Arnold Beichman

Arnold Beichman (May 17, 1913, New York City – February 17, 2010, Pasadena, California[1]) was an author, scholar, and a critic of communism. At the time of his death, he was a Hoover Institution research fellow and a columnist for The Washington Times. He spent much of his life as a crusader against communism.[2][3]

Beichman was born on New York City's Lower East Side, in Manhattan, in a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He received a BA from Columbia University in 1934, after which he succeeded his friend, Arthur Lelyveld, as editor-in-chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator.[4]

Beichman spent many years in journalism, working for the New York Herald Tribune, PM, Newsweek, and others.[1] He returned to Columbia in his 50s to receive his M.A. and PhD in political science, in 1967 and 1973, respectively.

He gave his name to "Beichman's Law", which states: "With the single exception of the American Revolution, the aftermath of all revolutions from 1789 on only worsened the human condition."[5] His Jewish father Solomon Beichman was unhappy, because he wanted Arnold to be a rabbi. [6] Beichman is the author of a book on Herman Wouk entitled Herman Wouk: the Novelist as Social Historian. Additional works include The Other State Department, Yuri Andropov: New Challenge to the West (coauthored), Nine Lies about America, Anti-American Myths: Their Causes and Consequences, and CNN's Cold War Documentary: Issues and Controversy.

The Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was in part funded by Beichman’s donations.[7]