Dr. Eric Patterson

President and CEO

Dr. Eric Patterson is President and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to educate all generations about the terrible history, ideology, and legacy of communism, and it accomplishes this through educational programming, policy-relevant research, and the VOC Museum in Washington, DC. Patterson has previously served as a think tank president and university dean. His government experience includes service as a White House Fellow, at the U.S. Department of State, and, for over 20 years, as an Air National Guard commander. He is an active scholar on the moral dimensions of national security and international affairs, as well as author of over 20 books, including Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in U.S. Military History.

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Is America Doomed to Repeat the Failures of Socialism?

So-called democratic socialists such as Mamdani ally Darializa Avila Chevalier have called for the “total eradication of Western civilization.” This should not surprise us. For decades, America’s education system—from K-12 through universities—has drifted from teaching about the American Dream to an outright assault on America’s free…

The Questions ‘Democratic Socialists’ Keep Dodging

Writing in the Washington Examiner, VOC’s Dr. Eric Patterson exposes one of the key lies of democratic socialist talking points in America. As he argues: Americans are being told that so-called “democratic socialism” is simply the humane politics of Scandinavia…