Harry V. Jaffa | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harry Victor Jaffa October 7, 1918 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | January 10, 2015 (aged 96)[5] Pomona, California, U.S. |
| Spouse |
Marjorie Etta Butler
(m. 1942; died 2010) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Yale University (BA) The New School (PhD) |
| Thesis | Thomism and Aristotelianism (1950) |
| Doctoral advisor | Leo Strauss |
| Influences | Walter Berns[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline |
|
| Sub-discipline | Political philosophy |
| Institutions | Ohio State University Claremont McKenna College Claremont Graduate University Claremont Institute |
| Notable students | |
| Notable works | Crisis of the House Divided (1959) |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
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Harry Victor Jaffa (October 7, 1918 – January 10, 2015) was an American political philosopher, historian, columnist, and professor. He was a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College, Claremont Graduate University, and was a distinguished fellow of the Claremont Institute. Robert P. Kraynak says his "life work was to develop an American application of Leo Strauss's revival of natural-right philosophy against the relativism and nihilism of our times".[6]
Jaffa wrote on topics ranging from Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and natural law. He was published in the Claremont Review of Books, the Review of Politics, National Review, and the New York Times. His most famous work, Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, written in 1959, has been described as a touchstone.[7][8] He wrote the controversial line in 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice".[9][10]
Jaffa was a formative influence on the American conservative movement, challenging notable conservative thinkers, including Russell Kirk, Richard M. Weaver, and Willmoore Kendall, on Abraham Lincoln and the founding of the United States.[11] He debated Robert Bork on American constitutionalism. He died in 2015.[12]
- ^ a b Arnn, Larry P. (2015). "Understanding the Good". Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 15, no. 1. Claremont, California: Claremont Institute. p. 14. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ Anton, Michael (2015). "Harry V. Jaffa: An Appreciation". Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 15, no. 1. Claremont, California: Claremont Institute. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ Uhlmann, Michael M. (2015). "Sure-Footed Intellectual Grace". Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 15, no. 1. Claremont, California: Claremont Institute. pp. 10–12. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ West, Thomas G. (2015). "The Problem of the Best Political Order". Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 15, no. 1. Claremont, California: Claremont Institute. pp. 13–14. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ The Claremont Institute (January 16, 2015). "Harry Jaffa Memorial Remarks". The Claremont Institute. California. Retrieved March 29, 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Kraynak, Robert P. (2015). "Harry V. Jaffa: In Memoriam—1918–2015". The Review of Politics. 77 (2): 169. doi:10.1017/S0034670515000017. S2CID 146924575.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Robinson, Peter (July 17, 2009). "Harry Jaffa's Affair With The Lincoln-Douglas Debates". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 24, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
- ^ Perlstein, Rick (2009). Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus. United States: PublicAffairs. pp. 390–391. ISBN 9780786744152.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Nash, Georg H. (1998). The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, Since 1945. Wilmington, Delaware: Intercollegiate Studies Institute. pp. 205–210. ISBN 1-882926-20-X.
- ^ Levin, Yuval (January 11, 2015). "Harry Jaffa, R.I.P." The Corner. National Review. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.