M. Stanton Evans, a distinguished journalist, author, and early leader of the conservative movement in American politics, passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 80.
From the New York Times:
M. Stanton Evans, an early leader of the conservative movement in American politics and an author of its central manifesto, the Sharon Statement, died on Tuesday at a nursing home in Leesburg, Va. He was 80.
A longtime friend, Patrick S. Korten, said the cause was pancreatic cancer.
Mr. Evans was the editor of The Indianapolis News, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, a radio and television commentator, a journalism teacher and the author of a raft of books, including a defense of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin, in his anti-communist crusade.
Mr. Evans said he became a conservative in 1949, as a teenager, after reading George Orwell’s dystopian novel "1984" at the height of the Cold War.
"It was about communism," he said in an interview for this obituary in 2010. "I said: ‘Well, I’m against communism. What am I for?’ "
Evans worked for many years to unify conservatives. He headed the American Conservative Union from 1971 to 1977 and drafted the founding principles of Young Americans for Freedom.
He drafted the Sharon Statement, which became a manifesto for young conservatives. The statement drew on principles of limited government and free markets.
He worked as a journalist for the Indianapolis News, CBS Radio, NPR, and Voice of America. He also taught journalism at Troy University in Alabama for more than 30 years.