Arnold Beichman
American author (1913–2010)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arnold Beichman (May 17, 1913 – February 17, 2010[1]) was an author, scholar, and a critic of communism.[2][3] At the time of his death, he was a Hoover Institution research fellow and a columnist for The Washington Times.
Arnold Beichman | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 17, 1913 New York City, US |
| Died | February 16, 2010 (aged 96) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Occupations | Author, scholar, anti-communist polemicist |
Life and career
Beichman was born on New York City's Lower East Side, in Manhattan, in a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, after which he succeeded his friend, Arthur Lelyveld, as editor-in-chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator.[4]
Beichman spent many years in journalism, working for the New York Herald Tribune, PM, Newsweek, and others.[1] He returned to Columbia in his 50s to receive his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science, in 1967 and 1973, respectively.
He gave his name to "Beichman's Law," which states: "With the single exception of the American Revolution, the aftermath of all revolutions from 1789 on only worsened the human condition."[5] His Jewish father, Solomon Beichman, was unhappy because he wanted Arnold to be a rabbi. [6]
The Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was in part funded by Beichman's donations.[7]
Publications
Books
- The "Other" State Department: The United States Mission to the United Nations — Its Role in the Making of Foreign Policy (1968)
- Nine Lies About America (1972)
- Foreword by Tom Wolfe.
- Introduction by Robert Conquest.
- Herman Wouk: The Novelist as Social Historian (1984)
- The Long Pretense: Soviet Treaty Diplomacy from Lenin to Gorbachev (1991)[8]
- Foreword by William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Anti-American Myths: Their Causes and Consequences (1992)
- Foreword by Tom Wolfe.
Books edited
- With Robert Conquest, John Lewis Gaddis and Richard Pipes.
Articles
- "Socialism: Dead or Alive? A Roundtable." The American Enterprise, July 1995, pp. 28–35.
- With David Horowitz, John O'Sullivan, Eric Breindel and Mark Falcoff.
- "The Lesser Evil." The Washington Post, November 4, 2004.