Jack Kemp

The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America

By: Morton Kondracke, Fred Barnes

Narrated by: Morton Kondracke, Fred Barnes

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

"The purpose of politics is not to defeat your opponent as much as it is to provide superior leadership and better ideas than the opposition." (Jack Kemp)

The late 1970s were miserable for America. It was the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era, a time of high unemployment, ruinous inflation, gasoline lines, communist advances, and bottomed-out US morale. In the 1980s, it all turned around: "Stagflation" ended and nearly two decades of prosperity ensued. The Soviet Union retreated, then collapsed. America again believed in itself. And around the world, democratic capitalism was deemed "the end of history".

Ronald Reagan’s policies sparked the American renaissance, but the Gipper’s leadership is only part of the story. The economic theory that underpinned America’s success was pioneered by a star professional quarterback turned self-taught intellectual and "bleeding-heart conservative": Jack Kemp.

Kemp’s role in a pivotal period in American history is at last illuminated in this first-ever biography, which also has lessons for the politics of today. Kemp was the congressional champion of supply-side economics - the idea that lowering taxes would foster growth. Even today, almost no one advocates a return to a top income tax rate of 70 percent. Kemp didn’t just challenge the Democratic establishment. He also encouraged his fellow Republicans to be growth (not austerity) minded, open their tent to minorities and blue-collar workers, battle poverty and discrimination, and once again become "the party of Lincoln". Kemp approached politics the same way he played quarterback for the Buffalo Bills: With a refusal to accept defeat. Yet he also was incapable of personal attack, arguing always on the level of ideas. He regarded opponents as adversaries, not enemies, and often cooperated with them to get things done. Despite many ups and downs, including failed presidential and vice-presidential bids, he represented a positive, idealistic, compassionate Republicanism. Drawing on never-published papers and more than one hundred Kemp Oral History Project interviews, noted journalists Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes trace Kemp’s life, from his childhood through his pro football career, to his influential years as a congressman and cabinet secretary.

As the American Dream seems to be waning and polarized politics stifles Washington, Kemp is a model for what politics ought to be. The Republican party and the nation are in desperate need of another Kemp.

©2015 Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Jack Kemp was the most forward-looking, open-hearted, big-tented Republican of our time (save, perhaps, Ronald Reagan). In this beautifully written biography, Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes capture the energy, optimism, intellectual fire, and social conscience of this fascinating man." (Charles Krauthammer, author of Things That Matter)

"Jack Kemp was my mentor, and he inspired a whole generation of conservatives to think big. In this book, Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes write with the same infectious energy that Jack had. Jack taught Republicans to speak to people’s aspirations, and this is the story of how he did it. Anyone who wants to spark an ‘American Renaissance’ should read this book." (Rep. Paul Ryan [R-WI])

"I’ve long admired what Jack Kemp represented as an American statesman: the idea that reasonable people can come together, in spite of their differences, to advance policies that make America better. I was deeply touched by Jack’s personal interest in my own work, and I consider him a friend and a teacher. I hope more people are able to learn the lessons he helped teach me." (Senator Cory Booker [D-NJ])