Bravo, Sir Niall Ferguson

It was announced last month that England’s King Charles has knighted British historian Niall Ferguson, the author of 16 books and numerous essays and articles on history, foreign policy, and politics, for his service to literature. Ferguson has taught at Oxford and Cambridge, the London School of Economics (LSE), New York University, and Harvard. He is currently a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a senior faculty fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a visiting professor at LSE, and a regular columnist at the Free Press. 

Ferguson’s books include The Pity of War, a brilliant revisionist history of World War I in which he provocatively argued that Britain should have stayed out of the war; Empire, in which he argued that the British Empire was, all things considered, a force for good in the world; The War of the World, a detailed and harrowing chronicle of the bloody 20th century; Colossus, which recognized and applauded America’s imperial role in the 20th and 21st centuries; and Kissinger: The Idealist, the definitive first volume of the life and career of the great American statesman. (READ MORE: We Must End the Democrats’ Failed Foreign Policy)

Ferguson credited his knighthood to his “formative influences” — his parents, grandparents, his teachers, family members, and friends. “I am grateful to His Royal Highness for this recognition, and to God and Great Britain for my good fortune,” he said.   

Ferguson: An Astute Observer of Modern Trends

Ferguson was among the first observers to recognize that the United States was in a Cold War with China. Unlike the Tom Friedmans of the world, Ferguson understood that China remains committed to Marxism-Leninism and is, therefore, an ideological rival of the United States and its democratic allies. Ferguson discussed the U.S.–China dispute over Taiwan, noting that it is similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis, except this time China could play the U.S. role in imposing a blockade of the island while we play the Soviet role of deciding whether to challenge the blockade. And while the U.S. had geographic and military advantages in the Cuban crisis, China would have those same advantages in a Taiwan crisis. 

Ferguson also occasionally delves into U.S. domestic politics. In a recent provocative piece in the Free Press, Ferguson noted the “political, social, and cultural resemblances . . . between the U.S. and the USSR,” including a “gerontocratic leadership,” increased “public cynicism of nearly all institutions,” a declining life expectancy, massive public debt, and a nomenklatura or elite class that serves its own interests. In America, Ferguson argued, the elite class is largely the Democratic Party that controls the federal bureaucracy, the major foundations, the universities, and most major corporations. (READ MORE: The Hale–Bopp Comet Election)

In another Free Press column, Ferguson noted what he called the “Treason of the Intellectuals,” as he watched so many of America’s elite academics — professors, students, university presidents — take the side of the Hamas terrorists against Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacres of Israeli citizens. He compared our leftist academia to the German professoriat in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, when “German academics acted as Hitler’s think tank.” 

Earning Enemies on the Left

For these and other “sins,” Ferguson has earned enemies on the Left, which he doesn’t mind at all. He has dared to call President Biden “senile,” while also describing former President Trump as a “blowhard.” He likened those on the left in the media who suddenly acknowledged Biden’s cognitive impairment after the debate to Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca who is “shocked, shocked” that gambling is going on at Rick’s place while being handed his own winnings. He has described Biden’s foreign policy as a “failure,” citing its inability to deter the Taliban, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or Hamas. And he suggested that Biden may not be able to deter China from blockading Taiwan. Biden’s foreign policy, he said, “makes Trump look good.” 

And Ferguson is worried that artificial intelligence will, like Google, make us lazier thinkers because it can do the work for us. We are delegating too much of our mental work to machines, he says. (READ MORE: Biden Says He’s Running. Democrats Get in Line.)

Sir Niall Ferguson thinks a lot, and we are better for it. His historical works are insightful, honest, analytical, and easy to read. His essays are timely and thought-provoking. The fact that someone so brilliant and popular is a conservative who cares not what the elite liberal class thinks of him, drives the left crazy. Well done, King Charles.

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