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Frederick D. "Fritz" Wilhelmsen (18 May 1923 — 21 May 1996) was an AmericanCatholic philosopher known for his explication and advancement of theThomistic tradition. He also was a political commentator, assessing American politics and society from atraditionalist perspective, and a political thinker, addressing what he perceived to be the failings of secularliberal democracy. He principally was a professor at theUniversity of Dallas from 1965 to his death in 1996. He also taught at theUniversity of Santa Clara, theAl-Hikma University inBaghdad, theUniversity of Navarra inPamplona,Spain, and lectured and taught classes at many other universities. His Spanish students called him "Don Federico" while his American students called him "Fritz."^[1]

Wilhelmsen grew up inDetroit and began his higher education at theUniversity of Detroit. His time there was interrupted byWorld War II and he served as an army medic for three years. He went on to earn his BA from theUniversity of San Francisco in 1947, followed by his MA in Philosophy in 1948 at theUniversity of Notre Dame. He completed his PhD in Philosophy at theUniversity of Madrid in 1958.^{[citation needed]}

He was awarded aGuggenheim fellowship in Philosophy in 1956.^[2]

He was a prolific writer. He contributed articles to the following:America,The Angelus,The Commonweal,Faith & Reason,The Grail,The Intercollegiate Review,Modern Age,National Review,The Political Science Reviewer,Triumph,The University Bookman, andThe Wanderer, among others.^{[citation needed]}

He also was a founding editor ofTriumph, a Roman Catholic monthly that sought the sacralization of American society and organized the first anti-abortion rally in the United States.^[3]

In addition to assessingAmerican politics and society, he was inspired by and extensively reflected uponSpanish politics and society.Alvaro d'Ors, a notable Spanish political philosopher, wrote that Wilhelmsen, an American fromDetroit, was "the best interpreter ofSpanish traditionalism, a body of political thought also known asCarlism, after KingCharles V (Don Carlos)".^[4]

Wilhelmsen enjoyed a lively friendship and correspondence withMarshall McLuhan, who spent time at theUniversity of Dallas in the 1970s.

In 1993, he was honored with aFestschrift entitledSaints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen.^[5]

Wilhelmsen was reportedly uneasy about the reforms of theSecond Vatican Council, but accepted them and continued to support the Church.^[6]

From 1977 until his death, he taught atChristendom College,Front Royal, Virginia. He died on 21 May 1996 due toheart failure, after receiving thelast sacraments.^[6]

• Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man. A Study in Christian Integration. New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 1953.
• Man's Knowledge of Reality: An Introduction to Thomistic Epistemology. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1956.
• Omega: Last of the Barques. Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1956.
• The Metaphysics of Love. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1962.
• El problema de la trascendencia en la metafísica actual. Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, S.A. and Publicaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Navarra, 1963.
• El problema de Occidente y los cristianos. Seville, Spain: Publicaciones de la Delegación Nacional del Requeté, 1964.
• La ortodoxia pública y los poderes de la irracionalidad. Madrid-Mexico City: Ediciones Rialp, S.A., Colección O Crece o Muere, 1965.
• The Paradoxical Structure of Existence. Irving, TX: The University of Dallas Press, 1970.
• Así pensamos. "Published under the pseudonym "Un Requeté") Madrid: Editorial Tradicionalista, 1977.
• Christianity and Political Philosophy. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1978.
• Citizen of Rome: Reflections from the Life of a Roman Catholic. LaSalle, IL: Sherwood Sugden & Company, Publishers, 1980.
• Persona y sociedad, ed., Nilda E. Bonansea. San Luis, Argentina: Universidad Nacional de San Luís, 1984.
• Being and Knowing: Reflections of a Thomist. Albany, NY: Preserving Christian Publications, 1991.
• Under Full Sail: Reflections and Tales. Frasier, MI: Alcuin Press, 1996.
• Los saberes políticos (ciencia, filosofía y teología políticas). Presentation by Miguel Ayuso. Barcelona: Ediciones Scire, SL, 2006.

• (with Jane Bret)The War in Man: Media and Machines. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1970.
• (with Jane Bret)Telepolitics: The Politics of Neuronic Man. Montreal and New York: Tundra Books, 1972.

• Guardini, Romano.The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation. Trans. J. Theman and H. Burke. New York: Sheed and War, 1956.
• Seeds of Anarchy: A Study of Campus Revolution. Dallas: Argus Press, 1969.

• Allitt, Patrick.Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-1985. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.
• Ayuso, Miguel. "Frederick D. Wilhelmsen y España". Foreword to R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O.Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds.Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Ewbank, Michael B. "The Difference Diversity Makes". In R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O.Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds.Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Henry, Michael. Introduction to "Christianity and Political Philosophy," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2014.
• Herrera, R.A., James Lehrberger, O.Cist, and M.E. Bradford, eds.,Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Lee, Patrick. Introduction to "The Metaphysics of Love," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Lehrberger, O. Cist. James J. "Christendom’s Troubador: Frederick D. Wilhelmsen".The Intercollegiate Review (Spring, 1997): 52-55.
• Lehrberger, O. Cist. James J. Introduction to "The Paradoxical Structure of Existence," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Kirk, Russell. "An Adventurer-Professor". InConfessions of a Bohemian Tory. New York: Fleet Publishing Co., 1963.
• Marshner, William. Introduction to "Being and Knowing: Reflections of a Thomist," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Nash, George H.The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America. New York: Basic Books, 1976.
• Nelson, Jeffrey O. "Wilhelmsen, Frederick D". InAmerican Conservatism: An Encyclopedia, eds., Bruce Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Nelson, 921-923. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2006.
• Popowski, Mark D. "The Political Thought of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen." "The Catholic Social Science Review" 20 (2015): 21-38.
• Popowski, Mark D.The Rise and Fall of Triumph: The History of a Radical Roman Catholic Magazine, 1966-1976. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011.
• Santa Cruz, Manuel deAlberto Ruiz de Galarreta.Apuntes y documentos para la historia del Tradicionalismo español, 1939-1966. Madrid, 29 volumes, 1979-1991, volumes 22-II, 23, 25-I and II, 26 and 27.
• Schaefer, Thomas. "Up from Alienation: The Wilhelmsian Vision of the Human Person". In R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O.Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds.Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Schiller, Craig.The Guilty Conscience of a Conservative. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1978.
• Unsigned.Frederick Daniel Wilhelmsen (Eminent Professor and Catholic Intellectual): A Tribute from the University of Dallas. Irving, TX: University of Dallas, 1998.

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• Catholics from Texas
• 1923 births
• 1996 deaths
• Christendom College
• University of Dallas faculty
• American traditionalist Catholics
• American epistemologists
• American metaphysicians
• 20th-century American philosophers
• Thomists
• Carlists
• American expatriates in Iraq
• American expatriates in Spain
• Al-Hikma University (Baghdad) faculty

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