National Review Institute has discontinued its Whittaker Chambers Award after members of his family said recipients did not properly uphold the values of the man who became a celebrated figure on the Right in the 1950s.
The family took issue with the first two Whittaker Chambers Award recipients in 2017 and 2018 — Daniel Hannan, a British politician and avid Brexit supporter, and Mark Janus, plaintiff in a Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional for labor unions to force nonconsenting public employees to pay membership dues.
“All of us agree: The efforts of the two awardees run counter to the instincts and experience of Whittaker Chambers. All of us agree: their efforts have not matched his,” reads a statement from Mr. Chambers’ surviving son and seven grandchildren, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Jack Fowler, the founder of the award and vice president of National Review magazine, said that the outlet aims to promote, protect, and enhance the legacy of Chambers.
“A self-described man of the Right, his legacy belongs to a family, but also to this cause, and thus(sic) movement. National Review and NR Institute will continue to promote the vital legacy of Whittaker Chambers, especially to educate new generations of conservatives, as long as these institution exist,” Fowler told the Washington Examiner.
“It’s kind of an awkward situation. Bill Buckley was a true friend to my father and befriended him and was quite generous to me,” John Chambers, 82, said in reference to the magazine’s founder.
Chambers worked for National Review magazine for two years, and the Journal notes he was a Buckley favorite.
Christopher Buckley, son of William Buckley, said, “I think NR/NRI have acted honorably and even Solomonically by abolishing the award.”
The Chambers Award “was created to recognize conservatives and friends of liberty who, like Chambers, show great courage and diligence in the face of undue and coordinated public enmity and criticism,” according to a description of the award on National Review Institute’s website.
The most recent recipient of the award told the Washington Examiner that he is still honored to hold it, even though his family disapproves of his selection.
“I am honored by the recognition from NRI. I am an admirer of Whittaker Chambers and his advocacy for freedom,” Janus said. “As to anything else, I leave that to NRI to address.”
Whittaker Chambers was an American editor and former communist spy who eventually denounced his communist spying and became respected by the American conservative movement during the 1950s. Under subpoena in 1948, he testified in what became Alger Hiss’ perjury trials, which exposed the diplomat and establishment figure as a Russian agent.
Sean Higgins contributed to this report.
An earlier version of this story attributed a quote to the wrong member of Chambers’s family. We regret the error.
