Jack Ryan
Strength and resolve
The patriotic interventionist ideal.
Rooted Neo-Conservative (Neocon)One of 729 ideologies · enter the Neo-Conservative (Neocon) hall →- Role
- Analyst-president (fiction)
- From
- Tom Clancy novels
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Rooted
- Placement
- +24 · +30 · −35
§ Where Jack Ryan stands
3 axesRyan is a free-market patriot who made his own fortune as a stockbroker before entering public service, and Clancy treats market capitalism as a pillar of American strength. In Debt of Honor (1994) Ryan helps rescue Wall Street from a Japanese conspiracy that sabotages its trading records, treating the integrity of the markets as a matter of national security.
Ryan believes in decisive American power exercised by honourable professionals. He serves the CIA, the White House and finally the presidency, where in Executive Orders (1996) he rebuilds a government decapitated by terrorism and confronts an aggressive Iranian-led United Islamic Republic. Yet in Clear and Present Danger (1989) he exposes an illegal covert war, insisting that power answer to the law.
Ryan is a traditional, family-and-country conservative: an Irish Catholic former Marine, a devoted husband to the surgeon Cathy Ryan and a father motivated by duty more than ambition. He is knighted for protecting the British royal family in Patriot Games (1987), and as president he governs as an outsider who appeals to old-fashioned virtues of honour and service.
How close are you to Jack Ryan?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
FictionJack Ryan is the hero of a long series of thrillers by the American novelist Tom Clancy, beginning with The Hunt for Red October (1984). A former Marine officer from Baltimore who made a fortune as a stockbroker and then became a historian, he joins the CIA as an analyst, helps a Soviet submarine captain defect, survives a terrorist vendetta in Patriot Games (1987) and climbs to national security adviser and vice president. When a Japanese pilot crashes an airliner into the Capitol at the end of Debt of Honor (1994), Ryan becomes president.
Ryan represents the principled hawk of late Cold War conservatism: a self-made patriot who trusts American strength, distrusts career politicians and believes honourable professionals should wield power. Clancy's debut was praised by Ronald Reagan and became a bestseller, and the character reached a wider audience through films starring Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine, and an Amazon series with John Krasinski from 2018. The ending of Debt of Honor was widely recalled after the September 11 attacks.
Notable for
- 01Hero of Clancy's novels
- 02Analyst to president arc
- 03Patriotic-hawk archetype
Key works & moments
- 1984The Hunt for Red October introduces Ryan, who helps a Soviet submarine captain defect.
- 1987Patriot Games: Ryan foils a terrorist attack on the Prince and Princess of Wales.
- 1989Clear and Present Danger: Ryan exposes an illegal covert war against Colombian drug cartels.
- 1994Debt of Honor ends with Ryan becoming president after an attack on the Capitol.
- 1996Executive Orders: President Ryan rebuilds the government and faces a biological attack.
- 2018Amazon launches Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, with John Krasinski in the title role.
§ Minds closest to Jack Ryan
All minds →
§ Also in the Neo-Conservative (Neocon) hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Jack Ryan's political ideology?
Jack Ryan is fiction's model of the principled hawk, a patriotic conservative who trusts American power: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Rooted Neo-Conservative (Neocon). Economically he sits right of centre (+24), a self-made investor who treats free markets as a pillar of national strength. On governance he backs decisive state power, especially in intelligence and defence (+30), while insisting that it answer to the law, and socially he leans traditional (−35), an Irish Catholic family man driven by duty and patriotism.
Is Jack Ryan left-wing or right-wing?
Right of centre. Ryan's values of military strength, patriotism, faith, family and suspicion of career politicians reflect the Reagan-era conservatism of his creator, Tom Clancy. He is written less as a partisan than as a professional, however: he presents himself as a public servant rather than a politician, defends the rule of law against rogue officials in Clear and Present Danger and governs as an outsider, which gives the character an appeal that reaches beyond partisan lines.
Is Jack Ryan a neoconservative?
Partly. Like the neoconservatives, Ryan believes American power should be used confidently against tyrannies, from the Soviet Union of the early novels to the hostile regimes and terrorists of the later ones, and he is at home with intelligence work and military force. But he is less a crusader for exporting democracy than a pragmatic professional who defends national interests and the rule of law, so he is better described as a Reagan-era hawk with neoconservative instincts than as an ideologue.
Which minds are closest to Jack Ryan?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Jack Ryan are Paul Wolfowitz (99% alike), Bill Kristol (98% alike) and Charles Krauthammer (98% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (17% alike).