| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
IN 1983, Ronald Reagan awarded James Burnham the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award. Reagan declared, "As a scholar, writer, historian and philosopher, James Burnham has profoundly affected the way America views itself and the world. . . . Freedom, reason and decency have had few greater champions in this century." With his characteristic smile and tilt of the head, Reagan added, "And I owe him a personal debt, because throughout the years traveling the mash-potato circuit I have quoted you widely." The award's recipient, then seventy-seven, was surely flattered. He was in declining health-his eyesight deteriorating, his short-term memory devastated by a stroke. His professional standing, too, was a far cry from the days when he had stirred up intellectual debate with books that assaulted conventional thinking.
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