News
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a Duncan native who rose to become the United States’ first female ambassador to the United Nations, died Thursday at the age of 80.
"Jeane’s powerful intellect helped America win the Cold War,” President Bush said Friday. "She influenced the thinking of generations of Americans on the importance of American leadership in advancing the cause of freedom and democracy around the globe.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, described Kirkpatrick as "an unabashed champion of liberty.”
"President Reagan rightly referred to her as a ‘giant among the diplomats of the world,’” Coburn said.
Kirkpatrick died in her sleep at her home in Bethesda, Md.
The cause of her death was not immediately known, but she had experienced declining health in recent months.
Kirkpatrick accomplished much in her lifetime but is best remembered for serving as a U.N. ambassador, Cabinet member and National Security Council member under Reagan from 1981 to 1985.
Her appointment was an unlikely one, since she was a self-described "Hubert Humphrey Democrat” and "welfare state liberal” on domestic policy at the time Reagan reached out and selected her for the position.
Switching parties
It wasn’t until 1985 — four years after Reagan appointed her to the U.N. ambassador’s job — that she switched to the Republican Party.
Although Reagan’s appointment made Kirkpatrick a diplomat, her blunt remarks weren’t always considered diplomatic.
For example, in a 1982 speech to the Heritage Foundation, Kirkpatrick said the United States was "impotent” in the United Nations because "we simply have behaved like a bunch of amateurs.”
She went on to say the United States had been unable to express a cohesive national purpose, instead "stumbling from issue to issue almost on a Mad Hatter basis.”
Kirkpatrick’s plainspokenness made her a lightning rod for critics at times, but supporters considered it one of her most endearing qualities.
"She was comfortable standing up in the United Nations and representing America against all comers,” said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican who worked with her at the American Enterprise Institute. "She was comfortable arguing in the Reagan Cabinet against those who did not understand the need to defeat communism. In some ways, Jeane Kirkpatrick rivaled Margaret Thatcher as one of the most effective women warriors I have ever seen.”
Kirkpatrick considered running for president in 1988 but decided against it.
Oklahoma roots
She was born in Duncan in 1926 and lived her first 12 years there before moving to Illinois.
"I really loved Duncan, felt very strongly identified with it,” Kirkpatrick said in a 1981 interview with The Oklahoman. "In fact, it was the last place I felt very strongly identified with.”
During a 1987 Constitution bicentennial event in Duncan, Kirkpatrick credited her Oklahoma roots with preparing her to take on the Soviet bloc and nonaligned nations during U.N. debates.
"Everything about my Oklahoma childhood prepared me to find it difficult to sit quietly and listen to the United States being attacked day after day after day,” she said.
Kirkpatrick’s father, Welcher F. Jordan, was an oil-well drilling contractor, and his father was an early-day homesteader who crossed the Red River from Texas and settled near Walters.
She said in the 1981 interview that she and her brother, Jerry Dale, "grew up thinking the oil business was the most interesting thing in the world.”
"I never had any doubt at all that had I been male, I would have gone into the oil business, as naturally as night follows day. But it was not an option open to females.”
There is irony in her remarks, given her later accomplishments in the politics.
"Her appointment as the United States’ first female ambassador to the United Nations broke down barriers that previously existed for women in public service,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee. "Jeane Kirkpatrick was a devoted public servant who has had a great influence over our country’s foreign policy for the past three decades.”
"Jeane’s powerful intellect helped America win the Cold War,” President Bush said Friday. "She influenced the thinking of generations of Americans on the importance of American leadership in advancing the cause of freedom and democracy around the globe.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, described Kirkpatrick as "an unabashed champion of liberty.”
"President Reagan rightly referred to her as a ‘giant among the diplomats of the world,’” Coburn said.
Kirkpatrick died in her sleep at her home in Bethesda, Md.
The cause of her death was not immediately known, but she had experienced declining health in recent months.
Kirkpatrick accomplished much in her lifetime but is best remembered for serving as a U.N. ambassador, Cabinet member and National Security Council member under Reagan from 1981 to 1985.
Her appointment was an unlikely one, since she was a self-described "Hubert Humphrey Democrat” and "welfare state liberal” on domestic policy at the time Reagan reached out and selected her for the position.
Switching parties
It wasn’t until 1985 — four years after Reagan appointed her to the U.N. ambassador’s job — that she switched to the Republican Party.
Although Reagan’s appointment made Kirkpatrick a diplomat, her blunt remarks weren’t always considered diplomatic.
For example, in a 1982 speech to the Heritage Foundation, Kirkpatrick said the United States was "impotent” in the United Nations because "we simply have behaved like a bunch of amateurs.”
She went on to say the United States had been unable to express a cohesive national purpose, instead "stumbling from issue to issue almost on a Mad Hatter basis.”
Kirkpatrick’s plainspokenness made her a lightning rod for critics at times, but supporters considered it one of her most endearing qualities.
"She was comfortable standing up in the United Nations and representing America against all comers,” said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican who worked with her at the American Enterprise Institute. "She was comfortable arguing in the Reagan Cabinet against those who did not understand the need to defeat communism. In some ways, Jeane Kirkpatrick rivaled Margaret Thatcher as one of the most effective women warriors I have ever seen.”
Kirkpatrick considered running for president in 1988 but decided against it.
Oklahoma roots
She was born in Duncan in 1926 and lived her first 12 years there before moving to Illinois.
"I really loved Duncan, felt very strongly identified with it,” Kirkpatrick said in a 1981 interview with The Oklahoman. "In fact, it was the last place I felt very strongly identified with.”
During a 1987 Constitution bicentennial event in Duncan, Kirkpatrick credited her Oklahoma roots with preparing her to take on the Soviet bloc and nonaligned nations during U.N. debates.
"Everything about my Oklahoma childhood prepared me to find it difficult to sit quietly and listen to the United States being attacked day after day after day,” she said.
Kirkpatrick’s father, Welcher F. Jordan, was an oil-well drilling contractor, and his father was an early-day homesteader who crossed the Red River from Texas and settled near Walters.
She said in the 1981 interview that she and her brother, Jerry Dale, "grew up thinking the oil business was the most interesting thing in the world.”
"I never had any doubt at all that had I been male, I would have gone into the oil business, as naturally as night follows day. But it was not an option open to females.”
There is irony in her remarks, given her later accomplishments in the politics.
"Her appointment as the United States’ first female ambassador to the United Nations broke down barriers that previously existed for women in public service,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee. "Jeane Kirkpatrick was a devoted public servant who has had a great influence over our country’s foreign policy for the past three decades.”
