Claremont Institute

The Claremont Institute is an American conservative think tank based in Upland, California. The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa.[3] The Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, as well as other books and publications.

The Claremont Institute
Formation1979 (1979)
TypeNon-profit
Location
President
Ryan Williams [1]
Key people
John C. Eastman, Charles R. Kesler, Ryan Williams[1]
Budget
Revenue: $5,588,691
Expenses: $4,972,703
(FYE June 2016)[2]
Websitewww.claremont.org

History

The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Straussian political theorist Harry V. Jaffa, a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Graduate University, although the Institute has no affiliation with any of the Claremont Colleges.[3] Under Jaffa and Larry P. Arnn, the institute became a leading Straussian-influenced conservative think tank, publishing on topics such as statesmanship, Lincoln scholarship and modern conservative issues.[4] In the late 1990s, the institute launched projects aimed at "vindicating" the American founding fathers from progressive criticism on slavery and other issues.[5]

Arnn served as its president from 1985 until 2000, when he became the twelfth president of Hillsdale College.[6] Michael Pack served as president from 2015 to September 2017. Ryan Williams, who served as the organization's Chief Operating Officer from 2013, was named president in 2017.[6]

Trump administration connections

The institute was an early defender of Donald Trump.[3] The Daily Beast stated Claremont has "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump’s brand of conservatism."[7]

In September 2016 the institute's Claremont Review of Books published Michael Anton's "The Flight 93 Election" editorial. The editorial, written under a pseudonym, compared the prospect of conservatives letting Trump lose to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election with passengers not charging the cockpit of the United Airlines aircraft hijacked by Al-Qaeda.[8][9] The article went viral and received widespread coverage across the political spectrum. Rush Limbaugh devoted a day of his radio series to reading the entire essay.[10] Anton would later serve as President Trump's national security advisor from 2017 to 2018.[9]

In 2019, Trump awarded the Claremont Institute with a National Humanities Medal.[11][12]

The institute caused controversy by granting a fellowship in 2019 to the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.[13][14][15] Mona Charen wrote in the conservative National Review that "Claremont stands out for beclowning itself with this embrace of the smarmy underside of American politics."[13] Slate magazine in 2020 called the institute "a racist fever swamp with deep connections to the conspiratorial alt-right," citing Posobiec's fellowship and the publication of a 2020 "birther" essay by senior fellow John Eastman.[16]

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the institute received between $350,000 and $1 million in federally backed small business loans from Chain Bridge Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The institute stated this would allow it to retain 29 jobs.[7][17]

Staff

Publications

The Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, a quarterly journal of political thought and statesmanship founded in 2000. The CRB is edited by Charles R. Kesler and features regular columns by Boston College faculty member Martha Bayles, as well as novelist and journalist Mark Helprin.

The Institute also publishes The American Mind, an online publication “dedicated to the ideas that drive our political life.” Claremont Vice President of Education Matt Peterson serves as editor, and James Poulos serves as executive editor.[18]

It also publishes reprints of Jaffa's works.

Programs

The Claremont Institute has several programs, including the Publius program, the Lincoln fellowship, and the John Marshall Fellowship,[19]

Recent Lincoln Fellowships have gone to figures such as Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec, talk radio host Mark Levin, Delaware politician Christine O'Donnell, former California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, now a vice president with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, political commentator Carol Platt Liebau, and editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez.[20][13][21]

The Claremont Institute gives out the Ronald Reagan Freedom Medallion. 2010 Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle received the medallion in 2004, a year after she hired John C. Eastman of the Claremont Institute to fight the Supreme Court of the United States decision when then Governor Kenny Guinn sued the Nevada Legislature to nullify the Constitution of Nevada and allow a simple majority of the legislature to pass an $836 million tax increase in Angle v. Guinn.[22] In 2006, the Supreme Court of Nevada reversed its 2003 decision and restored the Nevada Constitution's two-thirds vote provision.[23]

References
  1. "Leadership". The Claremont Institute. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. "Claremont Institute" (PDF). Foundation Center. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  3. "Trump speechwriter's ouster sparks racially charged debate". Politico. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  4. "The Claremont Institute". The National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  5. West, Thomas G., 1945- (1997). Vindicating the founders : race, sex, class, and justice in the origins of America. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4422-1027-1. OCLC 818659268.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. "Claremont Institute Announces Ryan Williams As New President". The Federalist. July 18, 2017.
  7. "Trump's Small Biz Rescue Bailed Out Kushner's Family, Obama's Aides and Other Political Elite". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. Schuessler, Jennifer (2017-02-20). "'Charge the Cockpit or You Die': Behind an Incendiary Case for Trump (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  9. "Trump's national security spokesman Michael Anton is resigning". CNBC. 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  10. The Editors. "'After the Flight 93 Election' by Michael Anton". RealClearBooks. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  11. "The Claremont Institute". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  12. "White House announces first National Medal of Arts recipients of Trump administration: Jon Voight, more". USA TODAY. November 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  13. Charen, Mona (12 July 2019). "Claremont's New Class of Fellows Would Make Its Founders Weep". National Review Online. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  14. Stuart, Gwynedd (2020-09-10). "Donald Trump's Politics of White Fear Have Roots in Southern California". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  15. "Qwazy for QAnon". The Bulwark. 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  16. Stern, Mark Joseph (2020-08-14). "The White Supremacist "Scholars" Pushing the Kamala Harris Birther Lie". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  17. Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek. "CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY - Coronavirus Bailouts - ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  18. "About". The American Mind. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  19. "John Marshall Fellowship". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  20. "Former Lincoln Fellows". Claremont Institute. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  21. Heilbrunn, Jacob (2019-07-18). "National Conservatism: Retrofitting Trump's GOP with a Veneer of Ideas". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  22. "541 US 957 Angle Nevada State Assembly Member et al. v. Guinn Governor of Nevada et al". Open Jurist. March 22, 2004. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  23. Whaley, Sean (September 12, 2006). "Court reverses opinion from '03". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
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