It will still publish on the Internet, but I admit to a real sense of loss at the news that Human Events will be ending its print publication after 69 years of being a conservative voice in Washington.
The economics of publishing and distributing 40,000 copies of a print publication no longer made sense to Eagle Publishing, which has owned the paper for 20 years.
Human Events was founded in 1944 by some titans of the conservative movement: former Washington Post editor Felix Morley, journalist Frank Hanighen, and publisher Henry Regnery. It attracted many fans over the years, most importantly Ronald Reagan, who began subscribing to it, along with National Review and Reader’s Digest, during the years in which he rethought his politics. Reagan once said Human Events “helped me stop being a liberal Democrat.” Reagan biographer Richard Reeves noted that during his two terms in office, White House aides such as Richard Darman and Michael Deaver “did their best each week to keep it out of the reading material they gave the president.” Reagan responded by making sure multiple copies were delivered directly to his White House residence.
Allan Ryskind, Tom Winter, and John Gizzi have provided crisp and clear coverage of Washington for decades. Their voices will still be heard, but I will miss their names in print.