View source for Emmett Tyrrell

{{Short description|20th-century American journalist}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Emmett Tyrrell
|birth_name=Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
|image= 
|caption= Tyrrell founded ''[[The American Spectator]]'' magazine
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1943|12|14}}
|birth_place=[[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
|alma_mater=[[Indiana University]]
|occupation=Journalist, editor
}}
'''Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr.''' (born December 14, 1943) is an American [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] magazine editor, book author and columnist. He is the founder and [[editor-in-chief]] of ''[[The American Spectator]]'' and writes with the byline "R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr."

==Background==
Tyrrell was born in [[Chicago]], Illinois, and raised Roman Catholic. In 1961, he graduated from [[Fenwick High School (Oak Park, Illinois)|Fenwick High School]] in [[Oak Park, Illinois]].

He attended [[Indiana University Bloomington]], where he was on the swim team under coach [[James Counsilman|James "Doc" Counsilman]].<ref name="NYT">[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/03/magazine/spectator-sport-r-emmett-tyrrell-jr.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm Spectator Sport; R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 3, 1994</ref><ref name="IDS">{{cite web|url=http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=35864 |title=Indiana Daily Student: :: Swim team's legacy continues |publisher=Idsnews.com |access-date=2015-05-13}}</ref>

==Career==
===Arkansas Project===
Tyrrell was one of those behind the [[Arkansas Project]], financed by [[Richard Mellon Scaife]], to use the ''Spectator'' to damage Bill Clinton’s reputation. He detailed the project's purposes and accomplishments in his 2007 book ''The Clinton Crack-Up: The Boy President's Life after the White House''.<ref>[http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13474] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802220253/http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13474|date=August 2, 2008}}</ref><ref name="WaPo">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifeside050299.htm Arkansas Project Led to Turmoil and Rifts], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', May 2, 1999</ref>

===Forced sale===
In 2000, government investigations of ''The American Spectator'' caused Tyrrell to sell the magazine to venture capitalist [[George Gilder]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/11/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-spectator/302343/|title=The Life and Death of The American Spectator|date=November 2001 |publisher=The Atlantic|access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref> In 2003, Gilder, having a series of financial and legal setbacks, resold the magazine back to Tyrrell and the American Alternative Foundation, the organization under which the magazine was originally started, for a dollar.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Kurtz| first = Howard| title = The News That Didn't Fit To Print| newspaper = The Washington Post| date = June 10, 2002}}</ref> The magazine was initially called ''The Alternative''.  The name of the owner was changed to the American Spectator Foundation. The magazine then moved operations back to the Washington, DC, area. Later that year, former book publisher [[Alfred S. Regnery]] became the magazine's publisher. By 2004, circulation hovered at around 50,000.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}

===1984 media appearance===
A noted political commentator, Tyrrell appeared on a 1984 episode of [[Firing Line (TV program)|''Firing Line'']] with [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], in which he debated with [[Christopher Hitchens]] the premise that the liberal movement was a failure, as asserted in Tyrrell's book ''The Liberal Crack-up''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AeGKcX-JHNE&feature=youtu.be | title=Christopher Hitchens and William F Buckley Jr on Firing Line | website=[[YouTube]] | date=6 July 2013 }}</ref>

===Criticisms of homosexuality===
Tyrrell was quoted in a 1994 article by ''New York Times'' contributor Dinitia Smith saying that homosexuals are bringing about "an end to community," and "[[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] is lethal, but they're forever trying to magnify a sensible point out of proportion. Heterosexual cases are practically nonexistent. The latest studies show that only 2 to 3 percent of Americans are homosexuals. [[Alfred Kinsey|Kinsey]] was wrong in saying it was 10 percent. There are thousands of years of moral teaching suggesting homosexuality is wrong."<ref name="NYT" />

===Personal life===
In 1972, Tyrrell married first wife Judy Mathews, with whom he had three children; they divorced in 1988.  In 1998, Tyrrell married Jeanne M. Hauch at Holy Rosary Church, Washington, D.C.{{Citation needed |date=July 2020}}

Tyrrell is a practicing Catholic. He obtained a canonical annulment of his first marriage before his present union.{{Citation needed |date=July 2020}}

He served on the Board of Selectors of the Jefferson Awards Foundation.<ref name= JeffersonAwards>[http://www.jeffersonawards.org/board  Board] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140822190847/http://www.jeffersonawards.org/board |date= August 22, 2014}}</ref>

Tyrrell is the great-great-grandson of [[Patrick D. Tyrrell]], an immigrant from [[Ireland]] and a detective in the [[United States Secret Service]] in the 1870s, involved in [[Funeral and burial of Abraham Lincoln#Attempted theft|foiling the plot]] to steal the body of [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1876.<ref name= "resemblances">[http://spectator.org/archives/2007/05/07/family-resemblances/print  Family resemblances] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130801121526/http://spectator.org/archives/2007/05/07/family-resemblances/print |date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>

==Awards==
*1975: Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under from the [[Jefferson Awards for Public Service]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national |title=National |publisher=Jefferson Awards |access-date=2015-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124043935/http://jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national |archive-date=2010-11-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 
*1978:  Ten Outstanding Young Men in America award in History. He now serves on the Board of Selectors for Jefferson Awards.<ref name=JeffersonAwards/>

==Works==
Tyrrell has written for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', the ''[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]'', the ''London Spectator'', ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', ''[[The Guardian]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Washington Post]]'', and ''[[The Washington Times]]''. He was also a media fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]].

*''Public Nuisances'' (1979)
*''The Liberal Crack-Up'' (1984)
*''Orthodoxy: The American Spectator's 20th Anniversary Anthology'' (1987)
*''The Conservative Crack-Up'' (1992) 
*''Boy Clinton: The Political Biography'' (1997) 
*''The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton'' (1997)
*''Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House'' (2003)
*''The Continuing Crisis: As Chronicled for Four Decades'' (2009)
*''After the Hangover: The Conservatives Road to Recovery'' (2010)
*''The Death of Liberalism'' (2011)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{C-SPAN|9273388}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atk7V3W6oUc Tyrrell on Firing Line] with [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]] and [[Christopher Hitchens]]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrrell, Emmett}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Journalists from Chicago]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:American magazine editors]]
[[Category:American magazine founders]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:The American Spectator people]]
[[Category:The Washington Times people]]
[[Category:Indiana Hoosiers men's swimmers]]