Medford Stanton Evans (July 20, 1934 – March 3, 2015), better known as M. Stanton Evans, was an American writer, commentator and leader in the conservative movement. He was the author of eight books, including Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies (2007).
A theorist of the right, he was a leader in a number of conservative organizations, including chairman of the American Conservative Union from 1971 to 1977 and founder and leader of the National Journalism Center from 1997 to 2002. He died of cancer on March 3, 2015, in Virginia at age 80.
Early life and education Evans was born in Kingsville in Kleberg County in South Texas, the son of Medford Bryan Evans, an author, college professor at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and official of the United States Atomic Energy Commission,The Theme is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition by M. Stanton Evans , Booknotes, C-SPAN, February 5, 1995 and the classics scholar Josephine Stanton Evans."Josephine Evans, 97, former teacher," The Washington Times, June 3, 2005; cf. James B. Lloyd, ed., Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967 (University Press of Mississippi, 2009) , pp. 157–158 He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
Evans graduated in 1955 magna cum laude from Yale University, Phi Beta Kappa,"End of a Search", Time October 10, 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, followed by graduate work in Economics at New York University under Ludwig von Mises.M. Stanton Evans, "Government Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (June 1975)", hillsdale.edu; accessed March 3, 2015.
Journalism As an undergraduate, Evans was an editor for the Yale Daily News.Banner and Pot Pourri Yearbook – Class of 1954, Yale University, 1954, p. 132 (e-yearbook.com) It was at Yale that he read One Is a Crowd by Frank Chodorov. In The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, George H. Nash writes:
Upon graduation, Evans became assistant editor of The Freeman, where Chodorov was editor.Archive for Frank Chodorov, The Freeman The following year, he joined the staff of William F. Buckley's fledgling National Review (where he served as associate editor from 1960 to 1973),Sam G. Riley, Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995), p. 84; and became managing editor of Human Events, where he remained a contributing editor until his death.M. Stanton Evans profile , humanevents.com; accessed March 3, 2015.
Evans became a proponent of National Review co-editor Frank Meyer's "fusionism", a political philosophy reconciling the traditionalist and libertarian tendencies of the conservative movement.William F. Meehan, III (Apr. 17, 2008). "M. Stanton Evans" (profile). firstprinciplesjournal.com. Accessed Mar. 3, 2015. He argued that freedom and virtue are not antagonistic, but complementary:
In 1959, Evans became head editorial writer of The Indianapolis News, rising to editor the following year—at 26, the nation's youngest editor of a metropolitan daily newspaper—a position he held until 1974. In 1971, Evans became a commentator for the CBS Television and Radio Networks, and in 1980 became a commentator for National Public Radio, the Voice of America, Radio America and WGMS in Washington, D.C.Eugene G. Schwartz, American Students Organize: Founding the National Student Association after World War II: An Anthology and Sourcebook (American Council on Educators/Praeger Publishers, 2006), p. 804;
In 1974, he became a nationally syndicated columnist for The Los Angeles Times syndicate. Barry Goldwater wrote that Evans "writes with the strength and conviction and authority of experience."Fulton Lewis Jr., "Washington Report", Reading Eagle, November 17, 1961, p. 10 In a 1975 radio address, Ronald Reagan cited Evans as "a very fine journalist."Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson (eds), Reagan, in His Own Hand (Simon and Schuster, 2001), p. 364; In 1977, he founded the National Journalism Center, of which he served as director until 2002. The center sponsors young journalists getting established in the nation's capital. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media was among those who began their careers through Evans' auspices. In 1980, Evans became an adjunct professor of journalism at Troy University in Troy, Alabama,Troy University Journalism Symposium named in honor of M. Stanton Evans , troy.edu; accessed March 3, 2015. where he held the Buchanan Chair of Journalism.Professor M. Stanton Evans profile, jschool.troy.edu; accessed March 3, 2015.
From 1981 to 2002, he was publisher of Consumers' Research magazine. Evans expressed his journalistic philosophy as follows:
Political activism Evans was present at Great Elm, the family home of William F. Buckley in Sharon, Connecticut, at the founding of Young Americans for Freedom,M. Stanton Evans profile , Intercollegiate Studies Institute, isi.org; accessed March 3, 2015. where, on September 11, 1960, he drafted YAF's charter, the Sharon Statement.Rebecca E. Klatch, A generation divided: the new left, the new right, and the 1960s (University of California Press, 1999) , p. 21 Some conservatives still revere this document as a concise statement of their principles."The Sharon Statement would last as the late 20th century's single most elegant distillation of conservative principles." (K.E. Grubbs Jr., "The Magnificent Legacy of the YAF ," Investors Business Daily, September 9, 2010); "This statement of principles denies the basic premises of Progressivism and liberalism ... the concerns for liberty remain the same over the centuries.," , The Heritage Foundation.
