Jeffrey Hart | |
|---|---|
 Hart in 2006 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Peter Hart (1930-02-23)February 23, 1930 |
| Died | February 16, 2019(2019-02-16) (aged 88) Fairlee, Vermont, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College Columbia University (BA,PhD) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1963–1993 |
| Employers | |
| Title | Professor emeritus |
| Political party | FormerRepublican |
Jeffrey Peter Hart (February 23, 1930 – February 16, 2019) was an American cultural critic, essayist, columnist, and Professor Emeritus of English atDartmouth College.
Hart was born and raised inBrooklyn, New York. After two years as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, he transferred toColumbia University, where he joined thePhilolexian Society and obtained hisB.A. (1952) andPhD, both inEnglish literature.[1][2]
During theKorean War he served inU.S. NavalIntelligence inBoston.[1][3]
After a short period teaching at Columbia, Hart became Professor ofEnglish literature at Dartmouth for three decades (1963–1993). Hart specialized in18th century literature but also had a fondness for modernist literature. His political contrarianism annoyed his faculty colleagues; when they were concerned aboutfossil fuels he made it a point to commute to campus in aCadillaclimousine.[4][5][6]
In 1962 he joinedWilliam F. Buckley's conservative journalNational Review as a book reviewer, requiring a trip fromHanover, New Hampshire toNew York City every other week.[5] Later, he would contribute as a writer and senior editor for the better part of the ensuing three decades, even as he fulfilled his teaching responsibilities as a professor at Dartmouth.[7]
Hart took a leave of absence from Dartmouth in 1968 to work for the abortivepresidential campaign ofGovernor of CaliforniaRonald Reagan. This role led him to briefly serve as aWhite Housespeechwriter forRichard Nixon.[5] After nomination by his former studentReggie Williams, Hart was honored with his college's Outstanding Teaching Award in 1992. He also received theYoung America's Foundation Engalitcheff Prize in 1996, among other academic accolades. In 1998, he served as a visiting lecturer atNichols College.[5]
The Dartmouth Review was founded in his living room in 1980, and he served as an adviser to it until his death.[3] He wrote a regular column forKing Features Syndicate[5] and retired from teaching.
He launched aBurkean critique of the policies of PresidentGeorge W. Bush in the pages of theAmerican Conservative, theWashington Monthly, andThe Wall Street Journal. Hart supportedJohn Kerry inthe 2004 election andBarack Obama in2008.[3][8][9]
He died on February 16, 2019, at age 88.[10][11]
In honor of Lionel Trilling
Without a deep knowledge of history, policy analysis is feckless.
Jeffrey Hart's The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times is both a memoir of his years at National Review and a prescription for the sort of conservatism he favors.
Jeffrey Hart'sMaking of the American Conservative Mind is a relaxed amble along conservatism's path to the present.
