Integrity News

Mr. Moskos and I definitely had our differences, but in time of death, even to the loved ones of my opposition, I would like to express my condolences. Let’s hope he would do the same for us.

Charles C. Moskos — described as the nation’s most influential military sociologist and best known as being the author of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding treatment of homosexual service members — died Saturday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., after a struggle with prostate cancer, according to a piece in The Atlantic magazine online.

Moskos was born May 20, 1934, in Chicago to Greek immigrant parents, and grew up in Albuquerque, where he graduated from Albuquerque High School.

His brother was Harry Moskos, who had a long career with the Albuquerque Tribune before becoming vice president and editor of The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel,  then on his retirement in 2006 came to the Albuquerque Journal, where he continues to work for the editorial page.

Charles Moskos was a sought-after source on military matters from journalists with the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and contributed op-ed pieces to newspapers including The Wall Street Journal and the Albuquerque Journal.

After graduating from Albuquerque High, Charles Moskos went to Princeton University on tuition scholarship and waited tables for room and board, according to Wikipedia.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965 right after graduation from Princeton, and it was while serving in Germany he wrote the first of many articles, titled “Has the Army Killed Jim Crow?”

On leaving the military, he earned a master’s and doctorate at UCLA and took his first teaching job at the University of Michigan, then was lured away to Northwestern University, where he was one of the most popular sociology teachers at the school, Wikipedia said.

His highest profile came with his development of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for the Clinton administration, in which — although homosexuality is prohibited by the military’s code of conduct — the government cannot ask about an enlistee’s sexual preference and homosexuals cannot tell military superiors they are gay.

Moskos stopped teaching classes at Northwestern University two years ago and later moved to Santa Monica, Calif., where, according to an e-mail from his wife, Ilca, to longtime Atlantic magazine writer James Fallows, he “died peacefully in his sleep after a valiant struggle with cancer.”

Funeral services are expected to be held at Evanston, Ill., at a later date.