From 1971 to 1977, Evans served as chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU).Statement of Principles : The Sharon Statement, American Conservative Union He was one of the first conservatives to denounce U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, just a year into his first term, co-writing a January 1970 ACU report condemning his record. Under Evans' leadership, the ACU issued a July 1971 statement concluding, "the American Conservative Union has resolved to suspend our support of the Administration." Evans often joked that he "never liked Nixon until Watergate."James C. Roberts, "CPAC Over 30 Years: Conservatives Have Come a Long Way," Human Events, February 3, 2003. Evans recycled this bit of what Roberts called his "droll, contrarian humor" at another conference two years later, when he objected to a co-panelist, self-proclaimed "unabashed ideological liberal" Rick Perlstein, characterizing Nixon as a "conservative," quipping: "I was never for Nixon until Watergate." Perlstein apparently didn't get the joke (Rick Perlstein, "'I Didn't Like Nixon Until Watergate': The Conservative Movement Now," Huffington Post, December 5, 2005), but the audience laughed. (Video: Barry Goldwater and the Modern Conservative Movement , "The Conservative Movement: Its Past, Present, and Future," The Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University, December 2, 2005, 9:00 a.m. "Unabashed ideological liberal" at 28:05; laughter at 42:26) (56K)
In June 1975, the ACU called upon Ronald Reagan of California to challenge incumbent Gerald R. Ford Jr., for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination.Our History , conservative.org; accessed March 3, 2015. In June 1982, Evans and others met with now-president ReaganKiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson (eds), Reagan: A Life in Letters (Simon and Schuster, 2004), p. 595; to warn him that the White House staff was undermining Reagan by making a deal with the Democratic Congress. (Reagan subsequently made such a deal in which for each $1 in higher taxes Congress promised $3 in spending cuts; Reagan delivered the tax hike, but Congress broke its promise and actually increased spending.)Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: An American Life (Simon and Schuster, 1990); , p. 314. Cf. Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980–1989 (Random House, Inc., 2009) , pp. 210—212
In 1974, upon leaving the now-defunct The Indianapolis News after 15 years, he taught journalism at Troy University in Troy, Alabama for more than thirty years. From 1977 to 2002, he led the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C., which was established with financial help from the conservative movement and brought promising beginning journalists to the nation's capital. He founded the Education and Research Institute. He was the president of the Philadelphia Society, a member of the Council for National Policy, sat on the advisory board of Young Americans for Freedom, and was a trustee of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).William F. Meehan, III, Evans profile, firstprinciplesjournal.com, April 17, 2008. He was an advisor to the National Tax Limitation Committee.Profile, limittaxes.com; accessed March 3, 2015.
Honors Evans was awarded honorary doctorates from Syracuse University, John Marshall Law School, Grove City College and Francisco Marroquín University.M. Stanton Evans, Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies (Random House, 2007); , "About the Author" (back cover) He is a past winner of two Freedom Foundation awards for editorial writing and the National Headliners Club Award for "consistently outstanding editorial pages.""Fact Finders to Hear Young Editor, Today," Palm Beach Daily News, May 4, 1962, p. 5 Evans was also awarded the Heartland Institute's Heartland Freedom Prize,"M. Stanton Evans to be honored at Heartland Institute's anniversary dinner", illinoisreview.typepad.com; accessed March 3, 2015. Accuracy in Media's Reed Irvine award for excellence in journalism,Alanna Hultz, AIM Honors Stan Evans, March 25, 2009 the American Spectator'''s Barbara Olson Award for Excellence & Independence in Journalism, the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs' John M. Ashbrook Award, the ISI's Regnery Award for Distinguished Institutional ServiceM. Stanton Evans , Intercollegiate Studies Institute and four Freedoms Foundation George Washington medals.M. Stanton Evans, "Unlearning the Liberal History Lesson: Some Thoughts Concerning Conservatism and Freedom" (March 1980), hillsdale.edu; accessed March 3, 2015. Troy University's Hall School of Journalism hosts an annual M. Stanton Evans symposium named in his honor. There is also the M. Stanton Evans Alumni Award.M. Stanton Evans Alumni Award , isi.org; accessed March 3, 2015.
Publications Books
Revolt on the Campus. Washington, D.C.: Regnery (1961). Also at HathiTrust.Miller, Marcella. Review of Revolt on the Campus, by M. Stanton Evans. Western Political Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 3 (Sep. 1962), pp. 549–551. . . The Fringe on Top: Political Wildlife Along the New Frontier. American Features (1963). The Liberal Establishment. New York: Devin-Adair (1965). The Politics of Surrender. New York: Devin Adair (1966). The Lawbreakers: America's Number One Domestic Problem. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House (1968).Holtzoff, Alexander. Review of The Lawbreakers: America's Number One Domestic Problem, by M. Stanton Evans & Margaret Moore. American Bar Association Journal, vol. 54, no. 11 (Nov. 1968), p. 1106. The Future of Conservatism: From Taft to Reagan and Beyond. Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1968). Clear and Present Dangers: A Conservative View of America's Government. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1975). . Civil Rights Myths and Communist Realities. Conservative Society of America (1965). The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition. Washington, D.C.: Regnery (1996).Smith, Ruth L. Review of The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics and the American Tradition, by M. Stanton Evans. Journal of Church and State, vol. 38, no. 3 (Summer 1996), pp. 654–655.