2002 Mightier Pen Award: Charles Krauthammer

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Charles Krauthammer received the Center for Security Policy’s Second Annual ‘Mightier Pen’ Award for his contribution to the public’s appreciation for strong national security policies.

The prolific Washington Post writer, whose columns appear in more than 100 newspapers, is a “national treasure,” in the words of Center President Frank Gaffney, who presided at the 5 September 2002 event.

In a letter to the Center, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld saluted Krauthammer, noting, “his keen insight and vivid capacity to communicate complex issues has facilitated public understanding of the importance of a strong national defense and in so doing, contributed to the security of the nation, proving that the pen can, indeed, be mightier than the sword.”

Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim joined the Center’s award ceremony, along with a hundred officials and friends. “What I think is significant about all of us getting together to honor ‘Charlie,’ as I knew him when I first met him, and ‘Charles’ as he’s now known, and to hear [2001 Award recipient] Mark Helprin speak is that basically this is a family,” Zakheim said. “We have been in the trenches together now well before Frank set up the Center for Security Policy.”

Helprin, a novelist and Wall Street Journal contributing editor, said, “He’s getting the award because — and listen to each one of these adjectives, because they are very accurate — he is brilliant, brave, steady, sagacious and true . . . . It’s an honor to pass on the award.”

In his acceptance speech, Krauthammer spoke of American leadership in the world. “I want to be clear: Unilateralism does not mean, necessarily, wanting to act alone,” he said. “Unilateralism simply means that we do not allow ourselves to be held hostage to the opinions and policies and preferences of others. We do what we have to do.”

“The way to achieve multilateralism is to be prepared to act unilaterally and, in those circumstances, if you are — as we are — the leading country in the world, you will then find coalitions aligning themselves behind you.”