Angelo Codevilla

{{Infobox philosopher

|name = Angelo Codevilla

|image = Angelo Codevilla by Gage Skidmore.jpg

|birth_name = Angelo Maria Codevilla

|birth_date = {{birth date|1943|05|25}}

|birth_place = Voghera, Italy

|death_date = {{death date and age|2021|09|20|1943|05|25}}

|death_place = Tracy, California, U.S.

|nationality = American

|education = Rutgers University, New Brunswick (BA)
University of Notre Dame (MA)
Claremont University Center (PhD)

|awards = Churchill Fellowship (1975)

|school_tradition = International relations theory
Western philosophy

|website = {{URL|bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/angelo-codevilla|University site}}
{{URL|hoover.org/fellows/angelo-m-codevilla|Hoover site}}

}}

Angelo Maria Codevilla (May 25, 1943 – September 20, 2021) was an American professor of international relations at what is now the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He served as a United States Navy officer, a foreign service officer, and professional staff member of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate.{{Cite book | chapter=10. Political Warfare: Means for Achieving Political Ends | title=Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare | last=Codevilla | first=Angelo M. | author-link=Angelo Codevilla | location=Washington, D.C. | edition=Revised | editor-last=Waller | editor-first=J. Michael | editor-link= | publisher=The Institute of World Politics Press | date=March 2, 2009 | isbn=978-0979223648 | access-date=July 5, 2014 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfBCAgAAQBAJ}} Codevilla's books and articles range from French and Italian politics to the thoughts of Machiavelli and Montesquieu to arms control, war, the technology of ballistic missile defenses, and a broad range of international topics. Articles by Codevilla have appeared in Commentary, Foreign Affairs, National Review, and The New Republic. His op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator and The Washington Post. He has also been published in Political Science Reviewer, Intercollegiate Review, and Politica.

Early life and education

Angelo Maria Codevilla was born on May 25, 1943, in Voghera, Italy,{{Cite news|last=Risen|first=Clay|date=October 3, 2021|title=Angelo Codevilla, Whose Writings Anticipated Trumpism, Dies at 78|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/obituaries/angelo-codevilla-dead.html|access-date=October 4, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} son of Angelo (a businessman) and Serena (Almangano) Codevilla. He emigrated to the United States in 1955, and became a United States citizen in 1962.

He graduated from Rutgers University in 1965, having studied natural sciences, languages, and politics. After receiving a Ph.D. in 1973 from Claremont University Center, Codevilla began to teach political science.{{cite book |chapter=Maria Angelo Codevilla |title=Contemporary Authors Online |location=Detroit |publisher=Gale |date=April 23, 2009 |series=Biography in Context |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CH1000019089&source=Bookmark&u=fairfax_main&jsid=1c3eecfae785ae12e95c649b383dc4a1 |id=GALE|H1000019089}}

Career

In 1977, Codevilla joined the U.S. Foreign Service but quickly transitioned to Capitol Hill, where he served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as an aide to Senator Malcolm Wallop, a position he would hold until 1985. During this time, he also began teaching political philosophy at Georgetown University.

By 1980, Codevilla was appointed to the teams preparing the presidential transition for the United States Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency.{{cite web |title=James Madison Program |publisher=Princeton University |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/people/archives/fellows0304.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527081520/http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/people/archives/fellows0304.html |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Contributor Biography |publisher=Hoover Press |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://www.hooverpress.org/bioPopUp/contributorbiography.cfm?ContribID=182}}{{cite news |newspaper=Commentary |title=While Others Build: The Common-Sense Approach to the Strategic Defense Initiative, by Angelo Codevilla (Anti-Missile Defense) |date=July 1, 1988 |author-link=Stephen Peter Rosen |first=Stephen |last=Rosen}}

Book review of While Others Build: The Common-sense Approach to the Strategic Defense Initiative. His contributions to national security included helping to conceive the technology programs that, in 1983, were relabeled the Strategic Defense Initiative. Throughout his time in government, Codevilla published on intelligence and national security and taught.

In 1985 Codevilla returned to full-time academic life as a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was professor of international relations at what is now the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University from 1995 to 2008.

