Nat Hentoff \u2013 beloved civil libertarian, Constitution expert, author, columnist and jazz writer \u2013 whose work spanned seven decades \u2013 has died. He was 91.
Hentoff, a WND weekly columnist since 2008, offered in his writing a compelling but unique mix of Americanism, undying reverence for the Bill of Rights and an uncompromising opposition to state-sanctioned killing \u2013 whether of the innocent in the womb or the convicted on death row.
\u201cKnowing Nat Hentoff has been one of the biggest personal blessings I have experienced through my 40-year journalism career,\u201d said WND Editor Joseph Farah. \u201cI admired his work tremendously, first as a young radical left-winger and later as a born-again Christian liberty lover and founder of WND.com. I was surprised that the lifelong progressive became one of WND\u2019s staunchest defenders and advocates. That\u2019s because Nat truly loved liberty and people who were willing to fight for it. He always championed the underdog, and that showed through his commitment to life as well as liberty. I will miss his counsel. I will miss his optimism. And I will miss his friendship.\u201d
Born in 1925 to Jewish parents in Boston, Massachusetts \u2013 which he called \u201cthe most anti-Semitic city in the country\u201d \u2013 Hentoff graduated from the Boston Latin School and earned a B. A. at Northeastern University. He did graduate work at Harvard and was a Fulbright fellow at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In the 1940s, Hentoff began radio broadcasting in Boston, hosting two programs, \u201cJazzAlbum\u201d and \u201cFrom Bach to Bartok.\u201d His writing career began with Down Beat magazine as he covered the jazz music scene in the 1950s. In 1958 he co-founded The Jazz Review.
Hentoff\u2019s first book, co-authored with Nat Shapiro, was published in 1955. \u201cHear Me Talkin\u2019 to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It\u201d included interviews with that era\u2019s jazz leaders, including the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. He also did some jazz record producing during that time.
Also in the \u201950s, Hentoff began writing a column for alternative-weekly pioneer The Village Voice, a feature that continued for 51 years, until 2008. His column, dubbed \u201cSweet Land of Liberty,\u201d has been syndicated by United Media. He also wrote for The Progressive, Editor & Publisher and the Wall Street Journal, among many other publications.
Hentoff\u2019s undying support of education, and specifically civics classes in public schools, is evidenced by the titles of two of his books, \u201cDoes Anybody Give A Damn?: Nat Hentoff on Education\u201d and \u201cOur Children Are Dying.\u201d He lectured at schools from the elementary to university level and taught courses in journalism and the Constitution at Princeton University and New York University.
Wrote Hentoff in January 2015: \u201cI don\u2019t know whom I\u2019ll vote for president in 2016. But if any candidate convinces me that he or she has believable plans for increasing students\u2019 love of learning, I \u2013 despite arthritis \u2013 will be at the polls early.\u201d
The author or co-author of at least 20 books, Hentoff\u2019s latest was \u201cBoston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions,\u201d published in 2012. Also published that year was his book \u201cThe First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America.\u201d
Defying pat ideological labels, Hentoff passionately fought battles across the political spectrum, always stressing liberty and the Bill of Rights.
Explained Kurt Loder in Reason magazine: \u201cAlthough he started out on the political left, Hentoff developed points of view over the years \u2013 especially during his long tenure at New York\u2019s Village Voice \u2013 that alienated many leftists. Usually antiwar, he supported the U. S. invasion of Iraq as a humanitarian enterprise. And his unflagging opposition to capital punishment ultimately led him to oppose abortion as well.\u201d
Indeed, Hentoff\u2019s pro-life stance got him in trouble with the left on more than one occasion, including with some colleagues at The Village Voice. His conversion to an opponent of abortion occurred in the 1980s when he was reporting on the case of Baby Jane Doe.
Wrote Mark Judge for RealClearReligion in 2012: \u201cHentoff dug into the case and the abortion industry at large, and what he found shocked him. He came across the published reports of experiments in what doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital called \u2018early death as a management option\u2019 for infants \u2018considered to have little or no hope of achieving meaningful \u201chumanhood.\u201d\u2018 He talked with handicapped people who could have been killed by abortion.\u201d
Speculated Judge: \u201cBy accepting the truth about abortion, and telling that truth, Nat Hentoff may be met with silence by his peers when he goes to his reward. The shame will be theirs, not his.\u201d
In February 2009, Hentoff joined the libertarian Cato Institute as a senior fellow.
Hentoff \u2013 who often preceded a statement of fact in his writing with \u201cDig this:\u201d \u2013 was awarded the American Bar Association\u2019s Silver Gavel Award in 1980 for his columns on law and criminal justice. In 1985, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by Northeastern University and in 1995 the National Press Foundation\u2019s Award for lifetime distinguished contributions to journalism. In 1999, Hentoff was a Pulitzer finalist for commentary.
In 2004, the U. S. National Endowment for the Arts named Hentoff Jazz Master, the first non-musician to win then award, and the following year he was honored by the Human Life Foundation at its annual \u201cGreat Defender of Life\u201d dinner.
Hentoff worked with the Jazz Foundation of America to support the needs of the nation\u2019s elderly jazz and blues musicians.
Regarding the possibility of retiring, Hentoff in June told WND a story about a conversation he once had with bandleader Duke Ellington:
\u201cI said to him, \u2018Duke, you don\u2019t have to keep going through this (touring, etc.). You\u2019ve written a lot of classics. You can retire on your ASCAP income.\u2019
\u201cDuke looked hard at me and responded, \u2018Retire? To what?’\u201d \u2013 a question Hentoff vigorously reiterated in relation to his own future.
Farah summed up Hentoff\u2019s inestimable impact: \u201cThere was no greater defender of the First Amendment than Nat Hentoff.\u201d
Read Hentoff\u2019s WND columns, archived in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

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