Michael A. Ledeen, a prominent American historian and intellectual, passed away on Sunday at the age of 83 at his daughter’s home in Texas after a series of minor strokes. Ledeen played an active role in contributing to the fall of the and its Eastern European allies behind the Iron Curtain.

Ledeen was a special advisor on terrorism to Secretary of State Alexander Haig under President Ronald Reagan, and later a consultant for the National Security Council. David P. Goldman, an author and journalist, wrote that Ledeen’s “personal contribution to America’s victory in the Cold War is far greater than the public record shows.”

Goldman recounted that in 1983, the Reagan administration sent Ledeen, an expert in Italian history and fascism, to meet with Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi to persuade him to allow the U.S. to deploy Pershing missiles as a countermeasure to growing Soviet aggression. Goldman emphasized the “high trust that Ledeen commanded in the Reagan administration and the strategic role that he played.”

Following Italy’s agreement to accept the Pershing missiles, then-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, a Social Democrat initially hesitant for Germany to be the first to host them, conceded to Reagan’s request.

Leeden admired the anti-communist American philosopher Sidney Hook, who famously declared during the Cold War that “Freedom is a fighting word.”

Ledeen directed his staunch worldview towards new U.S. adversaries after the defeat of communism: , the totalitarian regime in North Korea, and various Arab and Latin American despots intent on destroying the U.S.

In 2003, while at the American Enterprise Institute as a resident scholar in the Freedom Chair, Ledeen commented on former President ‘s “Axis of Evil” (Iran, North Korea, and Iraq), noting that “Most commentators ridiculed the very idea of the Axis of Evil, just as they laughed at Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union as an Evil Empire…[and] somberly warned that such language was not only misguided but provocative.”

Ledeen emphasized that American leadership inspired dissidents in totalitarian regimes: “The greatest of the Soviet freedom fighters, from [Vladimir] Bukovsky to [Natan] Sharansky, have since written about the surge of hope they felt when they saw that the American president understood why they were fighting.”

He applied this same intellectual approach to what he considered the major threat of the 21st century: the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ledeen earned considerable respect from Iranian dissidents seeking to overthrow the theocratic government in Tehran, which the U.S. State Department identifies as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

His wife, Barbara, told Digital that her “only regret is that he didn’t outlive the regime.”

Leeden did not advocate military intervention in Iran, but sought to replicate Reagan’s anti-Soviet strategy for dealing with Iran’s clerical leaders.

He told in 2005 that the Western world, especially the United States, should support Iranian political prisoners and anti-regime demonstrations.

He told Hume that “We should be giving money to the various … Farsi-language broadcasters, some here, some in England, some in Sweden and so forth, some in Germany, to go on the air and share with the Iranian people the now-demonstrated techniques for a successful, nonviolent revolution.”

He popularized the phrase “Faster, please!” on his widely read blog at PJ Media to highlight the urgent need to dismantle America’s enemies and combat Islamist terrorism.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu honored Ledeen on X, writing that “Michael’s understanding of the American people and the Jewish people formed the basis of his abiding faith in the future of America and Israel and in our enduring alliance and friendship.”

Ledeen, born in Los Angeles in 1941, wrote extensively on national security, including “Perilous Statecraft: An Insider’s Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.” He received a Ph.D. in history and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was advised by historian George Mosse, who had fled Nazi Germany.

Ledeen mentored a new generation of academics, journalists, think tank scholars, and authors at his Chevy Chase home, which became an informal gathering place for intellectuals and foreign policy experts newly arrived in Washington, D.C.

He was also an accomplished bridge player, winning a national championship in the Truscott/U.S.P.C. Senior Teams. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, Simone, who was a deputy assistant secretary of defense during the first Trump administration, and his two sons, former Marine Corps officers Gabriel and Daniel.

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