Human Events

Human Events is a conservative American political news and analysis newspaper and website. Founded in 1944 as a print newspaper, Human Events became a digital-only publication in 2013.

Human Events
Editor-in-chiefWill Chamberlain
FounderFelix Morley
Frank Hanighen
Henry Regnery
Year foundedFebruary 2, 1944 (1944-02-02)
Final issueFebruary 18, 2013 (print)
CountryUnited States
Based inWashington, D.C.
LanguageEnglish
Websitehumanevents.com
ISSN0018-7194
OCLC818923121

Human Events takes its name from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence: "When in the course of human events...".[1]

The magazine was published in Washington, D.C., most recently by Eagle Publishing, the owner of Regnery Publishing, a subsidiary of Phillips Publishing. Thomas S. Winter was editor-in-chief and Cathy Taylor was editorial director of the print edition.[2]

History

Human Events was founded in 1944 by Felix Morley, who was from 1933 to 1940 the editor of The Washington Post; Frank Hanighen; veteran journalist James Wick; and former New Dealer[3] Henry Regnery.[4]

In June 1949, Human Events published a letter written by Josée Laval, the daughter of Vichy France Prime Minister Pierre Laval and wife of attorney René de Chambrun, addressed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1948.[5][6][7] In the letter, she was critical of Churchill's support for the French resistance, and she suggested the firing squad who killed her father "wore British uniforms".[5][6][7]

In 1951, Frank Chodorov, former director of the Henry George School of Social Science[8] in New York, replaced Morley as editor, merging his newsletter, analysis, into Human Events.[9] In June 1953, Freda Utley wrote an article for the publication where she criticized the awarding of the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia, stating: "all that much-abused Neville Chamberlain did was agree to the self-determination of the people of the Sudentenland...which never would have been awarded to the Czechs if Wilson's Fourteen Points had been adhered to".[10]

By the early 1960s, Allan Ryskind (son of Morrie Ryskind) and Winter had acquired the publication.[11] Contributors to Human Events from the 1960s to the 1980s included Spiro Agnew, James L. Buckley, Peter Gemma, Pat Buchanan, Ralph de Toledano, Russell Kirk, Phyllis Schlafly, Murray Rothbard and Henry Hazlitt.[12] Other regular writers included Robert Novak, Ann Coulter, Terence P. Jeffrey, and John Gizzi, its chief political editor. Contributors have included Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Paul Craig Roberts, Cliff Kincaid, and Pat Sajak. Newsweek reported that although Human Events did not have a large readership outside the Washington D.C. area, "the tough little tabloid enjoys an impact out of all proportion to its circulation".[13]

Human Events backed US military intervention in the Vietnam War; after the war ended, the publication blamed American liberals for the collapse of South Vietnam.[14]

In July 1985, Human Events gave qualified support to Apartheid South Africa, describing the country as "a pro-Western bulwark that provides more in the way of freedom and wealth to its blacks than the vast majority of black African states".[15][16] Human Events also described Nelson Mandela as the main obstacle to peace in South Africa: "While President Botha is moving at a fast and furious pace to end the apartheid system, Mandela remains as adamant a revolutionary as ever. He's still a Marxist, still a man of violence, still a supporter of the Communist-run ANC". It was not without sympathy for the plight of blacks under the system however, giving black power activist Steve Biko a thoughtful obituary. The perspective offered throughout was that Marxist rule in South Africa was the worst option, however bad others might be.[17]

Eagle Publishing placed the magazine up for sale in February 2013, when it announced that it would close the publication if no buyer could be found.[18] On February 27, 2013, Human Events announced that, after 69 years, it would halt publication of the print edition but would continue to maintain the websites HumanEvents.com and RedState.com with original reporting. Eagle Publishing, which acquired the magazine in 1993, said that it had been subsidizing the publication for several years but could no longer afford to do so: "the realities of the 24-hour news cycle and the brutal economics of a weekly print publication have become insurmountable."[1][1]

Human Events printed 40,000 copies per week and had a staff of 15 full-time employees. A "restructuring" plan that involved layoffs had already been attempted but was insufficient to allow continuation of the print edition.[1]

In January 2014, Eagle Publishing was acquired by Salem Media Group.[19]

