{UAH} THE DEATHS THAT SHOOK POLITICS IN 2018 AND WHY

The Deaths That Shook Politics in 2018

Remembering 27 politicos who died in 2018—and why they mattered.

 

December 31, 2018

 

In 2018, death, all too often, was the news. The brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi sparked an outcry, in Congress and beyond, against the government of Saudi Arabia—except, controversially, from President Donald Trump. The president’s absence from the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush, and his subdued presence months later at a service for President George H.W. Bush, dominated the news cycle for days. And then there was the loss of Senator John McCain, whose fierce defense of American values suffused a memorial in Washington that many saw as a rebuke to Trumpism and reminder of a bygone bipartisan time.

 

As we do at the end of each year, Politico Magazine recently collected remembrances of these political figures and many others who died in 2018—reflections from friends, colleagues and mentees, as well as historians, journalists and other expert observers, about why these lives, now lost, mattered so much and how they continue to shape our world today. Certainly, many of those remembered here dedicated themselves to high-profile careers transforming American policy, diplomacy, thought and culture. But others listed below are lesser-known, even as the marks they left on history are unmistakable.

 

Consider the former Manzanar prisoner who later discovered evidence of racism in the U.S. government’s internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, or the factory worker during that same war who is thought to have inspired the famous “Rosie the Riveter” poster now held up as an icon of feminism. There is also a pioneering civil rights attorney (an African-American woman, no less, in a field once dominated by white men); a truth-telling counterterrorism official who warned early of the al-Qaida threat; the first female general in the U.S. military, herself a nurse who saved lives in disease-ridden combat zones; the speechwriter who gave a name to the “Great Society”; and a humble academic whose playbook for nonviolent revolution not only inspired uprisings around the world—but also stands as a reminder of how one life can shape so many others.

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Kofi Annan: The Ultimate Diplomat, by Madeleine K. Albright

Anthony Bourdain: The TV Star Who Used Food to Break Down Barriers, by Annia Ciezadlo

Barbara and George H.W. Bush: The Favorite Couple of the White House Staff, by Kate Andersen Brower

Frank Carlucci: The Shrewdly Low-Key Defense Secretary, by Philip Shenon

Anna Chennault: The Secret Go-Between Who Helped Tip the 1968 Election, by John A. Farrell

Ron Dellums: The Anti-War Coalition-Builder, by Rep. Barbara Lee

Rich DeVos: The Salesman Who Helped Launch the Modern Right, by Zack Stanton

William Goldman: The Writer Who Brought Watergate to the Screen, by David Greenberg

Richard Goodwin: The Speechwriter Who Named the ‘Great Society,’ by Josh Zeitz

Billy Graham: Preacher to the Powerful, by Jeff Greenfield

Anna Mae Hays: The Nurse Who Became America’s First Female General, by Liza Mundy

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga: The Activist Who Discovered the Truth About WWII Internment, by Lorraine Bannai

Dovey Johnson Roundtree: A Legal Pioneer, Finally Getting Her Due, by Katie McCabe

Jamal Khashoggi: The Free-Thinking Dissident Whose Murder Shook the World, by Sigurd Neubauer

Charles Krauthammer: A Leading Voice for Conservative Thought, by Rich Lowry

Stan Lee: The Mind Behind America’s Superheroes, by Derek Robertson

Naomi Parker Fraley: The Improbable Icon of Feminism, by James J. Kimble

Stephen Reinhardt: The Liberal Judge With a Fighting Spirit, by Lara Bazelon

Gene Sharp: The Academic Who Wrote the Playbook for Nonviolent Revolution, by Ruaridh Arrow

Michael Sheehan: The Counterterrorist Who Warned of Al-Qaida, by James P. Rubin

Louise Slaughter: The Congresswoman Who Continued the Legacy of Seneca Falls, by Kelly Dittmar

Mel Weinberg: The Conman Who Flipped, by Leslie Maitland

Tom Wolfe: The Satirist Whose Wit Hardened into Contempt, by Kevin Baker

Plus, from the Politico Magazine archives:

“Why Take Student Protests Seriously? Look at Linda Brown,” by Josh Zeitz

“When Aretha Franklin Rocked the National Anthem,” by Zack Stanton

“John McCain, The Last Maverick,” by Bryan Bender

“The Forgotten Political Genius of Philip Roth,” by David Greenberg

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