James S. Denton

James Steele Denton (July 5, 1951 – June 22, 2018) was the publisher and editor of World Affairs and the director of the World Affairs Institute in Washington, D.C. Previously Denton was the executive director of Heldref Publications, founded by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick and her husband Evron.

Early life Denton was the son of Jeremiah Denton, a United States Navy Rear Admiral and U.S. Senator from Alabama, and Jane Maury. James Denton grew up on military bases and finished high school in Virginia Beach. He graduated from Elon College in 1973. He went to Officer Candidate School and served in the Navy until 1979. After employment with a travel business in Norfolk, he moved to Washington, D.C. a special commendation from the Polish government, as well as a commendation from the Coordinating Group of the Serbian Opposition for his support of their successful effort to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic.

Denton authored, edited and published books, reports and articles on human rights, democratic development, and terrorism. He is the author of Grinning with the Gipper (Atlantic Monthly Press), which showed how Ronald Reagan popularized his views with humor. He also worked as a speechwriter for Bob Dole's presidential campaign.

In November 2017 Denton received an Honorary Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

Personal life Denton married Marilyn Grisham in 1976, and they had two children. On June 22, 2018, Denton died at his home in Washington, D.C. from prostate cancer at age 66.