Witness Whittaker Chambers

In 2011, author Elena Maria Vidal interviewed David Chambers about his grandfather's legacy. Versions of the interview were published in the National Observer and The American Conservative.[85][86]

Presidential Medal of Freedom (1984)

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Chambers the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his contribution to "the century's epic struggle between freedom and totalitarianism". In 1988, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel granted national landmark status to the Pipe Creek Farm.[2][87] In 2001, members of the George W. Bush administration held a private ceremony to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Chambers's birth. Speakers included William F. Buckley, Jr.[88]

Shortlived "Whittaker Chambers Award" (2017–2019)

In January 2017, the National Review Institute (NRI) inaugurated a "Whittaker Chambers Award"[89] for its 2017 Ideas Summit.[90]

Recipients:

• Daniel Hannan: On March 16, 2017, the first recipient was Daniel Hannan MEP,[91] dubbed "the man who brought you Brexit" by The Guardian.[92]
• Mark Janus: In February 2019, NRI announced its second biennial winner of the award, Mark Janus.[93][94] Supporters say Janus champions free speech; detractors say he seeks to erode public unions by enabling free rides.[95]

In March 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported strong opposition from the family of Whittaker Chambers.[96][97] It quoted from a family statement: "All of us agree: the efforts of the two awardees run counter to the instincts and experience of Whittaker Chambers. All of us agree: their efforts have not matched his."[96] Chambers's son said that the two awardees "are way, way off the target of the man whose name goes along with the award".[96] One grandchild said, "I almost thought, well, 'Gosh, did the National Review guys read his book?'"[96] Regarding the award to Daniel Hannan, another grandchild said, "My grandfather would have been horrified" by a Brexiteer who sought to divide the West (the European Union), as if it were a favor to the "very Stalin-like" Vladimir Putin.[96] Regarding the anti-union Mark Janus, the family noted that Chambers's wife, Esther Shemitz, had been a member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and that other family members were active in unions, including Chambers himself in the Newspaper Guild.[96]

In response, National Review conceded, "We don't own the Chambers name".[96] While it refused the family's request to withdraw the two awards, it did agree to discontinue it.[96] It also agreed to publish the Chambers family's statement on its website the weekend after the award.[96]

After National Review did not publish on time as promised, the family published themselves ("Withdraw Whittaker").[98]

(Christopher Buckley, author and son of William F. Buckley Jr., supported the Chambers family with a similar story about the William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence: when Media Research Center awarded Sean Hannity, Buckley objected, the center rescinded the award, and stopped making the award altogether.[96])

Proposed Whittaker Chambers monument (2020)

In September 2020, two senators from Carroll County to the Maryland General Assembly, Justin Ready and Michael Hough, announced their intention, reported in the Carroll County Times[99] to recommend a "Whittaker Chambers Memorial"[100] for a "National Garden of American Heroes, following an executive order by Donald J. Trump to create an Interagency Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes to establish that garden.[101] Two members of the Whittaker Chambers family also wrote the Carroll County Times to say thank you but no to the senators' intention:

Whittaker Chambers sought a simple life of farming the Pipe Creek Farm. He was a Quaker. His beliefs ran toward austerity and self-effacement. Quaker meeting houses stand unadorned, without monuments or statues. He would not have liked such fanfare.The best way to remember our grandfather is to read his books. They are his memoir Witness (1952) and his later writings in Cold Friday (1964). Rather than a monument, he left testimony to read.As President Ronald Reagan said, when posthumously presenting the Medal of Freedom to him in 1984, "The witness is gone; the testimony will stand."[102][103]