"Peter W. Rodman, 1943-2008"
Scrapbook Peter W. Rodman, 1943-2008 Last week, when we were on our August hiatus, Washington lost a gentleman, scholar, and selfless public servant, Peter Rodman, at age 64. William...
...But we agreed even then that the outcome in Indochina was indeed disastrous, both in human and geopolitical terms, for the United States and the region...
...When he was stricken with leukemia, he had just about finished a book-length study of all the presidents under whom he had served—Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II—and what made them successful or not...
...And the residents of Long Branch will have deservedly won their long battle...
...But that was before everybody got tag-happy...
...Since when...
...Small government conservative,” in the popular prints, is becoming a synonym for “crackpot...
...He always put the country’s interests first, even at the expense of his own personal interests...
...In other words, he was a patriot...
...And then, a year ago, Shawcross and Rodman wrote an extraordinary and much-noticed joint op-ed on Iraq in the New York Times defending the effort to win in Iraq: One of us (Mr...
...A Long Branch city councilman also was sent to jail for taking bribes in an unrelated matter...
...We were puzzled until it dawned on us...
...It’s the “small government conservatives” who are the anomalies—or worse...
...I grew up as a small town boy in North Carolina . . .” (John Edwards, explaining his extramarital affair to ABC’s Bob Woodruff, August 8, 2008) ? European Defense Policy Update ‘LONDON—Nils Olav already has medals for good conduct and long service...
...He was also a remarkable analyst...
...Henry Kissinger’s extraordinary memoirs owe much—as Henry has always said—to Peter’s assistance...
...It was a remarkable decision, ruling both that it was impossible for any party to second guess the decisions of the municipal executives and that there had been no conflict of interest on the part of those same executives...
...Sentences We Didn’t Finish ‘Can I explain to you what happened...
...King Penguin Receives Norwegian Knighthood,” AP, August 15, 2008...
...Particularly worth rereading is Peter’s 1981 review in the American Spectator of William Shawcross’s book on the NixonKissinger Cambodia policy...
...Peter Rodman was a gentleman— thoughtful, courteous, with a subtle wit that went hand in hand with genuine kindness...
...His many articles and editorials for National Review repay rereading, as do the two pieces he wrote for us at THE WEEKLY STANDARD a decade ago (“Mullah Dearest,” June 16, 1997...
...U.N...
...Once upon a time all conservatives were understood to be “small government” types...
...William Kristol wrote of him on our website as follows: Peter spent about 20 years serving in difficult and sensitive positions in the White House, the State Department, and the Defense Department...
...Nevertheless, the homeowners fought back, taking the matter to court...
...In fact, the city of Long Branch had fallen on such hard times in the 1970s and ’80s that these homes were arguably one of the few parts of the town that weren’t blighted...
...They declared that not only had Lawson “misapplied the law,” but the city had failed to provide any “substantial evidence” that the houses it wanted to seize were blighted...
...Everyone who worked with him — and I did a little in the first Bush administration—knew that he was both remarkably able and genuinely public-spirited...
...He didn’t seek credit or look out for his own career prospects...
...It’s confusing...
...13, 2006, www...
...That’s no excuse in any possible way for what happened...
...Long Branch, Triumphant Long-time readers will recall the case of Long Branch, New Jersey—an especially egregious abuse of eminent domain powers described in these pages two years ago by Jonathan V. Last (“Razing New Jersey,” Feb...
...The only hitch was that, to invoke eminent domain, the city had to declare that the properties it wanted were blighted...
...Back then, what we now call big government conservatives were more commonly known by their rightful name: “liberals...
...This will be a posthumous gift from Peter...
...Not bad for a 3-foot tall penguin . . . [and] resident of Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland...
...The seaside town in North Jersey spent the better part of the ’90s working on a redevelopment plan designed to seize private homes near the beach and hand the property over to developers, who would then build luxury condominiums and townhouses on it...
...It is...
...And midway through the taking process, one of the developers was sent to jail for bribing officials in neighboring towns...
...And on Friday he was knighted...
...Such a declension in common meaning ought to worry conservatives, at least those who understand the phrase “big government conservatism” for what it is—an oxymoron—and know that “small government conservative,” properly understood, is simply a redundancy...
...Consider this sentence from an article last week in Politico: “The idea that there is a secretive plan for a North American Union is a favorite bogeyman for small-government conservatives...
...Scrapbook Peter W. Rodman, 1943-2008 Last week, when we were on our August hiatus, Washington lost a gentleman, scholar, and selfless public servant, Peter Rodman, at age 64...
...Do we deny the moon landing too...
...First of all, it happened during a period after she was in remission from cancer...
...Things looked dark in Long Branch as the homeowners appealed...
...Shawcross) published a book, Sideshow, that bitterly criticized Nixon administration policy...
...But one of these silly labels is showing unfortunate staying power— indeed “Big Government Conservative” has proved so popular that it has even spawned its opposite, the “small government conservative...
...1, 1997...
...This being New Jersey, the city officials were entangled with the developers in troubling ways...
...Paralysis,” Dec...
...This is what happened...
...Happily, on August 7, a three-judge panel in the appellate division unanimously reversed Lawson’s verdict...
...Today we agree equally strongly that the consequences of defeat in Iraq would be even more serious and lasting...
...weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/ Articles/000/000/006/669opxko.asp...
...When he left government, he was looking forward to years of thinking and writing...
...He made honorary colonelinchief of the elite Norwegian King’s Guard in 2005...
...The excitable men and women of our nation’s press get quickly bored and start inventing new tags for newly discovered groups: Homemakers become Soccer Moms and lose ground to Angry White Males as they slowly change into Nascar Dads, while Commuter Couples are transformed into Exurban Cowboys...
...Rodman), a longtime associate of Henry Kissinger, issued a rebuttal in the American Spectator, defending American policy...
...His 1994 book, More Precious Than Peace: The Cold War and the Struggle for the Third World, is a serious and penetrating study...
...Decades later, we have not changed our views...
...Peter’s critique is a masterpiece of its genre—and, with Shawcross’s reply and Peter’s further reply to Shawcross, the whole exchange is a model of engaged and serious high-level argumentation...
...Now there’s evidence that all conservatives are assumed by the mainstream press to be big government types...
...In June 2006, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson found in favor of the city on all counts...
...The other (Mr...
...And the property it wanted was occupied by middle-class families with charming homes...
...It was not to be...
...They are compelling—featuring lapidary and lively prose, mature judgment, and sharp insight...
...Small Is Crackpot It’s hard to keep up with political labels these days...
...The matter has now been kicked back to the trial court, but since the city cannot create new evidence of blight, their claim will likely collapse...
Vol. 13 • August 2008 • No. 46
