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Epoch Times
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
From Radical Leftist to Conservative Activist: Remembering David Horowitz
Commentary David Horowitz, the radical leftist-turned-conservative activist and author, The cause of death was cancer. Horowitz is Horowitz's influence was perhaps best summarized by conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat in a '[E]veryone who is a young person on the political right in the 1990s and early 2000s, as I was, has had at least one encounter with David Horowitz of one kind or another. Sixties radicalism definitely lived on in his postradical phase, I think it's fair to say.' While I never met Horowitz, I did have the opportunity to read his autobiography 'Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey' for a college final paper. Somewhat ironically, the book had been recommended by a famous left-wing professor at my university whose class on the history of the American Left I was taking. Related Stories 5/6/2025 5/8/2025 Reading the memoir would become a highlight of my college career. Horowitz was, at heart, a superb storyteller. The future journalist and commentator was born in Forest Hills, Queens, in New York City, in 1936, the grandson of Russian Jews who had immigrated to the U.S. His parents were high school teachers and devoted members of the American Communist Party. That all changed when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 issued his 'secret speech' that denounced former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin for crimes against humanity. The speech was leaked to the Western press, and it led the American Communist Party to Fulfilling the American dream, Horowitz would go on to attend some of America's finest universities. He graduated from Columbia University in 1959 with a degree in English, and he later earned a master's degree in the subject from the University of California at Berkeley. That was followed by a position at the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation in London. Horowitz eventually made his way back to the U.S., where In the 1960s, both Collier and Horowitz were devoted believers in left-wing causes. They wrote against the Vietnam War, and in his memoir, Horowitz recounts how the conflict became a foil for the Left's antagonism against the American way of life. '[The war] was not ultimately about Vietnam, but about our antagonism to America, our desire for revolution,' Horowitz also became acquainted with the Black Panthers during this period, in particular cultivating a friendship with the group's founder, Huey P. Newton. As Horowitz would tell it, he even helped A few months later, Van Patter would disappear, and her severely beaten body would be Van Patter's slaying was a point of no return for Horowitz's relationship with the American Left. 'In pursuit of answers to the mystery of Betty's death, I subsequently discovered that the Panthers had killed more than a dozen people in the course of conducting extortion, prostitution, and drug rackets in the Oakland ghetto,' Horowitz 'While these criminal activities were taking place, the group enjoyed the support of the American Left, the Democratic Party, Bay Area trade unions, and even the Oakland business establishment,' he continued. Horowitz would take his same zeal for justice that he had when he was on the Left to his work on the Right. He joined a rising group of former left-wing intellectuals in rejecting Marxism and socialism and supporting the policies of President Ronald Reagan. That took the form of publishing influential articles like ' The two men would go on to publish Horowitz was a pioneer in combating the Left in America, and today he has many imitators. He went on campus tours, where Horowitz even has some compatriots in academia with centers devoted to preserving and restoring Western civilization A major theme of Horowitz's memoir is the importance of family. Even when he was at the height of his left-wing political involvement, the journalist noted that his wife and children kept him more grounded than many of his peers. In an atomistic society, where Americans increasingly leave their homes for opportunities, and where digital interaction offers the false promise of genuine human connection, we could all do with holding our families a little tighter. Reprinted by permission from Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Los Angeles Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
The California crusades of commie-turned-conservative David Horowitz
