America lost one of her most articulate and courageous and generous defenders this week. Author, commentator, and polemicist Midge Decter was 94 when she passed away several days ago. She gave her best years and best efforts to supporting the values and institutions that have made America a beacon of freedom, and that are under attack from a political left that was as vicious towards her as it invariably is to the most gifted and effective of its opponents.

Midge was a warm and generous woman, as I have reason to know. When I turned my back on the left and came over to the right forty-odd years ago, she and her husband Norman Podhoretz were the first conservatives I sought out for advice. They welcomed me then, and remained wise counsels and loyal and supportive friends throughout the turmoils I experienced as a result of that transition. I will always be grateful for the support they gave me and for the example they provided to our country and its patriots in blazing a trail through the political minefields of the times.