Sad news came down to us earlier today: Lee Edwards, a longtime and venerable pillar of the conservative movement, has died at age 92. Edwards’s career is impossible to summarize in this short tribute. But some of the highlights deserve mention. He was a signatory of the Sharon Statement and helped found Young Americans for Freedom. He worked on the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964. He was the author or co-editor of over 25 books, including biographies of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and William F. Buckley Jr. An inveterate anti-communist, he was the founding chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, whose tribute to him can give you a better sense of his many accomplishments.
Lee Edwards also had deep ties to National Review, to which he first contributed in 1958 (read the article here). He wrote his final article for us last year, and plenty in between. He also served on the advisory committee of National Review Institute’s Buckley Legacy Project.
This last role was especially fitting for him. In the time I was privileged beyond measure to spend with him, we discussed, among other things, the Buckley legacy. He stressed to me that he wanted to ensure that people did not forget how kind Buckley was. I must in turn emphasize Lee Edwards’s own kindness, expressed in myriad ways throughout his long life, both personally and professionally, to me and to countless others.
Over the next few days and weeks, I and others at National Review will have more to say about this great man; we will collect tributes below. We invite our readers to join us in honoring him, and in expressing condolences to his family.
Donald Devine: “Remembering Lee Edwards”
Matthew Continetti: “Lee Edwards, 1932–2024”
Jack Butler: “Lee Edwards, Luminary of the Movement”