Good morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day. I'm metro columnist Gustavo Arellano, writing from Orange County, California — not the one in Florida, New York or North Carolina. If there were a Mt. Rushmore of people who exemplified the California art of reinvention, author and commentator David Horowitz would be the face furthest on the right. The son of bona fide communists died last week at 86 as one of the most consequential figures in the modern-day conservative movement. He supported the Iraq war, accused Muslim activists of supporting a second Holocaust against Jews and claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump — and that's just a piece of lint on the ball of whine that was Horowitz's career (I'm a columnist, so I'm allowed to have opinions). The raspy-voiced provocateur reveled in demonizing his opponents. He perfected the politics of grievance and victimization — ironic, since that was the cudgel Horowitz accused opponents of employing — and relied on straw man arguments so much that I'm sure the Scarecrow from 'The Wizard of Oz' is wondering where his royalties are. He perfected his craft in the Golden State. His 1996 autobiography 'Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey' tracked the evolution of a red-diaper baby from working as an editor for the pioneering progressive magazine Ramparts and palling around with the Black Panthers to identifying himself as a 'Lefty for Reagan' to waging well-funded wars through his Center for the Study of Popular Culture (now called the David Horowitz Freedom Center) against anything with the slightest patina of liberalism. Long before the likes of Andrew Breitbart and my fellow former Daily Bruin columnist Ben Shapiro figured out that politics is downstream from culture, Horowitz was busy trying to conquer that realm. He assailed Hollywood while also offering salons for conservatives in the industry. He was a prolific writer of books and articles, and someone who lectured across the country with the zest of a circus barker. He especially tried to change the hearts and minds of young adults — or at least troll them. One of Horowitz's favored fronts was university campuses. He defended fraternities at Cal State Northridge and Occidental College accused of racism and sexism in the name of free speech. That's how I first heard of his work: As a student activist at Chapman University in the early 1990s, I wondered why so many of my friends loathed the guy who used to do the 'Fight Back!' consumer-fraud show my parents so enjoyed when I was a kid (their David Horowitz wasn't mine, alas). I was a senior in 2001 when Horowitz pulled off one of his most notorious collegiate projects. That spring, he approached student newspapers across the country and offered to buy full-page ads attacking reparations for Black Americans. Those who didn't take his money were accused by his supporters of squelching free speech; those who did were attacked by progressives for platforming a person they felt was a racist and inevitably apologized. The move made national headlines and allowed Horowitz to harrumph about wokeness before wokeness was even a term. 'I see the left as being at war with human nature,' he told The Times in a 1997 profile. 'The left thinks you can change people profoundly.' That same piece said opponents dismissed Horowitz as a 'bitter graybeard loon,' with legendary Times columnist and fellow Ramparts alum Robert Scheer sneering that Horowitz was 'fighting battles that most people don't care about anymore.' Well, we live in Horowitz's world now. His motto of 'begin every confrontation by punching progressives in the mouth' is gospel in the Trump White House. And his most famous acolyte has the president's ear: Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The teenage Miller invited Horowitz to speak at Santa Monica High School in the early aughts, entranced by his bromides against multiculturalism. Horowitz returned the favor by publishing Miller's essay 'How I Changed My Left-Wing High School' in his FrontPage Magazine. Miller then started a chapter of Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom at Duke as an undergrad. This ping-pong of flattery culminated with Horowitz connecting Miller to jobs on Capitol Hill before he joined Trump's 2016 campaign — and here we are. New polling has some bad news for Newsom The Real ID deadline is finally here The LAPD is investigating killings that went undiscovered Botched California State Bar tests L.A.'s $1-billion budget deficit National Endowment for the Arts cuts Facing an existential threat from President Trump, the NEA canceled grants for L.A. Theatre Works, L.A. Chamber Orchestra and other groups. The grant cancellations marked the latest salvo in Trump's battle to claim the landscape of American arts and culture, including his takeover of the Kennedy Center. What else is going on Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here. After the Eaton fire, they didn't think prom would happen. Now these teens are ready to dance. About 175 students from John Muir High School in Pasadena lost their homes in the January fire. For many, prom night offered a rare sense of normalcy. Other must reads How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Pan-Pacific Auditorium, exterior detail (Wurdeman & Becket, 1935) ,formerly at 7600 Beverly Blvd., photographed in 1988. Going out Staying in Lisa says: 'To work walking distance from where I live.' RW says: 'People won't believe a problem until they can see it.' Eve says: 'If everyone likes you, you aren't doing your job.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ , and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they're important to you. Today's great photo is from Getty Images' Evan Agostini of Janelle Monae at Monday night's Met gala. Have a great day, from the Essential California team Gustavo Arellano, California columnist Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
