Dr. Ledeen’s scholarship covered topics as varied as the rise of fascism in 1920s Italy, the influence of European Communism on American foreign policy, Machiavelli, the history of Naples, and Iran’s Shi’ite revolution.
Michael Ledeen is best known as one of the group of then-young anti-Communist writers and intellectuals – Young Lions if you will – who rose to influence in President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Inhabiting the grey world between academia, the intelligence services and national security policy, Ledeen served as a consultant to Secretary of State, General Alexander Haig and to White House National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane, and various Pentagon officials. He was also trusted by the Reagan White House to serve as its go-between with the Italian government, Israel and Iran’s Shi’ite revolutionaries.
As a student I had made Iranian friends, studied the culture and history of the Islamic world and traveled to a number of Muslim-majority countries. Entering the world of politics and policy I struggled to understand how one of my friends could simply disappear into the maw of Iran’s Shi’ite revolution and to square what my professors taught me about Islam being “a religion of peace” with the savagery of suicide bombings and the mass killing of Bahais and Iranian dissidents.
And then I discovered Michael Ledeen’s book, Debacle, The American Failure in Iran, and my journey to understanding Islam’s war on the West, America’s failure to fight it effectively, and my admiration for Michael Ledeen began.
I think I’ve read all of Michael Ledeen’s books on Iran, out of print now, they are treasured resources. While I was working on Capitol Hill if I saw Dr. Ledeen was speaking somewhere I’d try to wrangle a ticket or slip into the hearing, and every time I came away with a gem to file away for future reference. Selfies were not a thing back then, and a quick “I enjoyed your remarks” had to suffice for the more in-depth conversation I craved.
Much later I became friends with Dr. Ledeen’s wonderful wife Barbara, a fellow Hill staffer, and a political talent and force of nature in her own right. When she discovered I was a Michael Ledeen fanboy she graciously invited me to their home, but alas, somehow something always came up to prevent the coveted dinner from happening and now the opportunity to ask my many questions of Michael is gone and the lost opportunity will always be deeply regretted.
One of the most important ideas I culled out of my study of Michael Ledeen’s work was that fascism, communism and the Islam of Iran’s Shi’ite revolution all share a common totalitarian trait – they all rely upon lies to obtain and maintain power. Think of how close we Americans came to being subverted by the same tactic during the Biden years.
With some of his best books out of print, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies, his 2016 book with General Mike Flynn, is probably Michael Ledeen’s most accessible work – I commend it to all readers of this article.
Dr. Ledeen explained the folly of the “can’t we just be friends with the Ayatollahs” crowd in a powerful 2008 essay in Hillsdale College’s Imprimis:
The bottom line is that Iran is our principal enemy in the Middle East, and perhaps in the entire world. It is also a terribly vulnerable regime, and it knows that—which is why it makes up stories about airplanes and missiles that it doesn’t have. As for the question of nuclear weapons, it seems hard to imagine that Iran does not already have them. Iranians are not stupid, and they have been at this for a minimum of 20 years in a world where almost every major component needed for a nuclear weapon—not to mention old nuclear weapons—are for sale. A lot of these components are for sale nearby in Pakistan. And if the Iranians do have a weapon, it is impossible to imagine that, at a moment of crisis, they will not use it. The point is, we have an implacable enemy which has no intention of negotiating a settlement with us. They want us dead or dominated, just as our enemies did in the 1930s and ’40s. You can’t make deals with a regime like that.
Had the American Presidents from 2008 to now followed Michael Ledeen’s advice it is safe to say we would not now be faced with our present dilemma of how and when to dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It would have been done, and a more accommodating government would now be in place in Teheran.
As a writer, thinker and American patriot Michael Ledeen’s influence will live on well beyond the 83 years he was allotted on this earth. My deepest condolences to his wife and my dear friend Barbara, and children Simone, Gabriel and Daniel. A devout Jew, Dr. Ledeen’s services will be conducted today, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 10:00 AM in the chapel at Judean Gardens located at 16225 Batchellors Forest Road, Olney, Maryland.
May his memory be a blessing.
- Michael Ledeen
- Young Lions
- Iran
- National security
- Reagan administration
- anti-communism
- Alexander Haig
- Islam
- Barbara Ledeen
- Radical Islam
- nuclear weapons
- Trump foreign policy
