Paul Greenberg, Pulitzer Prize Winner, To Be NRLC '99 Keynote Speaker

By Leslie Bond Diggins

Paul Greenberg has a radical idea. So radical, in fact, that it just might work. Paul Greenberg thinks pro-lifers should love.

Of course, love itself is hardly a revolutionary idea for pro-lifers. They've been loving mothers and their babies, born and unborn, all along. Rather, Paul Greenberg thinks that the way pro-lifers will finally win the battle against abortion is by wholeheartedly and joyously loving - - their ideological enemies.

"I think it's the argument without love that's the least persuasive - - the argument without love and therefore without communication, therefore without caring," he told NRL News in a recent interview about his upcoming appearance as the keynote speaker at the NRL Convention in Milwaukee in June. By contrast, the most persuasive argument is that which "brings people along, it opens their eyes and lets them own this lesson as their own," he said. The best teachers, he explained, do not lecture and preach about what they know, but rather lead the learner to the point at which the truth emerges - - and the learner him or herself uncovers and discovers that which has been there all along.

Paul Greenberg is no stranger to the art of persuasion. A nationally syndicated columnist and editorial page editor for Arkansas' largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Greenberg has been arguing his ideas and ideals on editorial pages for nearly four decades. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, and he has won dozens of other awards (including two additional Pulitzer nominations) for his powerful prose.

Evidencing his great skill as a writer, and even more his integrity, many who oppose Greenberg's ideological positions are willing to go on record in admiration for his intelligence and honesty. In fact, in an in-depth cover story on Greenberg published February 5 in the rival Arkansas Times (which Greenberg said devotes an inordinate amount of its copy to lamenting the perceived inadequacies of the Democrat-Gazette in general and Greenberg's editorial positions in particular), Greenberg comes across as a witty, intelligent, principled man who happens to be "wrong" on such issues as abortion.

Ironically, the Times article indicates that the vehemence with which some people oppose Greenberg's view on abortion stems at least in part from a feeling that he "should" support abortion because he was a proponent of civil rights. Because of his stand on civil rights, readers placed him firmly in the "liberal" camp - - complete with the expectation that he would automatically toe the line on all other "liberal" causes. Some of Greenberg's opponents today say they feel betrayed by his perceived abandonment of the liberal agenda.

"I don't find any inner inconsistency at all," Greenberg said. "I find it quite consistent. If you ascribe civil liberties to the born, it's not too much of a leap - - maybe seconds or minutes - - to ascribe them to the unborn."

But Greenberg was not always pro-life. In fact in 1973, when Roe v. Wade was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, Greenberg supported it.

Asked by NRL News if he bought into the pro-abortion lie that unborn children are somehow not human, or not "persons," Greenberg wryly answered, "No. I had biology in school." Rather, he said, he "had assumed that abortion would be reserved for hard cases in which the mother's life would be in danger or there would be some terrible tragedy to be averted."

"I was still resting my confidence in maternal instinct," he said. "I didn't realize that it would be a license for abortion."

But as the numbers mounted and it became clear that Roe had unleashed unfettered abortion on demand, Greenberg realized that he had been terribly, horribly wrong.

"I realized that I was on this downward roller coaster and I said, 'Let me off this thing!' " Then, he added, he had to "walk all the way back up" the slippery slope.

Having made that climb, however, Greenberg has made up for lost time by devoting numerous columns to the wide-ranging evils wrought by Roe. And his well-chosen images stick with the reader, forcing thoughtful consideration of his views. Consider the following, taken from a 1994 column on proposed experimentation on human embryos:

"To some, all of these maunderings about morality will seem perverse - - a ridiculously exaggerated fuss over a bit of protoplasm no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. Think of it: For the sake of this smidgen, Science is being kept waiting! That human life begins on such a scale tempts us to dismiss any reservations; it should fill us with awe."

Sometimes, Greenberg says it all with a single sentence. For example, in a 1997 column in which he described the gut-wrenching killing method known as partial-birth abortion, Greenberg wrote, "Forgive me for getting clinical, but if it's terrible to describe partial-birth abortions, it's even more so to permit them."

And then there are times when he manages to say quite a lot with just two words - - namely, "Slick Willie." Now a commonly used nickname for President Bill Clinton, the handle was first coined by Greenberg in 1980 in reference to then-Arkansas Governor Clinton. But Greenberg admits that for a long time, he himself was taken in by Clinton's glib answers and smooth moves - - so much so that he is surprised, looking back, at how often he gave the Governor-turned-President the benefit of the doubt. His attitude toward Clinton, he says now, was that while Clinton certainly compromised his principles to further his political career, Greenberg was certain that once Clinton got into a position where he could use his power for good he would do just that.

"Again and again I was disappointed," he said.

In a way, Greenberg told journalist Brian Lamb in a television interview, he cannot claim credit for "giving" Clinton the nickname Slick Willie. Rather, Clinton "earned" his title "by his general dissembling, his tendency to waffle throughout his career."

Greenberg's years of Clinton-watching and his decades of experience wrestling with the enormous range of social issues which have confronted our country in the last half century are sure to make his keynote address at the NRL Convention one of highlights of the event.