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''Human Events'' is an American conservative political news and analysis website. Founded in 1944 as a print newspaper, ''Human Events'' became a digital-only publication in 2013. ''Human Events'' takes its name from the first sentence of the
United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...
: "When in the course of human events...". The magazine was published in Washington, D.C., most recently by Eagle Publishing, the owner of
Regnery Publishing Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947, and is now a division of radio broadcaster Salem Media Group. It is led by President & Publisher Thomas S ...
, a subsidiary of Phillips Publishing. Thomas S. Winter was
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
and Cathy Taylor was editorial director of the print edition. As of 2021, the website is co-published by Jeff Webb and Will Chamberlain.


History

''Human Events'' was founded in 1944 by Felix Morley, William Henry Chamberlin, Frank Hanighen, and
Henry Regnery Henry Regnery (1912–1996) was a conservative American publisher who founded the newspaper ''Human Events'' (1944) and the Henry Regnery Company (1947) and published Russell Kirk's ''The Conservative Mind'' (1953). Jeffrey O. Nelson, 'Henry Reg ...
. Morley was previously editor of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' from 1933 to 1940. Regnery formerly worked for the
Resettlement Administration The Resettlement Administration (RA) was a New Deal U.S. federal agency created May 1, 1935. It relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government. On September 1, 1937, it was succeeded by the Farm S ...
, a
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...
-era federal agency. In its early years, ''Human Events'' was "a small-circulation weekly news sheet concentrating on foreign policy," wrote George H. Nash in ''The Conservative Intellectual Movement in American Since 1945''. ''Human Events'' had only 127 subscribers in its first year. Returning from a trip to Europe in 1949, Morley criticized the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, leading to disagreements with Hanighen and Regnery about combating Communism. After Hanighen and Regnery denied his proposal for sole editorial control of the magazine, Morley resigned as ''Human Events'' editor in 1950, a move that Nash recounted as " other product of the friction between Old Right and New Right." In 1951, Frank Chodorov, former director of the
Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...
School of Social Science in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, replaced Morley as editor, merging his newsletter, ''analysis'', into ''Human Events''. By the early 1960s, Allan Ryskind (son of Morrie Ryskind) and Thomas Winter had acquired the publication. Contributors to ''Human Events'' from the 1960s to the 1980s included Spiro Agnew, James L. Buckley, Peter Gemma,
Pat Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, ...
, Ralph de Toledano, Russell Kirk,
Phyllis Schlafly Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (; born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; August 15, 1924 – September 5, 2016) was an American attorney, conservative activist, author, and anti-feminist spokesperson for the national conservative movement. She held paleocons ...
, Murray Rothbard and Henry Hazlitt. By 1964, the circulation of ''Human Events'' surpassed 100,000 copies. During the
presidency of Richard Nixon Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
, ''Human Events'' became "perhaps the most influential conservative journal in the Washington political community," wrote Nash. Other regular writers included Robert Novak,
Ann Coulter Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of ...
, Terence P. Jeffrey, and John Gizzi, its chief political editor. Contributors have included Sean Hannity,
Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U. ...
, Paul Craig Roberts, Cliff Kincaid, and Pat Sajak. ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' reported that although ''Human Events'' did not have a large readership outside the Washington D.C. area, "the tough little tabloid enjoys an impact out of all proportion to its circulation". ''Human Events'' backed US military intervention in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
; after the war ended, the publication blamed American liberals for the collapse of South Vietnam. In July 1985, ''Human Events'' gave qualified support to
Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
South Africa, describing the country as "a pro- Western bulwark that provides more in the way of freedom and wealth to its blacks than the vast majority of black African states". ''Human Events'' also described
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...
as the main obstacle to peace in South Africa: "While President Botha is moving at a fast and furious pace to end the apartheid system, Mandela remains as adamant a revolutionary as ever. He's still a Marxist, still a man of violence, still a supporter of the Communist-run ANC". It was not without sympathy for the plight of blacks under the system however, giving black power activist
Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...
a thoughtful obituary. The perspective offered throughout was that Marxist rule in South Africa was the worst option, however bad others might be. Eagle Publishing placed the magazine up for sale in February 2013, when it announced that it would close the publication if no buyer could be found. On February 27, 2013, ''Human Events'' announced that, after 69 years, it would halt publication of the print edition but would continue to maintain the websites HumanEvents.com and
RedState ''RedState'' is an American conservative political blog. Prior to 2017, it organized "RedState gatherings", a summer convention for conservative activists and grassroots political activism which featured many prominent public figures in conserv ...
with original reporting. Eagle Publishing, which acquired the magazine in 1993, said that it had been subsidizing the publication for several years but could no longer afford to do so: "the realities of the 24-hour news cycle and the brutal economics of a weekly print publication have become insurmountable." ''Human Events'' printed 40,000 copies per week and had a staff of 15 full-time employees. A "restructuring" plan that involved layoffs had already been attempted but was insufficient to allow continuation of the print edition. In January 2014, Eagle Publishing was acquired by
Salem Media Group Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Irv ...
. In March 2019, political writer
Raheem Kassam Raheem J. Kassam (born 1 August 1986) is a British political activist, former editor-in-chief of ''Breitbart News'' London, and former chief adviser to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage. He has been described as far-right an ...
and lawyer Will Chamberlain purchased ''Human Events'' from Salem Media Group for $300,000 with a view of returning ''Human Events'' to regular online publication. On May 1, 2019, ''Human Events'' was re-launched under the management of Kassam as Global editor-in-chief and Chamberlain as publisher. On August 8, 2019, ''Human Events'' announced that Kassam was leaving the outlet, and the Editor-in-Chief responsibilities would be taken over by Chamberlain. In December 2020, ''Human Events'' announced that Jeff Webb, founder of Varsity Spirit, had been appointed as co-publisher and senior news editor, and that Webb and his team would build a daily news platform. In May 2021, ''Human Events'' announced that conspiracy theorist
Jack Posobiec Jack Michael Posobiec III ( ; born December 14, 1984) is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent and presenter, conspiracy theorist, * * * * and provocateur. Posobiec is known for his pro- Donald Trump comments on ...
had been hired as senior editor. In May 2022, ''Human Events'' announced that it had acquired '' The Post Millennial'', a Canadian conservative online news magazine.


