We all have to carry on what Jude started.
Gregory Fossedal, email, September 5, 2005
I called Jude for the first time thirty years ago, after he had published an editorial roasting the International Monetary Fund in the Wall Street Journal, and through him met Art Laffer and the rest of the supply-siders. It took me a dozen years to come over to Jude's viewpoint, and I joined Polyconomics as an economist in 1987, serving as Chief Economist from 1990 through 1993. I remain grateful for the opportunity he gave me, and fondly remember the firm's adventurous activity in those years: the MediaGuide, the Mexico 2000 project, the Russia project that never got the sponsorship it deserved, the forays into forecasting. With the passing of Robert L. Bartley, Jude's mentor at the Journal, and now Jude himself, a generation has passed that contributed to America's success in a way that never can be gainsaid.
David Goldman, email, August 30, 2005
Though I never had the opportunity to know Jude well, he did not let that stand in the way of inundating me with his massive intelligence and great spirit. In recent days he peppered my email with ideas about the Iraq disaster and what should be done. What a great and fascinating mind he had. America will miss him, as will I. We can only wish there were a few more like him. But, alas.
Gary Hart, email, August 30, 2005
We never agreed about taxes, gold, or Farrakhan, but I have enjoyed his correspondence and company over twenty years. He was a lively and charming man who poured his energy into what he believed to true and best for the country.
John B. Judis, email, August 30, 2005
Although we did not see each other frequently, I considered Jude a great friend. We talked from time to time and Jude was always witty. I will miss his e-mails.
Victor Canto, email, August 30, 2005
I was elected to the U.S. Senate after Muriel Humphrey declined to run for election in 1978 and met Jude shortly after the 1980 election catapulted Republicans like me into the majority for the first time in 26 years. We did well for six years because, among others, Jude's influence on President Reagan's fiscal and economic policies made a difference for all of us who decided "if not us who, if not now when."…Wanniski has been so right about many things. Especially, in recent times, his efforts to clarify the President's policy and practical failures in the war against international terrorism. Many of us foresaw this war in the mid 1980s when Bill Casey and I did the first national security policy and intelligence threat assessment all of which was foreseen, for none of which we prepared, and in response to which we raised the flag over the wrong castle and stormed the wrong ramparts…All hail Jude Wanniski. A true national hero. A man for his times and all of our times.
David Durenberger, email, August 30, 2005
I had the privilege of working with Jude on The Wall Street Journal editorial page from 1976 until he left to form Polyconomics, and I think there is no doubt that he was a major contributor to the Journal's stunning success in that era. What I loved about Jude were his faith in America, his zest for debate and his ability to frame an issue in a way that would both focus attention and make a case for constructive action. He helped to turn the WSJ editorial page into a national asset.
Tom Bray, email, August 30, 2005
I will miss Jude's missives, chiding and optimism. Jude often misplaced his optimism, but he was never without it. Jude was well informed, and he cultivated anyone who would listen.
Paul Craig Roberts, email, August 30, 2005
The first day I started work at the Senate Finance Committee (in 1979) a colleague pressed a copy of 'The Way the World Works' on me as a first order of business. Jude's work, and those of his colleagues who fought to redefine economic policy in the way we now call 'supply side', was of pivotal importance in shaping my approach to implementing the Reagan Revolution in tax and budget policy in the 1980's. Obviously I was not alone! The ascendance of free market economics worldwide owes as much to Jude as to any single individual.
George A. Pieler, email, August 30, 2005
For nearly twenty-five years Jude Wanniski has been my friend, despite the fact that we met in person only a few times and until recently never agreed on much of anything. In recent years, I came to admire him intensely, for principled, brave and clear-headed writing on foreign policy, in an active mind that covered so many subjects. I read him faithfully and with real affection, in the many areas where we shared convictions and also in those where we continued to disagree.
Dr. Jamie Galbraith, email, August 30, 2005
Jude Wanniski was a true genius-not always right in every particular - but invariably a mastermind at seeing the essence of a problem and understanding the nature of its solution. He was a pamphleteer extraordinaire, an agitator, a scold and a visionary-a modern-day Archimedes, with supply-side lever in hand forever in search of a place to stand and a fulcrum around which to move the world forward. Jude did indeed move the world, and we are all better off as a result.
Dr. Lawrence J. Hunter, email, August 30, 2005
Jude Wanniski was the Thomas Paine of the Reagan revolution. The whole Kemp family who knew Jude so well joins me expressing our sorrow. His voice of optimism, growth and democratic values will be no longer be heard, but his teachings will live on through his words, books, articles and his supply side university.
Jack Kemp, statement issued August 30, 2005
George Gilder, email, August 30, 2005
I made my acquaintance of Jude only last Spring as I invited him to a NATO seminar in Lisbon. His book preceded him. How cheerful he was and how useful were his comments!
As you probably know the Portuguese translation of "The Way the World Works" is complete and in process of revision. We hoped for a new Jude preface.
