American journalist (1936–2021)
This article is about the conservative writer. For the labor leader, see
Tom Bethel .
Tom Bethell
Born July 17, 1936 Died February 12, 2021(2021-02-12) (aged 84) Occupation(s) Journalist, writer
Tom Bethell (; July 17, 1936 – February 12, 2021)
[1] was an American
journalist who wrote mainly on
economic and scientific issues.
Life and career
Bethell was born and raised in
London ,
[2] England. He was educated at
Downside School and
Trinity College, Oxford . A resident of the
District of Columbia , he lived in
Virginia ,
Louisiana , and
California . From 1962 to 1965 he taught math at Woodberry Forest School, Virginia. He was married to Donna R. Fitzpatrick of Washington, D.C.
[3]
[4]
[5] He was a senior editor of
The American Spectator and was for 25 years a media fellow of the
Hoover Institution . He was Washington editor of
Harper's , and an editor of the
Washington Monthly .
[6]
In 1980, he received a
Gerald Loeb Award Honorable Mention for Columns/Editorial for "Fooling With the Budget."
[7]
[8]
[9]
Jim Garrison investigation
Bethell was hired as a researcher by New Orleans district attorney
Jim Garrison to assist with his prosecution of
Clay Shaw for conspiracy to assassinate
John F. Kennedy .
[10] Bethell gave no credence to Garrison's charges that Shaw was involved.
[11] Shaw was acquitted after the jury deliberated for about an hour.
Controversy
In 1976, Bethell wrote a controversial article for
Harper’s Magazine titled "Darwin's Mistake". According to Bethell there is no independent criterion of fitness and
natural selection is a
tautology .
[12] Bethell also stated that Darwin's theory was on "the verge of collapse" and natural selection had been "quietly abandoned" by his supporters.
[13] These claims were disputed by biologists.
[12]
[13] The paleontologist
Stephen Jay Gould wrote a rebuttal to Bethell's arguments.
[13]
Bethell was a member of the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV-AIDS Hypothesis,
[14] which denies that
HIV causes
AIDS . In
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science (2005), he promoted
denial of the existence of man-made global warming ,
AIDS denialism , and denial of
evolution (which Bethell denied was "real science").
[15] Bethell endorsed the intelligent design documentary-style film
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed .
[16]
Bethell died from complications of
Parkinson's disease at his home in
Washington, D.C. in February 2021, aged 84.
[17]
Selected publications
Articles
"Darwin's Mistake."
Harper's Magazine , Vol. 252, No. 1509, February 1976, pp. 70-75.
"Against Bilingual Education."
Harper’s Magazine , Vol. 258, February 1979, pp. 30-33.
doi :
10.2307/324235 .
JSTOR
324235 .
"The Longshoreman Philosopher."
Hoover Digest , No. 1, January 2003. Archived from
the original.
Archived December 22, 2014, at
archive.today
"Arnold Beichman, 1913-2010: an oral history and remembrance of a great adventurer and friend."
The American Spectator , Vol. 43, No. 4, May 2010. Archived from
the original.
Books
Book contributions
References
^
"Remembering Tom Bethell: Wordsmith of Courage and Controversy"
Archived February 14, 2021, at the
Wayback Machine . Kmjnow.com. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
^ See:
Jerry P. Shinley Archive: Thomas Bethell: Biographical Sketch from CA
^
Trinity College, Oxford – missing members
Archived 2008-04-21 at the
Wayback Machine
^
Tom Bethell explains why property matters
^
Tom Bethell, Beliefnet Columnist
Beliefnet.com Accessed July 20, 2008
^
Biography at Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc.
^ "2 California Papers Lead Loeb Awards".
The Washington Post . May 30, 1980. p. D3.
^
"Loeb Award winners 1958–1996" .
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing . April 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
^
"Historical Winners List" .
UCLA Anderson School of Management . Retrieved January 31, 2019 .
^
Tom Bethell, "Reality Check for Another Movie Myth," Los Angeles Times , December 1, 1991.
^
Tom Bethell, "Was Sirhan Sirhan on the Grassy Knoll?", The Washington Monthly , March 1975.
^
a
b Ruse, Michael. Philosophy of Biology .
Prometheus Books , 2007, p. 22, 133-141.
ISBN
978-1591025276 .
^
a
b
c
Gould, Stephen Jay. "Darwin’s Untimely Burial." Natural History , Vol. 85, 1976, pp. 24-30. Republished in Gould, Stephen Jay. Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History .
W. W. Norton & Company , 2007, pp. 39-45.
ISBN
978-0393340419 .
^ Baumann, E.; Bethell, T.; Bialy, H.; Duesberg, P. H.; Farber, C.; Geshekter, C. L.; Johnson, P. E.; Maver, R. W.; Schoch, R.; Stewart, G. T. (1995).
"AIDS proposal. Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis" . Science . 267 (5200): 945–946.
doi :
10.1126/science.7863334 .
PMID
7863335 .
S2CID
45222215 .
^ Bethell, Tom.
"Don’t Fear the Designer."
National Review .
^
Branch, Glenn. "Expelled and the Reviewers."
National Center for Science Education , Vol. 28, Nos. 5-6, 2008, pp. 24–25.
^
"Tom Bethell" . Legacy.com . Retrieved July 13, 2021 .
External links
Gerald Loeb Award for Editorials (1970–1972)
(1970–1972)
Gerald Loeb Award for Columns/Editorial (1973–1976, 1978–1982)
(1973–1976) (1978–1979) (1980–1982)
Gerald Loeb Award for Columns (1977)
(1977)
(1985–1989) (1990–1999) (2000–2009) (2010–2019) (2020–2023)
International National Other