Jeanne Kirkpatrick, 1926-2006
Source: Getty Images, via The New York Times

The great Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who was the first to distinguish between totalitarian and authoritarian dictatorships, a key steps toward dividing and conquering the world’s tyrants and winning the Cold War, has died. She was only 80. Her work paved the way for democratic revolutions from the remains of the destroyed dictatorships and she will be forever remembered for that.

She was the great President Ronald Reagan’s capable and effective ambassador at the United Nations, and her wisdom and counsel thwacked sense into the U.N.’s bureaucratic sybarites. One of her leading turns of phrase was identifying and summing up a certain crowd of enemies as “blame America first.” She had Hugo Chavez’s number on that matter. In her era, the 1980s, she turned that UN bar scene from Star Wars upside down and shook out a lot of anti-American cockroaches, striking fear into all the tyrants.

To get an idea of how great a loss this is for those now at the UN who can appreciate here, you now have to go to the Mexican press. John Bolton, who was Kirkpatrick’s successor at the United Nations, and a tough guy in his own right, was publicly seen weeping. UPDATE: He was very close to her. He is the envoy who most nearly resembles Kirkpatrick in clarity and vision and opposition to tyranny in all its forms. The item, in Spanish, is here.

She was always taken seriously by the White House. A lifelong Democrat, she had a magnificent moral authority and standing.

She was one of the greatest democratic revolutionaries and she will be missed.

Scott at Powerline has a lovely short tribute to her, and his own memories of meeting here, in this fine item here.

Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary magazine, which first published Kirkpatrick’s great essays, has written the first beautiful tribute to Kirkpatrick and what she stood for. It can be read here. Hat tip: Lucianne. Wall Street Journal has a beautiful tribute to her here. IBD has an insightful tribute to her here.

My email is down, but soon as it’s back up, I will post an email I got from Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Norman Podhoretz speculates that she withdrew completely from public life after disillusionment with the current direction but that is not true. She fought the good fight up to the very end. The email I got was a mass letter she wrote, pleading with her rightwing friends to please quit splitting the opposition in Nicaragua and to everyone unite behind one candidate, like Montealegre, about a day before the Nicaraguan elections. The most important thing, she said, was keeping the odious Daniel Ortega out. It was a heartfelt note and I am glad I got it. As usual, the great Jeanne Kirkpatrick was right. The Oct. 30, 2006 appeal is here:

Dear Friend:

Americans are justifiably proud of the Reagan legacy in Central America: We stood by courageous democrats in that region to roll back Communism and give democracy and peace an opportunity to take root. Today, elected leaders of these small nations are working together to fortify a promising partnership based on free people and free markets.

Unfortunately, all of what we worked for is “up for grabs,” as Nicaraguans go the polls on November 5th. With the help of support from Hugo Chavez, Sandinista dictator Daniel Ortega is leading in the polls against a divided field. This unreconstructed Marxist can be defeated a fourth time — but only if the decent and able candidate Eduardo Montealegre gets the resources he desperately needs in the next few days to finish a credible and effective campaign. In short, your help is needed again to defend the security and prosperity of our neighborhood.

Most Nicaraguans are eager to look to a brighter future. Tragically, Daniel Ortega and his onetime foe, ex-President Arnoldo Aleman, entered into an infamous “Pact” a few years ago to rig Nicaragua’s fledgling institutions to ensure that these two strongmen can continue together to run the country with impunity.

Ortega has never been held accountable for his human rights atrocities and theft, and convicted felon Aleman faces an international arrest warrant for scandalous corruption. To escape accountability, this “odd couple” has stacked the deck in favor of Ortega by fielding an Aleman crony — Jose Rizo — in order to split the strong anti-Sandinista vote. Of course, Ortega is flush with campaign cash — with Venezuela’s firebrand president pumping in petrodollars to back his Sandinista comrade.

So this is the state of affairs: the most decent candidate — conservative, ethical, pro-American Eduardo Montealegre — has had the least resources to wage a decent campaign. Of course, if he is able to get his message out and demonstrate his viability, we are convinced that Mr. Montealegre can rescue Nicaragua from the two caudillos of the “Pact.”

But, he needs your urgent and generous financial support. Under Nicaraguan law, Montealegre can accept private foreign contributions with no limitations on the amount.

We urge you to join us in backing decent Nicaraguan democrats who are waging a valiant struggle for their future. Their success or failure will determine the future of Central America: We will either have viable, stable partners, or democracy and U.S. interests will suffer a significant setback.

Amb. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
President of the Helen Dwight Reid Foundation

Here is a link to Jeanne Kirkpatrick’s best-known and still-marvelous work -‘Dictatorships and double standards.’ Hat tip: RealClearPolitics.