“I thought we were heading to another nuclear holocaust,” Blumenfeld says. “There were so many warheads, mathematically it looked like sooner or later some mishap would happen and we were all going to do ourselves in.”
Ironically, Richard Pipes, Blumenfeld’s Harvard thesis adviser, was a key adviser to Reagan’s foreign policy at the time.
Save for several New York Times op-eds on the subject, Blumenfeld shifted his focus to books, calling periodicals “too ephemeral.” In 1981, Blumenfeld wrote Jenny: My Diary, a cautionary tale of the consequences of nuclear holocaust.
Today, Blumenthal is the editor of “Prospects of Tomorrow,” a series of books focusing on ideas for how to affect the future and discussions of what kinds of issues the world will face in the coming years. The series includes his own 2099: A Eutopia—a look at how daily life may work in a metropolis at the cusp of the 22nd century—and collections of noted scholars discussing positive methods of approaching the future and how to ensure the best possible world for later generations.
ACROSS THE POND
Today, Blumenfeld and his wife reside in Cambridge, England.
“In 1969, Nixon was going to come into the White House and I had decided I didn’t want to bring my children up into a rather violent and very unpredictable America,” he says. “I felt that it would be better to move to England where we would be in the company of more civilized people.”
However, he has not eschewed the States. He fondly remembers his New York days and visits four to five times a year. “I still get an enormous energy from visiting New York,” he says.
Blumenfeld’s Reagan-era anxiety has not been alleviated much today.
“I deplore the way things have deteriorated with the [Bush] administration,” he says. “I am very much opposed to the war in Iraq. I am opposed to the war on terrorism. … You can’t win a so-called war on terrorism anymore than you can win a war against drugs.”
In terms of improving the world, Blumenfeld still considers the pen mightier than the sword, having editorialized on Bush’s policies in The Times of London, The Guardian, and elsewhere. He has also participated in anti-war marches in England, his first experiences as an active demonstrator.
Despite his pessimism about current events, Blumenfeld is still looking to leave the world a better place than he found it, a progressive impulse that remains from his earlier Philia days.
“I’m looking at the prospect for a better world and trying to give the younger generation a reason to vote. And give the generation a more positive outlook,” Blumenfeld says. “[I] feel that negativity leads to shock and fright and is one way to get a reaction from people and does not leave them with anything.…I think the positive message is one that they can go back to….We have a lot to change and I think people really need to be encouraged.”
—Staff writer Michael M. Grynbaum can be reached at grynbaum@fas.harvard.edu.