Emmett Tyrrell Explained

Emmett Tyrrell
Birth Name:Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Birth Date:14 December 1943
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma Mater:Indiana University
Occupation:Journalist, editor

Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (born December 14, 1943) is an American conservative magazine editor, book author and columnist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The American Spectator and writes with the byline "R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr."

Background

Tyrrell was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised Roman Catholic. In 1961, he graduated from Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois.

He attended Indiana University, where he was on the swim team under coach James "Doc" Counsilman.[1] [2] While at Indiana University, he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, living in a chapter house where Steve Tesich resided. He also has a master's degree in American Diplomatic History.

Career

Arkansas Project

Tyrrell was one of those behind the Arkansas Project, financed by Richard Mellon Scaife, to improve the Spectators investigative journalism. He detailed the project's purposes and accomplishments in his 2007 book The Clinton Crack-Up: The Boy President's Life after the White House.[3] [4]

Forced sale

In 2000, government investigations of The American Spectator caused Tyrrell to sell the magazine to venture capitalist George Gilder.[5] In 2003, Gilder, having a series of financial and legal setbacks, resold the magazine back to Tyrrell and the American Alternative Foundation, the organization under which the magazine was originally started, for a dollar.[6] The magazine was initially called The Alternative. The name of the owner was changed to the American Spectator Foundation. The magazine then moved operations back to the Washington, DC, area. Later that year, former book publisher Alfred S. Regnery became the magazine's publisher. By 2004, circulation hovered at around 50,000.

1984 media appearance

A noted political commentator, Tyrrell appeared on a 1984 episode of Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr., in which he debated with Christopher Hitchens the premise that the liberal movement was a failure, as asserted in Tyrrell's book The Liberal Crack-up.[7]

Criticisms of homosexuality

Tyrrell was quoted in a 1994 article by New York Times contributor Dinitia Smith saying that homosexuals are bringing about "an end to community," and "AIDS is lethal, but they're forever trying to magnify a sensible point out of proportion. Heterosexual cases are practically nonexistent. The latest studies show that only 2 to 3 percent of Americans are homosexuals. Kinsey was wrong in saying it was 10 percent. There are thousands of years of moral teaching suggesting homosexuality is wrong."

Personal life

In 1972, Tyrrell married first wife Judy Mathews, with whom he had three children; they divorced in 1988. In 1998, Tyrrell married Jeanne M. Hauch at Holy Rosary Church, Washington, D.C.

Tyrrell is a practicing Catholic. He obtained a canonical annulment of his first marriage before his present union.

He served on the Board of Selectors of the Jefferson Awards Foundation.[8]

Tyrrell is the great-great-grandson of Patrick D. Tyrrell, an immigrant from Ireland and a detective in the United States Secret Service in the 1870s, involved in foiling the plot to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln in 1876.[9]

Awards

Works

Tyrrell has written for Time, the Wall Street Journal, the London Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times. He was also a media fellow at the Hoover Institution.

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/03/magazine/spectator-sport-r-emmett-tyrrell-jr.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm Spectator Sport; R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
  2. Web site: Indiana Daily Student: :: Swim team's legacy continues . Idsnews.com . 2015-05-13.
  3. http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13474
  4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifeside050299.htm Arkansas Project Led to Turmoil and Rifts
  5. Web site: The Life and Death of The American Spectator. November 2001 . The Atlantic. 25 September 2019.
  6. News: Kurtz. Howard. The News That Didn't Fit To Print. The Washington Post. June 10, 2002.
  7. Web site: Christopher Hitchens and William F Buckley Jr on Firing Line . .
  8. http://www.jeffersonawards.org/board Board
  9. http://spectator.org/archives/2007/05/07/family-resemblances/print Family resemblances
  10. Web site: National . Jefferson Awards . 2015-05-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101124043935/http://jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national . 2010-11-24 . dead .