Jude is a loss for America because he was an indicter of injustice and a loss for all who knew him as a defensor of the common good.Mendo Henriques, email, August 30, 2005
I first met Jude Wanniski as a young member of a steering committee in Illinois for Jack Kemp's star crossed run for the Presidency in 1987. The Kemp tax cuts were surely a product of his consultations with Mr. Wanniski and I had the great opportunity as a young man in my early 30's to have a conversation with him regarding many of his economic theories.
His thoughts touched a nerve in me. I was born in a housing project to a single mother and had pulled myself up by my bootstraps in the Reagan boom of the 80's. I had grown up a Democrat like my parents but converted to Reaganism and the idea that growth was the key to our success as a country as well as the avenue by which millions like me could obtain the opportunity to make our lives better. Hope and opportunity are the driving forces behind the success of our system and our country and no one knew that better than Mr. Wanniski….I have stayed involved in the political process, running for the US House and Senate as well as trying to lead the Cook County Republican party out of the wilderness. Someday, maybe I will have the impact Jude had in leading us to a brighter future. He can certainly leave this world knowing he did have that impact, as many untold people like myself were given the opportunity to succeed thanks to the supply side revolution he instilled....John H. Cox, email, August 30, 2005
His life stands as an example of what a single human being can accomplish through the strength of will and purpose. Jude is among those special individuals in our time whose work will transcend his life.
Charles W. Kadlec, email, August 30, 2005
I knew Jude for nearly 40 years and enjoyed him both as a friend and colleague from The National Observer. He was terrific company and a vigorous, original, ground-breaking thinker. I didn't always agree with him but I often did and I always found him interesting, enlightening, thought-provoking, and God knows, never dull!
James R. Dickenson, email, August 31, 2005
I fought alongside Jude in the supply side trenches from the mid-1970s. He was at the Wall Street Journal, while I was on the Joint Economic Committee staff and then at the Reagan Treasury. Jude was our "Happy Warrior", bolstering morale and spurring on the troops. Without his influence and bully pulpit at the Journal, our small band would never have made the impact we did, or at least, not nearly so quickly.
Stephen J. Entin, email, August 31, 2005
It is my professional goal to implement into practice as many of Jude's teachings as I can. He literally made our world a better place.
Tim Shaw, email, August 31, 2005
Jude was the single most important influence ever on the way I view the world. He was the smartest person I have ever known. He was my neighbor on Shady Lane in Morristown and my best friend. It is impossible for me to express how much I loved Jude and how sorry I am at his passing.
Those of us who knew him were blessed beyond measure.
Wendell Wilkie Gunn, email, August 31, 2005
The book and ideas changed my entire outlook on the world.
Michael Horvath, email, September 1, 2005
We were all Jude's fans.
Dave Ranson, email, August 31, 2005
I came to know Jude for the last five years as a friend who has consistently tried with me and others to provide evidence of the illegality of the occupation of my country, Iraq. I shared with him and others important information to reveal the truth of what happened in Halabja, which we proved without a doubt, that it was Iran and not Iraq has committed that massacre.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Obaidi, email, August 30, 2005
He was such a brilliant man with a big heart, which was in the right place. He had much to teach all of us on both sides of the political spectrum.
Vic Fusco, email, August 30, 2005
Jude was a remarkable man, and very kind to me.
Peter Brimelow, email, August 30, 2005
He was a great friend and taught me a lot.
Senator Robert Bennett, letter, September 10, 2005
Jude always worked to make the world a better place.
Grace Marie Turner, letter, September 11, 2005
Jude meant so very much to me, and to us. His understanding and interpretations of the events of our day and of our time were, and are, unique.
Richard Gilder, letter, September 7, 2005
Jude has left us and it is such a great loss to all of us.
George Ayittey, email, September 19, 2005
Jude was always a good friend, a serious intellect, and a source of boundless energy. The world is emptier without him.Edith L. Bartley, letter, September 7, 2005
A great American who defended the underdog, challenged the brightest with literary might, loved people and loved his family more than life.
George and Ginger Petty, letter, September 2005
We respected, admired and loved him for his intellectual strength and firm belief in his strong principles. He was not looking for approval by the polls, but stated his firm beliefs based on knowledge and deep insights.
George Jellinek, letter, August 31, 2005
Wanniski, I believe, is a genius and as such is not always the easiest person in the world to deal with. And deal with people he does, because he is no cloistered journalist, much less an ivory tower economist. He is an activist who has sought, with spectacular success, to implement his views as policy. Then an unknown journalist, he offered this book "in the belief that the world's political leaders will find it of compelling usefulness in diagnosing and treating the maladies of the global polity." Enough of them did to alter the course of the world.
Robert Novak, introduction to the 20th anniversary edition of The Way the World Works
Cedric Muhammed, September 2005
In Jude Wanniski, I found an honorable man, whose heart, mind, and soul yearned to discover truth, and destroy lies and falsehoods. It is out of that spirit that he studied me and was passionate in his defense of me to those who formed their opinions based on the media, and not on facts and truth. I shall always be grateful to Almighty God Allah for his friendship.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, April 4, 2008
Dr. Robert Mundell, remarks written for a memorial dinner, September 7, 2006, given by his son Bill
President George W. Bush, September 2005