Influence on Ronald Reagan

Biographer Richard Reeves wrote in 2005 that ''Human Events'' was former U.S. President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's "favorite reading for years". A loyal subscriber since 1961, Reagan said it “helped me stop being a liberal Democrat,” calling it "must reading for conservatives who want to know what is really going on in Washington, D.C." Reagan contributed some articles to ''Human Events'' in the 1970s. During the 1980 presidential campaign, Democrats released a document entitled "Ronald Reagan, Extremist Collaborator — An Exposé," in which, according to biographer Lee Edwards, " ong the proofs of Reagan's extremism was that he read the conservative weekly ''Human Events''." After Reagan's landslide win in the election, Reagan would occasionally write or call Winter or Ryskind. "''Human Events'', however, was no favorite of the new men around Reagan," writes Reeves. "Baker and Darman, and Deaver too, did their best each week to keep it out of the reading material they gave the President." "When he discovered White House aides were blocking its delivery, President Reagan arranged for multiple copies to be sent to the White House residence every weekend," writes Edwards, who adds that Reagan took care "marking and clipping articles and passing them along to his assistants." Just before his 1982 tax hike, Reagan met with what he called "some of my old friends from ''Human Events''" (he mentioned Ryskind and M. Stanton Evans), who warned him about "disloyal"
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
staff (in particular James Baker) who favored making a deal on taxes with the Democratic Congress. (Reagan subsequently made such a deal, in which for each $1 in higher taxes Congress promised $3 in spending cuts. Ultimately, both taxes and spending increased.) At the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, Reagan told
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...
that he could not give up the
Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons ( intercontinental ballist ...
because of "'the people who were the most outspoken critics of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
over the years’—he mentioned his favorite paper, ''Human Events''," according to Reeves, "‘They’re kicking my brains out’."


"Most Harmful Books" list

In 2005, ''Human Events'' published a list of the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries:" # '' The Communist Manifesto'', by
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Ge ...
'', by
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
# '' Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong'', by
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
# ''
Kinsey Reports The Kinsey Reports are two scholarly books on human sexual behavior, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'' (1948) and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' (1953), written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and (for ''Sexual Beh ...
'', by
Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...
# '' Democracy and Education'', by
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...
# ''
Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...
'', by
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
# '' The Feminine Mystique'', by
Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book '' The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
# '' The Course in Positive Philosophy'', by
Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
# ''
Beyond Good and Evil ''Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future'' (german: Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft) is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that covers ideas in his previous work ''Thus Spoke Zarathu ...
'', by
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
# '' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'', by
John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
Being voted on by two or more of their judges, twenty additional books received "honorable mention", including '' The Origin of Species'', by
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
; '' Unsafe at Any Speed'', by
Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...
; and '' Silent Spring'', by Rachel Carson.


"Conservative of the Year" award


References

;Sources * ;Notes


External links


HumanEvents.com
{{Salem Communications 1944 establishments in the United States 2013 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. Conservative magazines published in the United States News magazines published in the United States Online magazines published in the United States Weekly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Independent magazines Magazines established in 1944 Magazines disestablished in 2013 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. New Right (United States) Old Right (United States) Online magazines with defunct print editions Regnery family Salem Media Group properties