In March 2019, political writer Raheem Kassam and lawyer Will Chamberlain purchased Human Events from Salem Media Group for $300,000 with a view of returning Human Events to regular online publication.[20] On May 1, 2019, Human Events was re-launched under the management of Kassam as Global editor-in-chief and Chamberlain as publisher.[21] On August 8, 2019, Human Events announced that Kassam was leaving the outlet, and the Editor-in-Chief responsibilities would be taken over by Will Chamberlain.[22]

Influence on Ronald Reagan

Human Events was former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's "favorite reading for years," writes biographer Richard Reeves.[23] A loyal subscriber since 1961,[11] Reagan said it “helped me stop being a liberal Democrat,”[24] calling it "must reading for conservatives who want to know what is really going on in Washington, D.C."[25] Reagan contributed some articles to Human Events in the 1970s.[12] During the 1980 presidential campaign, Democrats released a document entitled "Ronald Reagan, Extremist Collaborator — An Exposé," in which, according to biographer Lee Edwards, "[a]mong the proofs of Reagan's extremism was that he read the conservative weekly Human Events."[26] After being elected President, Reagan would occasionally write or call Winter or Ryskind.[11]

"Human Events, however, was no favorite of the new men around Reagan," writes Reeves. "Baker and Darman, and Deaver too, did their best each week to keep it out of the reading material they gave the President."[27] "When he discovered White House aides were blocking its delivery, President Reagan arranged for multiple copies to be sent to the White House residence every weekend," writes Edwards, who adds that Reagan took care "marking and clipping articles and passing them along to his assistants."[28]

Just before his 1982 tax hike, Reagan met with what he called "some of my old friends from Human Events" (he mentioned Ryskind and M. Stanton Evans),[29] who warned him about "disloyal" White House staff (in particular James Baker) who favored making a deal on taxes with the Democratic Congress. (Reagan subsequently made such a deal, in which for each $1 in higher taxes Congress promised $3 in spending cuts. Ultimately, both taxes and spending increased.)[30]

At the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, Reagan told Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev that he could not give up the Strategic Defense Initiative because of "'the people who were the most outspoken critics of the Soviet Union over the years’—he mentioned his favorite paper, Human Events," according to Reeves, "‘They’re kicking my brains out’."[31]

"Most Harmful Books" list

In 2005, Human Events published a list of the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries":[32]

  1. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
  2. Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler
  3. Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, by Mao Zedong
  4. Kinsey Reports, by Alfred Kinsey
  5. Democracy and Education, by John Dewey
  6. Das Kapital, by Karl Marx
  7. The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan
  8. The Course in Positive Philosophy, by Auguste Comte
  9. Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche
  10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, by John Maynard Keynes

Being voted on by two or more of their judges, twenty additional books received "honorable mention", including The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin; Unsafe at Any Speed, by Ralph Nader; and Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson.

"Conservative of the Year" award
Year Choice Lifetime Position Notes
1998 Ken Starr b. 1946 Independent Counsel
1999 Ronald Reagan 1911–2004 President of the United States Also named "Man of the Century"
2000 William Rehnquist
Clarence Thomas
Antonin Scalia		 1924–2005
b. 1948
1936–2016		 U.S. Supreme Court Justices
2001 George W. Bush b. 1946 President of the United States
2002 John Ashcroft b. 1942 Attorney General
2003 Roy Moore b. 1947 Alabama Chief Justice
2004 John O'Neill b. 1946 Swift Boat Veteran
2005 Mike Pence b. 1959 U.S. Representative Former Governor of Indiana; current Vice President of the United States
2006 Jim Sensenbrenner b. 1943 U.S. Representative
2007 Rush Limbaugh b. 1951 Radio Host
2008 Sarah Palin b. 1964 Alaska Governor Also the 2008 GOP nominee for Vice President
2009 Dick Cheney b. 1941 Vice President of the United States
2010 Jim DeMint b. 1951 U.S. Senator Since April 2013, president of The Heritage Foundation
2011 Paul Ryan b. 1970 U.S. Representative Elected Speaker of the House in October 2015
2012 Scott Walker b. 1967 Governor of Wisconsin
2013 Darrell Issa b. 1953 U.S. Representative

