As the nation mourned the death of former president Gerald Ford, American political life lost another important figure, Seymour Martin Lipset, who died on New Year's Eve at the age of 84. An extraordinarily prolific scholar, Lipset was a brilliant analyst of the social underpinnings of modern political behavior. He was without question the most eminent American political sociologist. He remains the only person ever to serve as president of both the political science and sociology associations in this country.

Lipset brought his genius most fully to bear on the subject of "American exceptionalism," those features of our society that distinguish our political traditions from those of Europe and of Canada. In a variety of works, he explained why socialism never took root in the United States, with our uniquely persistent religious heritage, our anti-statist traditions, and our ethic of individual responsibility playing especially important roles.

Late in his career, Lipset lent his enormous prestige to the New Democrat community through his affiliation with the Progressive Policy Institute as a senior fellow. His first PPI publication, in 1990, Political Renewal On the Left, was one of the first rigorous examinations of the international movement toward a post-socialist progressive politics.

His understanding of "American exceptionalism" also led Lipset to make a major contribution to the affirmative action debate of the early 1990s, in a PPI paper entitled Equality and the American Creed. America's distinctive traditions, Lipset argued compellingly, made opportunity-based affirmative action efforts far more popular and effective than those focused on guaranteeing equal results.

Aside from his many contributions to political science and sociology, Marty Lipset was an exceptionally kind and generous man who always found time to mentor younger scholars, and on occasion, political practitioners as well. His wise counsel and original thinking will be missed, and we join his many admirers in hoping that he will rest in peace.