Wisdom and Erudition

Charles Krauthammer will be missed

Even some of his most loyal readers and TV fans likely didn’t know that Charles Krauthammer graduated Harvard Medical School. He graduated and became a psychiatrist. And then, from analyzing patients, he moved into analyzing politics and politicians.

We have no doubt that many would say his psychiatric skills were the perfect fit for commenting on dysfunctional Washington.

Krauthammer pursued his craft with the same dogged dedication that he showed in college. After his first year of medical school his life was changed by an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. That didn’t stop him.

And nothing stopped him as a political commentator. He graduated medical school in 1975 and moved into journalism as a sideline in the late 1970s while working in psychiatric research for the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He was writing speeches for Vice President Walter Mondale by 1980 and starting in 1985 he was writing weekly for the Washington Post. Just two years later won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

As his name became better known so did his reach. He became a regular guest on TV political discussion shows, a regular contributor to magazines and his syndicated column appeared in more than 400 newspapers.

His profile rose even higher when he began appearing on FOX News. He quickly gained a whole new audience attracted to his erudition and reasoned conservative views.

Krauthammer underwent surgery for cancer in August 2017. But just a few months later, on June 8, he announced that the cancer had returned and had but weeks to live. He died 13 days later.

Charles Krauthammer was a giant of political analysis and commentary. He left a fine legacy and the national discussion has lost one of its finest contributors.