    References
    1. "Valerie Richardson, "Stop the Presses! Human Events to shutter newspaper after 70 years," February 27, 2013". Washington Times. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
    2. "Cathy Taylor's Articles - Human Events". Human Events. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
    3. Robert McC. Thomas Jr. (June 23, 1996). "Henry Regnery, 84, Ground-Breaking Conservative Publisher". The New York Times.
    4. Gillian Peele, 'American Conservatism in Historical Perspective', in Crisis of Conservatism? The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, & American Politics After Bush, Gillian Peele, Joel D. Aberbach (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 21
    5. Pegler, Westbrook (July 23, 1954). "Of 'Human Events'". The Monroe News-Star. Monroe, Louisiana. p. 4. Retrieved August 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
    6. Pegler, Westbrook (June 23, 1954). "Pegler Tells France's Case Against Britain, U. S.". El Paso Herald-Post. El Paso, Texas. p. 16. Retrieved August 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
    7. Pegler, Westbrook (July 23, 1954). "As Pegler Sees It". The Kingston Daily Freeman. Kingston, New York. p. 4. Retrieved August 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
    8. "hgsss.org – Henry George School of Social Science". www.henrygeorgeschool.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
    9. Steeleman, Aaron (2008). "Chodorov, Frank (1887–1966)". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Cato Institute. pp. 62–63. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n41. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024.
    10. Human Events. June 24, 1953. Missing or empty |title= (help)
    11. Shirley, Craig (2005). Reagan's revolution: the untold story of the campaign that started it all. Thomas Nelson, Inc. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-7852-6049-3. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
    12. "Advertisement for Human Events". The American Spectator. February 1974. p. 29.
    13. Newsweek. September 6, 1971. Missing or empty |title= (help)
    14. "The liberal betrayal of Vietnam" Human Events editorial, reprinted in David L Bender and Gary E McCuen, The Indochina War : why our policy failed. Opposing Viewpoints series, v. 11. Greenhaven Press, 1975. ISBN 0-912616-36-9
    15. "Why Did Conservatives Join the Anti-South Africa Brigade?" Human Events, December 29, 1984. Cited in Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould, Rollback!: Right-wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy. Boston, MA : South End Press, 1989. (p. 86)
    16. "Such arch-conservative magazines as Human Events usually take the South Africa point of view in various controversies, or defend that country against criticism from American and other sources". Alfred O. Hero, Jr., and John Barratt The American people and South Africa : publics, elites, and policymaking processes. Lexington Books, MA, .1981. ISBN 0669043206 (p. 41)
    17. Human Events July 6, 1985, Cited in Piero Gleijeses, Visions of freedom : Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991. Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 2013. ISBN 9781469609683
    18. "Conservative magazine Human Events up for sale, could close". Politico.com. February 21, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
    19. "Salem Communications Buys Eagle Publishing". Retrieved 16 January 2018.
    20. Wemple, Erik (1 March 2019). "Breitbart alum to resuscitate Human Events". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
    21. "Salem Media Group Acquires Conservative Site PJ Media". Retrieved 1 June 2019.
    22. Events, Human (August 9, 2019). "Human Events Announces Changes to Leadership Team". Human Events.
    23. Reeves, Richard (2005). President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7432-8230-7. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
    24. Lee Edwards (February 5, 2011). "Reagan's Newspaper". Human Events. Eagle Publishing. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
    25. "HUMAN EVENTS: The Conservative Weekly". Conservative Advertising Network. Eagle Interactive. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
    26. Edwards, Lee (2005). The essential Ronald Reagan: a profile in courage, justice, and wisdom. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-7425-4375-1. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
    27. Reeves, Richard (2005). President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7432-8230-7. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
    28. Lee Edwards (February 5, 2011). "Reagan's Newspaper". Human Events. Eagle Publishing. Retrieved 5 February 2011. Cf. Reeves, Richard (2005). President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 25, fn. ISBN 978-0-7432-8230-7. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
    29. Skinner, Kiron K.; Anderson, Annelise; Anderson, Martin (2004). Reagan: A Life in Letters. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 595. ISBN 978-0-7432-7642-9. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
    30. Hayward, Steven F. (2009). The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980–1989. New York: Random House, Inc. pp. 210–12. ISBN 978-1-4000-5357-5. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
    31. Reeves, Richard (2005). President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 351–52. ISBN 978-0-7432-8230-7. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
    32. "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries - Human Events". May 31, 2005. Archived from the original on January 4, 2007. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
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