Ernest Warren Lefever (November 12, 1919 – July 29, 2009) was an American political theorist and foreign affairs expert who founded the

Ethics and Public Policy Center The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is a conservative Washington, D.C.–based think tank and advocacy group. Founded in 1976, the group describes itself as "working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contempora ...

in 1976 and was nominated for a

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

post by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. After his nomination was rejected by the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

he formally withdrew his nomination.

Early life and education

Lefever was born in

York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the city's population was 44,800 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in ...

, on November 12, 1919. He grew up in a pacifist tradition and was ordained as a minister in the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...

. He attended Elizabethtown College, graduating in 1942. He attended

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

, where he was awarded a degree in 1945, later receiving a doctoral degree in

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...

from the school in 1956.Bernstein, Adam
"Ernest W. Lefever dies at 89; founder of conservative public policy organization"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', July 31, 2009. Accessed August 3, 2009. Immediately following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lefever worked for three years with prisoners of war from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

being held by the allied forces as a representative of the World's Alliance of YMCAs. While there, a visit to the remains of the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

turned him into a self-described "humane realist,” with his sight of "scattered rib bones in the red clay" convincing him of the tangibility of evil. He took a bone from the camp which he would show at lectures to explain his transformation. Professionally, Lefever served as a foreign affairs consultant to Hubert H. Humphrey when he was in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

, in a similar role with the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partners ...

and as a senior researcher at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

. In 1976, Lefever established the

to apply "the

Judeo-Christian The term ''Judeo-Christian'' is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bibl ...

moral tradition to critical issues of public policy" by defending "the great Western ethical imperatives—respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, individual freedom and responsibility, justice, the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, and

limited government In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal ...

." EPPC was criticized for accepting a $25,000 contribution from

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

while the organization was in the process of developing a report investigating medical care in developing nations, which was never published, in an alleged deal to minimize Nestlé's marketing of

infant formula Infant formula, also called baby formula, simply formula (American English), formula milk, baby milk, or infant milk (British English), is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, ...

in many of those countries.

State Department nomination

President Ronald Reagan nominated Lefever for a post as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in the Department of State. The 1981 nomination was cited by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' as an effort to appeal to "ultraconservatives" upset that Secretary of State

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

had failed to appoint conservative "hardliners" to his policy team. Lefever testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. should not act to "promote human rights in other sovereign states". Critics drew attention to his involvement with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and criticized remarks that contrasted regimes that supported the United States that he deemed "

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

" that should be the targets of "quiet diplomacy," stating that " r friends deserve quiet support and public encouragement in their quest for a more humane society" and that the US should be "a steadfast ally" without "moral posturing," and those that opposed the U.S. were deemed "

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

" and could not be the targets of change achieved through diplomatic means. Opposition to the nomination at Senate hearings came from

Jacobo Timerman Jacobo Timerman (6 January 1923 – 11 November 1999) was a Soviet-born Argentine publisher, journalist, and author, who is most noted for his confronting and reporting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War during a period ...

, a journalist from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

who had been tortured by that country's military government. ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine described Timerman as "a silent but nonetheless potent presence" at the hearings. Two of Lefever's brothers opposed the nomination, with Donald Lefever testifying that his brother was not up to the job, and the allegation made by the brothers that Ernest Lefever had supported

William Shockley William Bradford Shockley ( ; February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American solid-state physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brat ...

's views that "blacks were genetically inferior". Lefever was rejected by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which voted 13–4 to reject his nomination, with five Republican Senators joining all eight Democrats in rejecting the nomination.Martin, Douglas
"Ernest W. Lefever, Rejected as a Reagan Nominee, Dies at 89"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', August 4, 2009. Accessed August 5, 2009.via ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

''
"Lefever quits, Senate panel says he's unfit"
''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'', June 6, 1981. Accessed August 3, 2009. The post was ultimately filled by

Elliott Abrams Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for President of the United States, presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a ...

Personal life

A resident of

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the colloquial name of an area that includes a town, several incorporated villages, and an unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland; and one adjoining neighborhood in northwest Washington, D ...

, at the time of his death, Lefever died at age 89 on July 29, 2009, due to

Lewy body dementia Lewy body dementia (LBD) is an umbrella term for two similar and common subtypes of dementia: dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). Both are characterized by changes in thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. The ...

at a nursing home in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his wife, the former Margaret Briggs, whom he married in 1951, as well as two sons and four grandchildren.

References

External links

*
''Booknotes'' interview with Lefever on ''The Irony of Virtue: Ethics and American Power'', March 22, 1998.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefever, Ernest 1919 births 2009 deaths Deaths from Lewy body dementia Elizabethtown College alumni People from Montgomery County, Maryland People from York, Pennsylvania Yale Divinity School alumni Reagan administration controversies Deaths from dementia in Pennsylvania People from Chevy Chase, Maryland Ethics and Public Policy Center Maryland Republicans Neoconservatism New Right (United States)