You may imagine from the title of this article that it is about a woman who probably does well in both her career and her family. But who is she? What does she think of her years spent on her children? What are the things she cares most about in her life?

    The woman who burst through the glass ceiling to become the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Nations¹ is naturally a hero to many in the women’s rights movement. But the same woman turned her back on the world of work for nearly 14 years to raise three sons, making her just as much a hero to upholders（支持者）of traditional roles for women. “I dropped out of the work force for almost nine years, and then kept my career in low gear for another four to five years after that”, Jeane Kirkpatrick says in an interview.
     “I felt it was important for my children — they’re very dear to me — so I stayed at home”, says the former UN envoy（使节）, who served at the world body from 1981 to 1985 and who now is a professor of government at Georgetown University in Washington, D. C., and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.² Kirkpatrick believes that “it made sense to give priority to the kids”³ while her husband, Evron, who was a professor of government and for many years executive director of the American Political Science Association, supported the family. Her husband died three years ago.
     “A lot of people have asked me over the years whether it bothered me to think how much I might have achieved in those years if I hadn’t stayed at home devoting myself to my wife and family role,”⁴ Kirkpatrick says. “My answer is, I think it made me stronger to stay home, as a matter of fact. It didn’t make me weaker. It made me stronger. I have no regrets. I’d do it again.”
     Kirkpatrick was born and raised in Duncan, a small town on the Oklahoma plains. Her father, an independent contractor（承包者）, drilled oil wells for big petroleum companies. Her mother stayed at home to raise two children — Jeane and her younger brother — and to help in running the family business. Jeane’s parents pushed her hard to excel in her studies and at her piano lessons.⁵ And she did. When she was in the eighth grade, the family pulled up roots and transplanted（移居）to Mount Vernon, Illinois.⁶
     After high school, she attended Stevens College in Missouri for a couple of years and then went on to Barnard College, the women’s college of Columbia University in New York City. After graduating she earned her master’s and doctoral degree in political theory and comparative politics from Columbia. It took years, however, for her to warm to political science and fully embrace it.⁷ “In college, I was originally interested in literature and philosophy,” she says. “As time went by, I got into political philosophy, and this finally developed into my focus on political science. In my academic work, I’ve focused as much on philosophy of government as on political science.”
     Books she began to read that became her lifelong inspiration（灵感）include the Federalist Papers, Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Politics.⁸ The Bible, which she reads regularly in addition to being a “regular churchgoer,” figures strongly in her list of favorites. “My religion has made me follow my conscience in public policy”, she says. Her heroes in the realm of politics include especially Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman (busts（半身像）of both adorn（装饰）her office).
     After serving at the United Nations, Kirkpatrick was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1985~1990) and Defense Policy Review Board (1985~1993).⁹ Kirkpatrick has received honors as diverse as the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award; two Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medals, the highest civilian honor in the Defense Department; B’nai B’rith’s humanitarian（人道主义）Award; and the Gold Medal of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.¹⁰
     With regard to the future of America, she says, “I think we have had a remarkable heritage（遗产）. We are an extraordinarily blessed country — above all by our freedom and our prosperity and our devoted citizens. And what I hope is that these can survive.
     On the U.S. role in the world, she says that America, superpower though it is, ultimately cannot resolve international conflicts, although Washington can help on the edges. “Peace is a consequence of living in peace — eschewing（避免）conquest and war,” she says. “It’s an outgrowth（结果）of the policy of nations. And I hope our own policy will continue to be what it is, a policy oriented（朝向）toward peace and consistent with peace in the world11 — a policy that will be an inspiration to other nations. ”
     Assessing the whole sweep of her life12, she concludes, “I hope that I’ve been a good wife and a good daughter. I hope I’ve been a good mother. These are the things I care the most about.”

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