Michael Novak - Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative

Serious-minded elected officials must separate the wheat from the chaff. That is why Michael Novak is indispensable. His genuine civility and humility, clarity of thought, willingness to be challenged by facts, and love of America are evident to all who know him and therefore rely upon him Michael Novak is an American treasure.

Dan Lungren, former U.S. Congressman and California State Attorney General

Few men have combined the life of the mind and the life of action as completely, and consequentially, as Michael Novak. We see him, in this exhilarating memoir, moving naturally between philosophy and statecraft, collaborating with the deepest thinkers and boldest leaders of age. With George McGovern and Ronald Reagan, with Gabriel Marcel and John Paul II, Novak is always teaching and always learning. Watch closely and you will learn his secret: He grasped early on that the human person is the subject, not the object, of history and politics. Readers who pick up Writing from Left to Right expecting a partisan trope will be surprised and edified.

Christopher DeMuth, distinguished fellow, Hudson Institute

One of Americas greatest moral philosophersthe theologian of democratic capitalismrelives not only his own intellectual journey, but that of America: from the turbulent 1960s and 70s, through renewal in the 1980s, and into an uncertain future in which his wisdom can be our guide. An enriching experience to read.

Morton Kondracke, Roll Call

This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the politics and intellectual debates in the United States over the last half century. The evolution of Michael Novaks thought illuminates the changes the country has undergone as well as the fundamental moral and strategic issues we will face in the decades ahead.

Carl Gershman, president, National Endowment for Democracy

Michael Novaks life could have made a novelseminarian, witness to Vatican II, equally in the thick of the radical politics of the 1960s and the resurgence of conservatism in the 1980s, a favorite of John Paul II, an advisor and often friend to leaders as different as Robert Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, and both Bushes; and yet also a theologian and public intellectual whose books have influenced countless lives, including mine. His gentle voice comes through on every page of this recounting of a remarkable life.

Charles Murray, W. H. Brady Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and author of Coming Apart and The Bell Curve

The journey from liberal to conservativethis is the familiar saga of some New York Jewish intellectuals who made that journey half a century ago. Michael Novaks memoir is by an eminent Catholic intellectual, from a very different social, ethnic, as well as religious, background, who arrived at the same destination about the same time. It is a riveting tale of the events, characters, and, more important, ideas that helped shape his worldand ours.

Gertrude Himmelfarb, author of The People of the Book

An engaging, personable, and personal account of a muscular intellectual. Michael Novak draws us into the events and ideas that propelled his evolution in politics and economics. His insights and analysis are honest and help explain our nations recent social, political, and economic history. On a personal note, Michael knew my dad very well and understood his essenceJack Kemp was always a quarterback. I heard my dad praise Novaks work many times, and Michael and Karen were like family.

James Kemp, president, Jack Kemp Foundation

Copyright 2013 by Michael Novak
All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Image, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

IMAGE is a registered trademark, and the I colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

McGraw Hill: excerpt from A Time for Truth by William E. Simon. Copyright 1978. Reprinted by permission of McGraw-Hill Education. Paul Adams: excerpt from the blog Ethics, Culture, & Policy, http://ethicsculture.blogspot.com. Reprinted by permission of the author.

The author wishes to thank the following publications for allowing him to excerpt and adapt material from his previously published articles: American Spectator: He Called Me Friend (July/August 2011). Reprinted by permission of the American Spectator. Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs: Underpraised, Undervalued System first published in Worldview Magazine (July/August 1977). Reprinted by permission of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, www.carnegiecouncil.org. Commonweal Magazine: Marcel at Harvard (October 5, 1962) and Humphrey at Stanford (March 24, 1967). Reprinted by permission of Commonweal Magazine. Dow Jones & Company, Inc.: Breakthrough in Bern first published in the Wall Street Journal (June 4, 1986). Reprinted by permission of Dow Jones & Company, Inc., as administered by the Copyright Clearance Center. National Catholic Reporter: Vietnam Peace Candidate Bucks the Odds (August 16, 1967), Coups and Countercoups Are Bought with Money (August 23, 1967), Lieut. Commander Thong Was Killed Last Night (August 23, 1967), How to Cheat in an Election (September 6, 1967), and Dwight Hall Owen Jr. (September 13, 1967). Reprinted by permission of National Catholic Reporter, Kansas City, Missouri, www.ncronline.org. Transaction Publishers: the 2002 Introduction to The Open Church, the 1995 introduction to Unmeltable Ethics, and excerpts from Choosing Presidents (1991). Reprinted by permission of Transaction Publishers. The Weekly Standard: The Last Liberal: Sergeant Shrivers Life and Times (May 24, 2004) and The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatchers Virtues (April 22, 2013). Reprinted by permission of The Weekly Standard.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

eISBN: 978-0-385-34747-1

Jacket design by Jessie Sayward Bright
Jacket photograph: Paolo Gaetano Rocco/Getty Images

v3.1

For Karen,
my axis, my love,
at my side through all these adventures,
loved by all who met you.

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There is no way this book could have been written or completed without the assistance, in matters both of detail and of large design, of Elizabeth Shaw, my long-distance research assistant in Arlington, Virginia. Elizabeth was indefatigable in helping me find records and check facts and numbers, but more than that in the heavy editing involved in making substantial cuts to keep the book within an appropriate size. My good editor Gary Jansen suggested the shrewd strategic decision to focus on economics and politics rather than make it an all-around memoir. Loretta Barrett, longtime literary counselor and literary go-between (formally, agent), nurtured me all the way through with encouragement, hopefulness, and advice both strong and true. In the books early stages, Mitchell Boersma was also of important assistance, and Arielle Harms was a tremendous help in reviewing final proofs. And many, many others read earlier drafts, made good criticisms, and offered suggestions.