Pollard case

While acknowledging that Jonathan Pollard was guilty of espionage, Codevilla was one of many who publicly objected on procedural and substantive grounds to the life sentence given the convicted Israeli spy. In 1984, Pollard had sold numerous closely guarded state secrets, including the National Security Agency's ten-volume manual on how the U.S. gathers its signal intelligence, and disclosed the names of thousands of people who had cooperated with U.S. intelligence agencies.{{cite magazine|last=Hersh|first=Seymour|title=The Traitor|magazine=The New Yorker|date=January 18, 1999|pages=26–33|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/01/18/1999_01_18_026_TNY_LIBRY_000017310 |access-date=December 26, 2012}} He admitted shopping his services—successfully, in some cases—to other countries.{{cite book|last=Olive|first=Ronald J.|year=2006|title=Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in American History Was Brought to Justice|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-652-0|pages=77–78}} In 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison for violations of the Espionage Act. He was released on November 20, 2015, and moved to Israel.

On November 5, 2013, Codevilla wrote to then-President Barack Obama concerning Pollard. He stated, "Others have pointed out that Pollard is the only person ever sentenced to life imprisonment for passing information to an ally, without intent to harm America, a crime which normally carries a sentence of two to four years; and that this disproportionate sentence in violation of a plea agreement was based not on the indictment but on a memorandum that was never shared with the defense. This is not how American Justice is supposed to work." He further stated that his opinion, as those of DCI James Woolsey, former Attorney general Michael Mukasey, and former Senator Dennis DeConcini, is based on a thorough knowledge of the case. Codevilla concluded, "having been intimately acquainted with the materials that Pollard passed and with the 'sources and methods' by which they were gathered, I would be willing to give expert testimony that Pollard is guilty of neither more nor less than what the indictment alleges."

In a contemporaneous interview with The Weekly Standard, Codevilla said that, "The story of the Pollard case is a blot on American justice", and that the life sentence "makes you ashamed to be an American."{{cite web |title=Letter from Codevilla to President Barack Obama |date=November 5, 2013 |url=http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2013/110513.jpg}}{{cite web |url=http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/pollard-defenders-vindicated/ |title=Pollard Defenders Vindicated |date=December 20, 2012 }}{{cite magazine |title=Pollard Defenders Vindicated: After 25 years, the CIA has declassified documents that show Jonathan Pollard never spied on the U.S. for Israel |first=Lee |last=Smith |date=December 20, 2012 |url=http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/119711/pollard-defenders-vindicated |magazine=Tablet}}{{cite news |date=January 11, 1999 |newspaper=The Washington Weekly |first=Wesley |last=Phelan |title=The True Motives Behind the Sentencing of Jonathan Pollard - An Interview with Angelo Codevilla - Special Feature |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2000/071700a.htm}} republished July 17, 2000, at Jonathan Pollard website{{cite news |date=January 2, 1999 |page=A19 |newspaper=The Washington Post |author-link1=Angelo Codevilla |first1=Angelo |last1=Codevilla |author-link2=Irwin Cotler |first2=Irwin |last2=Cotler |author-link3=Alan Dershowitz |first3=Alan |last3=Dershowitz |first4=Kenneth |last4=Lasson |title=The True Motives Behind the Sentencing of Jonathan Pollard - An Interview with Angelo Codevilla - Special Feature |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://www.jonathanpollard.org/1999/010299.htm}} republished at Jonathan Pollard website

Personal life and death

Codevilla married Ann Marie Blaesser on December 31, 1966. His children are David, Peter, Michael, Elizabeth, and Thomas. He served in the United States Navy Reserve 1969–1971, leaving active duty as a lieutenant, junior grade. He received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Codevilla died in a car accident in Tracy, California, on September 20, 2021, at the age of 78.

