David Frum
David Frum (born
1960) is a
Canadian-
American former speechwriter for
President George W. Bush, and the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency. Born in
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada to
Jewish parents, Frum is a strong supporter of
Israel and a prominent
conservative. He remains involved in political activities in both the United States and Canada, and his editorial columns have appeared in a variety of Canadian and American magazines and newspapers.
Frum is the son of
Barbara Frum (1937-1992), one of
Canada's most respected and influential journalists and was widely thought to have
liberal views. His father,
Murray Frum is a real estate developer and his sister,
Linda Frum is a conservative journalist. David Frum is married to writer
Danielle Crittenden and is thus the son-in-law of former
Toronto Sun editor
Peter Worthington.
He graduated from the
University of Toronto Schools in 1978 where he was the School Captain. He then attended
Yale University in
1982 where he earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts and then
Harvard Law School in
1987.
Following the election of
George W. Bush in 2000, Frum was appointed to a position within the White House. Still a Canadian citizen, he was one of the few foreign nationals working within the Bush White House. He served as Special Assistant to the U.S. President for Economic Speechwriting from January 2001 to February 2002. In 2002, he became a
naturalized citizen of the
United States.
In the
2004 election special of the
BBC program
Question Time, Frum claimed that the suggestion America was once an ally of
Saddam Hussein was "Hollywood, not history" and that the facts regarding such were "inventions".
Link to videoFrum strongly supported
John Roberts, George W. Bush's nominee for Chief Justice of the
US Supreme Court. However, like many conservatives, he opposed the nomination of
Harriett Miers for the Supreme Court, on the grounds that she was insufficiently qualified for the post, as well as insufficiently conservative.
His first book,
Dead Right, was realeased in 1994.
The New York Times called it "...the smartest book written from the inside about the American conservative movement."
In January 2003, he released
The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush, the first insider account of the Bush presidency. Frum is widely cited as having authored the phrase "
axis of evil," which he discusses in his book. In fact, though, his orginal phrasing was "axis of hatred". As the title suggests, Frum also discusses how the
events of September 11, 2001 redefined the country and the President. Frum writes, "George W. Bush was hardly the obvious man for the job. But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be, of all unlikely things, the right man."
Frum's latest book,
An End to Evil, was co-written with
Richard Perle. It provided a defense of the
2003 invasion of Iraq, and advocated regime change in
Iran and
Syria. Furthermore, it called for a tougher policy with
North Korea, as well as advocating a tougher U.S. stance against
Saudi Arabia and other
Islamic nations in order to "win the war on terror" (the book's by-line).
The book received negative reviews from the
Left but positive views from the
Right, with the
Left contending that it only served to further isolate America in the world's eyes, while the
Right argued it constituted a realistic manifesto of how the
United States should fight terror.
Fareed Zakaria criticised it heavily in a
New York Times column (
Showing Them Who's Boss), taking a jibe at the authors by suggesting, "To transform the world, you do actually need to engage in it."
Frum has written for
The Weekly Standard,
Forbes magazine,
The Wall Street Journal,
National Review and has recently returned as a regular columnist for Canada's
National Post.
Books
An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror (with
Richard Perle), 2003 (ISBN 1400061946)
The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush, 2003 (ISBN 0375509038)
How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life--For Better or Worse, 2000 (ISBN 0465041965)
What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America, 1997 (ISBN 0465041981)
Dead Right, 1995 (ISBN 0465098258)
*
David Frum's website*
An article that examines Frum's apparently sudden departure from the White House*
Pat Buchanan's review of An End to Evil*
"An End to Evil" by David Frum and Richard Perle, Gary Kamiya salon.com, book review,
January 30,
2004*
Conservatives and the World Online conference where David Frum defends US policy in Irak and the Middle East but predicts the end of Republican dominance of the White House. Part of the conference
Conservative Predominance in the U.S. : A Moment or an Era ? Videos and texts online.
