Russell Kirk

Russell Kirk
Kirk in 1962.
Born	Russell Amos Kirk (1918-10-19)October 19, 1918 Plymouth, Michigan, U.S.
Died	April 29, 1994(1994-04-29) (aged 75) Mecosta, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Michigan State University Duke University
Notable work	The Conservative Mind Roots of American Order
Spouse(s)	Annette Courtemanche (m. 1963; d. 1994)
Website	www.kirkcenter.org

Era	20th century
Region	Western philosophers
School	Paleoconservatism
Main interests	Politics, history, fiction
Influences Edmund Burke J.R.R. Tolkien C.S. Lewis G.K. Chesterton John Henry Newman John Randolph of Roanoke T. S. Eliot Joseph de Maistre George Santayana
Influenced William F. Buckley Jr. Pat Buchanan Michelle Malkin Rick Santorum Jerome Corsi Antonin Scalia Robert Novak Mel Bradford John Derbyshire Roger Scruton

Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, and fiction author known for his influence on 20th century American conservatism. His 1953 book, The Conservative Mind, gave shape to the amorphous post-World War II conservative movement. It traced the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of Edmund Burke. Kirk was also considered the chief proponent of traditionalist conservatism.

Russell Kirk was born in Plymouth, Michigan. He was the son of Russell Andrew Kirk, a railroad engineer, and Marjorie Pierce Kirk. Kirk obtained his BA at Michigan State University and a M.A. at Duke University. During World War II, he served in the American armed forces and corresponded with a libertarian writer, Isabel Paterson, who helped to shape his early political thought. After reading Albert Jay Nock's book, Our Enemy, the State, he engaged in a similar correspondence with him. After the war, he attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1953, he became the only American to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters by that university.

Kirk "laid out a post-World War II program for conservatives by warning them, 'A handful of individuals, some of them quite unused to moral responsibilities on such a scale, made it their business to extirpate the populations of Nagasaki and Hiroshima; we must make it our business to curtail the possibility of such snap decisions.'"

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