Selected publications

;Books

{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=74000056 |title=Modern France |location=LaSalle, Illinois |publisher=Open Court |year=1974 |isbn=0875481507 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/modernfrance0000code }}
{{cite book |lccn=87022562 |title=The Arms Control Delusion |author-link1=Malcolm Wallop |first1=Malcolm |last1=Wallop |first2=Angelo M. |last2=Codevilla |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=ICS Press |year=1987 |isbn=091761691X |url=https://archive.org/details/armscontroldelus00wall |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=90108095 |title=The Cure that may Kill: Unintended Consequences of the INF Treaty |location=London |publisher=Alliance for the Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies |year=1988 |isbn=0907967930}}
{{cite book |last1=Codevilla |first1=Angelo M. |lccn=87035661 |title=While Others Build: The Commonsense Approach to the Strategic Defense Initiative |location=New York |publisher=Free Press |year=1988 |isbn=0029056713}}
{{cite book |lccn=88047897 |title=War: Ends and Means |author-link1=Paul Seabury |first1=Paul |last1=Seabury |first2=Angelo M. |last2=Codevilla |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=1989 |isbn=0465090672 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/war00paul }}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=91046172 |title=Informing Statecraft: Intelligence for a New Century |location=New York |publisher=Free Press |year=1992 |isbn=0029119154 |url=https://archive.org/details/informingstatecr00code |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=94003501 |title=American Security: Back to Basics |location=Stanford, California |publisher=Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace |year=1994 |isbn=0817955623}}
{{cite book |lccn=96050047 |trans-title=The Prince |author-link=Niccolò Machiavelli |first=Niccolò |last=Machiavelli |title=Principe |others=translated and edited by Angelo M. Codevilla ; commentary by William B. Allen, Hadley Arkes, Carnes Lord |orig-year=1532 |isbn=0300064020 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=97020119 |title=The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=BasicBooks |year=1997 |isbn=0465082203 |url=https://archive.org/details/characterofnatio00code |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=00040308 |title=Between the Alps and a Hard place: Switzerland in World War II and Moral Blackmail Today |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Regnery Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=089526353X}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=2005011512 |title=No Victory, No Peace |location=Lanham |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2005 |isbn=0742550028}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |isbn=978-0300108507 |publisher=Yale University Press |edition=1st |year=2006 |title=Seriousness and Character: The Intellectual History of American Foreign Policy}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=2009000660 |title=The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility |edition=Rev. |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=2009 |isbn=9780465028009}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=2008035933 |title=Advice to War Presidents: A Remedial Course in Statecraft |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=2009 |isbn=9780465004836 |url=https://archive.org/details/advicetowarpresi00code |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=2010020118 |title=A Student's Guide to International Relations |location=Wilmington, Del. |publisher=ISI Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-1935191919}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |lccn=2010033483 |title=The Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and what We Can Do about it |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=Beaufort Books |year=2010 |isbn=9780825305580 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780825305580 |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M. |title=To Make and Keep Peace Among Ourselves and with All Nations |location=Stanford, California |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780817917142}}

;Articles

{{cite news |title=America's Ruling Class — and the Perils of Revolution |newspaper=The American Spectator |date=July–August 2010 |first=Angelo M. |last=Codevilla |url=http://spectator.org/articles/39326/americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution |access-date=July 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714235155/http://spectator.org/articles/39326/americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution |archive-date=July 14, 2015 |url-status=dead}}
{{cite magazine |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M.| year=2011|title=The Lost Decade — Sixteen years after 9/11, America has neither peace nor victory|magazine=Claremont Review of Books|volume= XI|issue=4 |url=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-lost-decade/}}
{{cite web |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M.| year=2016|title=The Rise of Political Correctness|publisher=Independent Institute|url= http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=8932}}
{{cite web |last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M.| year=2019|title=European Defense|publisher=Hoover Institution| url=https://www.hoover.org/research/european-defense}}
{{cite magazine|last=Codevilla |first=Angelo M.| year=2020|title=The Original Fascist — From movement to epithet|magazine=Claremont Review of Books|volume= XX|issue=2 |url=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-original-fascist/}}

References

External links

[http://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/angelo-codevilla Angelo Codevilla] profile, Pardee School, Boston U.
[http://www.c-span.org/person/?angelocodevilla Angelo M. Codevilla] C-SPAN index

Category:1943 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Diplomats for the United States

Category:American international relations scholars

Category:American political philosophers

Category:Bendix Corporation people

Category:Boston University faculty

Category:Claremont Graduate University alumni

Category:Employees of the United States Senate

Category:Georgetown University faculty

Category:Grove City College faculty

Category:Hoover Institution people