, during his campaign. After winning the election, Reagan nominated Kirkpatrick as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for four years.

She was one of the strongest open supporters of Argentina's military dictatorship following the March 1982 Argentine invasion of the United Kingdom's Falkland Islands, which triggered the Falklands War.

At the 1984 Republican National Convention, Kirkpatrick delivered the memorable "Blame America First" speech, in which she praised the foreign policy of the Reagan administration and excoriated the leadership of the San Francisco Democrats for the party's shift away from the policies of former Democratic presidents such as Harry S.

In 1985 Kirkpatrick became a Republican and returned to teaching at the Jesuit Georgetown University.

Views

Comparing authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, she said recently:

Authoritarian regimes really typically don’t have complete command economies. The Nazi regime left ownership in private hands, but the state assumed control of the economy. A command economy is an attribute of a totalitarian state

Explaining her disillusionment with international organizations, especially the United Nations, she stated:

As I watched the behavior of the nations of the U.N.

Books

The Withering Away of the Totalitarian State -- And Other Surprises, 1992 (ISBN 0-8447-3728-3) Legitimacy and Force: National and International Dimensions, 1988 (ISBN 0-88738-647-4) International Regulation: New Rules in a Changing World Order, 1988 (ISBN 1-55815-026-9) Legitimacy and Force: Political and Moral Dimensions, 1988 (ISBN 0-88738-099-9) Legitimacy and Force: State Papers and Current Perspectives 1981-1985, 1987 (ISBN 9999962750) The United States and the World: Setting Limits, 1986 (ISBN 0-8447-1379-1) The Reagan Doctrine and U.S. Foreign Policy, 1985 (ISBN 999650591X) Reagan Phenomenon and Other Speeches on Foreign Policy, 1983 (ISBN 0-8447-1361-9) U.N. Under Scrutiny, 1982 (ISBN 99938-872-9-3) Dictatorships and Double Standards: Rationalism and Reason in Politics, 1982 (ISBN 0-671-43836-0) Presidential Nominating Process: Can It Be Improved, 1980 (ISBN 0-8447-3397-0) Dismantling the Parties: Reflections on Party Reform and Party Decomposition, 1978 (ISBN 0-8447-3293-1) The New Presidential Elite: Men and Women in National Politics, 1976 (ISBN 0-87154-475-X) Political Woman, 1974 (ISBN 0-465-05970-8)

Quotes

"What takes place in the Security Council more closely resembles a mugging than either a political debate or an effort at problem-solving." "When our Marines, sent to Lebanon on a multinational peacekeeping mission with the consent of the United States Congress, were murdered in their sleep, the "blame America first crowd" didn't blame the terrorists who murdered the Marines, they blamed the United States. - Speech delivered at the 1984 Republican National Convention "Because the miseries of traditional life are familiar, they are bearable to ordinary people who, growing up in the society, learn to cope and therefore accept the fact that wealth, power, status and other resources favor an affluent few while traditional autocrats maintain the masses in misery. - 1979 "When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies. They blame United States policies of 100 years ago. "Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world’s policeman;