When young people apply for various programs in Washington, D.C., we’re often asked who in the conservative movement we admire. Ed Feulner is always one of my answers. Unlike many here at National Review, I didn’t know Feulner personally — but I attended quite a few of his talks, and took some seminars with him at Hillsdale College (our D.C. campus is directly across from Feulner’s brainchild, the Heritage Foundation).
There are many reasons to admire Feulner: His professional accomplishments, his dedication to the movement, and his unwavering defense of freedom are just a few. One of the main reasons for me, though, which may sound silly, was something he told a class of 20-something Hillsdale students: His favorite part of his busy life was at the end of each day, when he would come home to his wife.
Our great John J. Miller profiled Feulner a dozen years ago when Feulner retired from his longtime role as Heritage president (he later came out of retirement to serve as interim president in 2017–18). Read the piece here. At the end of their interview, Feulner returned to an “ever-present theme: why it’s wonderful to be a conservative right now, when the future looks so good.”
Feulner was one of the men who made the future look so good — for this young journalist, who once was a student afraid of beginning her career in a soulless political world, and for whom Feulner’s natural appreciation of God, country, and family was inspiring — as it was for so many. At my first Mass after moving to this soulless land, I saw Feulner and his wife in the front pews at St. Mary’s church. I hope he knew what it meant, to discover that your heroes preach what they live.