2003 Mightier Pen Award: Abe Rosenthal

Legendary journalist and editor Abraham Rosenthal, over the course of his career, has been one of their most impassioned, articulate and effective champions of the world’s oppressed, suffering, and all those who love freedom and strive for its expansion around the globe. Today the Center for Security Policy is proud to thank him for his work and honor him as the 2004 Mightier Pen Award recipient.

Abe Rosenthal, as he was known to his friends, and A.M. Rosenthal as he was known to untold millions who admired his handiwork at the New York Times, in his syndicated column and recently as as a columnist for the New York Daily News is a truly extraordinary human being. He epitomizes the driven beat reporter, the fearless and intrepid foreign correspondent, the take-no-prisoners editor and the impassioned author of innumerable columns. In every position, he unflinchingly speaks the truth to power and “calls ’em like he sees ’em.”

He has spoken tirelessly for the victims of genocidal totalitarians, those who were often inconvenient and forgotten by policy-makers and those who had no representation in the councils of government. He savages phony solutions to real problems and their perpetrators. He has been a conscience for the time and, for serving as a hair-shirt, has been subjected to criticism and even ridicule by those he properly made uncomfortable.

The world is a better place for Abe Rosenthal’s long, steadfast efforts to make it so.