Herb Meyer – RIP

 

Herb Meyer, arguably the intellectual driving force behind Pres. Reagan’s policy to defeat the Soviet Union, passed away recently. That is a very great loss.

Tributes to Herb can be found here:

Regrettably, Herb’s wonderful books from Storm King Press no longer appear to be available as either iBooks or Kindle.

That needs to be remedied.

Many of Herb’s lectures can be found on YouTube – they are well worth watching. For example:

As an aside, I remember Herb commenting that the incoming President had best get early control of the CIA and the DOJ/FBI. Never a more prescient observation in light of the subsequent RussiaGate imbroglio.

Vale Herb – a very good friend that regrettably I never met in person.

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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    He was among the most generous Contributors here in discussions, often interacting with the community. His comments were both intelligent and friendly.

    • #1
  2. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Bigg,

    Very sorry to hear this news.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #2
  3. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    His son, Tom, was once our assistant editor. 

    The family is saddened and yet, at the same time, relieved. His passing came one day short of a full nine months since the accident. 

    For a look at podcasts and both articles by and about Mr. Meyer, click here.

    • #3
  4. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    My condolences to Tom and his family. I always learned a lot from Mr. Meyer’s posts and comments.  

    • #4
  5. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I admired and respected his work. At a time when the U.S. intelligence community was focused on managing and coexisting with the Soviet Union, he saw … something else. He received the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal for seeing it.

    God’s grace and peace to his family.

    • #5
  6. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    I didn’t know anything about him until listening to this podcast less than a year ago:

    http://ricochet.com/podcast/powerline/we-can-win-this-thing-revisiting-the-cold-war-with-herbert-meyer/

     

    • #6
  7. The Cynthonian Inactive
    The Cynthonian
    @TheCynthonian

    I heard him speak at a Hillsdale conference a couple of years ago, and he was fantastic.  What a loss to the nation.

    My deepest condolences to Tom and the rest of his family.  

    • #7
  8. Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Member
    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
    @tommeyer

    Thanks, @biggles, and everyone else. It’s been a horrible nine months and we’re mostly relieved that the worst is over.

    For Dad, this ended back in September. He likely lost consciousness as soon as he hit the pavement and never regained it (if you’re familiar with the Glasgow Coma Scale, he didn’t progress out of the bottom rung). The last thing he knew, he was a successful, happy, and loving guy just finishing up his morning bike ride. We always feared that he’d come back just enough to be miserable and we’re deeply grateful he was spared that hell.

    Obviously, though, we’re all heartbroken. If you think of every cliche of what a good husband and father should be, he was: kind, enthusiastic, keen to share/teach, protective, loyal, and able to hear you out and chew you out as appropriate. My mother, sister, and I had always known we’d hit the jackpot with him and we only wish we’d told him more often while he could hear us. We’ve had nine months to acclimate to the idea of him not being around, but we’re now figuring out the final reality of it.

    • #8
  9. Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Member
    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
    @tommeyer

     

    Regarding his career, I had just a few things I wanted to add. My Mom rightly pointed out that Dad’s successes came with a bunch of setbacks. It wasn’t a straight spot from journalism, to the CIA, to becoming a public speaker, and he had to reinvent himself several times. That he did it successfully several times made it look easy if you weren’t paying attention.

    Also, I wanted to share my two favorite public recordings of him.

    The first is what I still think is his best performance of all time: his keynote speech for what would have been CIA director Bill Casey’s 100th birthday. From the first joke to the last question from the audience, he’s simply on fire and so happy to be talking about his former boss.

    The second is — so far as I know — the last public recording of him, filmed about seven months before the accident. If you’ve heard him speak before, it hits on several of his favorite subjects: the achievements of Western Civilization, current demographic trends, the opportunity Islam has to join modernity, and the (negligently under-reported) fact that tens of millions of people are emerging from severe poverty each year. It’s a hell of a swan-song.

    • #9
  10. Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Member
    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
    @tommeyer

    As for the accident itself, we’ll never know what happened. He literally — and not in the Joe Biden sense — had done that ride thousands of times in the last 20 years. It’s unlikely a car was involved, but whatever happened happened faster than he could react. My suspicion is that he either had a mild stroke at the worst possible moment or that he swerved to miss an animal that darted onto the road but, again, we’ll never know. It doesn’t actually matter.

    If you’ve never been in a major trauma center, they’re the strangest damned places: Everyone there is having a terrible day, but that kind of unites you in a weirdly small-d democratic way. The doctors there can work miracles, but they can’t do it every time. People you’d never want to know become your close friends for a few days (no one stays long). Some leave happier than they went in, some leave heartbroken. You never know how it’s going to go and — to quote a great philosopher — “deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

    Long-term skilled-car facilities are, if anything, even tougher (Dad’s was among the best in the state for his kind of care, but it’s a hard business). Some of the patients on his floor had been there for years, and will continue to be for years more. A few of them didn’t have relatives or friends above ground and on the same continent and they sure weren’t making any more. Our vigil wasn’t the longest or the most painful; not by a long-shot. There are some wonderful organizations that help, but there’s only so much that can be done for people in that situation. If you can and have the inclination, though, there are some families who could use a hand.

    • #10
  11. Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Member
    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
    @tommeyer

    Two final things:

    1. Wear a goddamn helmet. Knowing that Dad always wore his helmet — and was a responsible cyclist in general — means we’ll never be mad at him for putting himself and us through that hell. Helmets can’t break the laws of physics, but his gave him a fighting chance. And without being too graphic about it, the helmet took a lot of damage that would otherwise have hit his face.
    2. Tell the people in your life you love them. You’ll never wish you hadn’t.
    • #11
  12. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Condolences to the family. We’ll miss him around here.

    • #12
  13. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen (View Comment):

     

    Regarding his career, I had just a few things I wanted to add. My Mom rightly pointed out that Dad’s successes came with a bunch of setbacks. It wasn’t a straight spot from journalism, to the CIA, to becoming a public speaker, and he had to reinvent himself several times. That he did it successfully several times made it look easy if you weren’t paying attention.

    Also, I wanted to share my two favorite public recordings of him.

    The first is what I still think is his best performance of all time: his keynote speech for what would have been CIA director Bill Casey’s 100th birthday. From the first joke to the last question from the audience, he’s simply on fire and so happy to be talking about his former boss.

    The second is — so far as I know — the last public recording of him, filmed about seven months before the accident. If you’ve heard him speak before, it hits on several of his favorite subjects: the achievements of Western Civilization, current demographic trends, the opportunity Islam has to join modernity, and the (negligently under-reported) fact that tens of millions of people are emerging from severe poverty each year. It’s a hell of a swan-song.

    Tom,  I was actually considering watching the Democratic debate when I came across your comment and posting of your Dad’s talk on Bill Casey and decided to watch it instead.  Turned out to be a good decision.  What a delightful and insightful talk.  And I enjoyed his comment about the appointment of John Brennan to head the CIA.

    • #13
  14. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    And I enjoyed his comment about the appointment of John Brennan to head the CIA.

    I was already going to watch it, but now I gotta.

    • #14
  15. Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Member
    Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
    @tommeyer

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Tom, I was actually considering watching the Democratic debate when I came across your comment and posting of your Dad’s talk on Bill Casey and decided to watch it instead. Turned out to be a good decision. What a delightful and insightful talk. And I enjoyed his comment about the appointment of John Brennan to head the CIA.

    • #15
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