Pulitzer Prize Winner Examines Antisemitism, Foreign Policy

World-renowned journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens emphasized the importance of global stability for economic prosperity, criticized the decline in civics education and stressed the irreplaceable value of a liberal arts education at the 21st annual Westmont President’s Breakfast in February at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. President Gayle D. Beebe presented him with the Westmont Leadership Award.

Hours before the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran began, Stephens commented on the imminence of war. With the Iranian regime at a historically weak position, he thought it worth the risk — and he identified it as a risk — to “kick the regime in the legs.” 

A descendant of Jewish immigrants, Stephens spoke about his great-grandfather, who became a successful publisher in Russia but was arrested twice: by the Czarist regime and later by the KGB. Then he vanished. His widow ended up in Berlin, where his grandmother and her sisters grew up.

When Hitler took over, Stephens’ great-grandmother had the good sense to leave Germany, eventually moving to northern Italy. But the Nazis took over the region. “Thanks to a family of righteous Gentiles, my great-grandmother and her daughters acquired fake names and survived the war,” he said. Stephens wears a signet ring from that benevolent family. In 1950, his mother and grandmother arrived in the United States with just $7, courtesy of President Harry Truman’s Displaced Persons Act.

Speaking for the first time at a Christian college event, Stephens said the American Jewish community has flourished because the nation admired individual and group success. “To do well in the United States was a reason for people of all faiths to admire you, no matter where you came from, no matter what faith you practiced.” Then something changed. “The word privilege has increasingly replaced what we used to call success, which was earned and therefore admired,” Stephens said. “When we redefine the concept of success and think that what some have, they don’t deserve, we’ve put people who have succeeded in jeopardy, especially groups with economic power or success, but not political power: minorities, including the Jews.”

Noting the rise of conspiracy theories, Stephens said that when people will believe anything about anything, they’ll eventually believe anything about Jews. “Antisemitism isn’t just bigotry, a prejudice, it’s also a conspiracy theory,” he said. “It’s always the symptom of a deeper rot, a deeper cancer in the rest of society.” Answering questions from President Beebe, Stephens said, “Global disorder tends to lead to economic disorder here. A more secure world, ensuring the strength and resilience of our allies, with robust trading partners around the world, is good for us.”

He thinks the nation made a big mistake when it dropped civics education, leaving a generation with little knowledge about the United States and its history and ideals. “They have no sense that this country has been a greater benefactor for the world bar none.”

Stephens argued that Ukraine bears the brunt of Putin’s sinister regime and fights for the freedom of the entire Western world. “Russia will not stop with Ukraine,” he said. “It’s going to embolden the Chinese, especially with the United States showing weakness and indecision rather than strength and resolve.”

He quoted President Bill Clinton’s statement that there’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with America. “Historically, what’s right with us has overcome what’s wrong, and I’m confident that will happen again,” he said. 

Noting that AI is massively disruptive and will replace jobs that require effort and skill, he thinks it won’t replicate human excellence or the unique human experience. 

“AI is made in the image of man, but man is made in the image of God. Good, thoughtful, serious colleges like Westmont, which train 1,200 students to be mature, unique spiritual beings developing capacities for genuine independent thought and ethical action, are irreplaceable.”

At Convocation on campus, Stephens also answered questions from Professor Alastair Su and four history majors: Lucas De Dora ’28, Emily Lindblad ’26, Kisa Mosley ’26 and Liam Walsh ’27. “This is an incredible privilege to be on what must be the most beautiful campus in America,” he said.