NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: The Class of 1967
Regnery, Alfred S.
T'SCAUSEFORCELEBRATIONwhenanymagazineturns40, especially an opinion magazine. And when that magazine is The American Spectator, you have a real...
...Althoughskeweringtheleftwasalwaysthetoppriority (along with celebrating alcohol, tobacco, and red meat),theSpectatorpublishedseriouswritingonserious topics...
...The historic consequence was thatthismagazinebecamethefirststopforColdWarliberalsjourneyingrightward,suchasIrvingKristol,Midge Decter,JamesQ.Wilson,JeaneKirkpatrick,andDaniel Patrick Moynihan--the only generation of intellectuals properlycalledneoconservatives...
...My father, Henry Regnery, was publishing most of the books coming from the right...
...And when that magazine is The American Spectator, you have a real zinger onyourhands...
...Buckley and Milton Friedman becamecounselorsasdidahandfulofconservativespeechwritersintheNixonWhiteHouse.Inthetenthanniversary issue, the magazine assumed its present name and Buckleyenthused,"Itisajournalofjoy,remindingusin everyissueofthereasonstocelebratethezestofcombat,thejoyofrightthinking,thepleasureoflanguage...
...I have just finished a book on the rise of Americanconservatism,tobepublishedinJanuarybySimon & Schuster under the title Upstream...
...Congressional leaders like Arizona's Barry Goldwater, Indiana's Bill Jenner, and Ohio's John Ashbrook...
...So along comes this curly-haired smart-ass kid from the world-champion Indiana University swimming team...
...In 1985 the magazine left Indiana for Washingtonandcontinueditsharassmentofliberals,most daringly with its revelations about the Clintons...
...YAF and ISI wererareoutpostsofsanityforstudents...
...and they threw in a little humor, skewering the professors and the we-are-so-serious student radicals on every page.Liberalswerenotamused...
...He gathers up a few of his buddies who think the lefties are full of prunes, and starts a magazine.TheycalleditTheAlternativeandtheywroteserious stuff about war, politics, and conservatism...
...The GOP was controlled by NelsonRockefeller'sboysfromWallStreet,andthefew conservatives, especially on the campus, knew to keep theirheadsdownlesttheybeloppedoff...
...The Vietnam War--the liberals' war-was raging and body bags were returning home by the hundreds every week...
...It did not take long for liberals and conservatives aliketorecognizethatTheAlternativewasmorethana transientstudentmagazine.Liberalssawitasathreat, and middle-aged conservatives saw it as the magazine of a conservative student rebellion against left-wing orthodoxy...
...Our alumni comprise one of our greatest triumphs, with a list--too long to include here--of conservative journalists who cut their teeth at The American Spectator...
...There wasn't much of a conservative movement...
...Thefallof1967wasn'tyourgarden-varietyback-toschool season...
...Buttherewereafewbravesoulswhojustwouldn't be cowed...
...Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House, Democrats overwhelminglycontrolledCongress,andtheGreatSociety wasinfullswing.Liberalswereinpigheaven...
...My conclusion is thatitistheideas,plusthepeoplewhodevelopedthose ideas in books, journals, and magazines--including the Spectator--that are at the heart of conservatism's success...
...There were Europeans such as Malcolm Muggeridge and Luigi Barzini, and American socialists such asSidneyHook.Tyrrellwentoutofhiswaytofindwritersfromoutsidetheconservativemovementwhoshowed promise--sometimes making dyed-in-the-wool conservatives uneasy...
...Thefullimpactofour40yearsisprobablyimmeasurable...
...But with magazines likeThe American Spectator, the next 40 years are sure tobeevenhappierthanthelast.by Alfred S. Regnery N O T EF R O MT H EP U B L I S H E R 6 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7 TheClassof1967 I...
...Notalkradio,noFoxNews,noInternet,nobloggers,no right-wing think tanks...
...Student radicals were running amok, encouraged by most of their professors and by behind-the-scenes professional agitators, who were cheatingGusHalloutofhisduesiftheyweren'talready members of the Communist Party USA...
...It is the ideas--all the things we still write about here--that will continue to keep the country on track...
...We have come a long way since those dreary days of 1967, and there is a long way to go...
...The Clintons struck back, but the Spectator prevailed and continued its positive work, publishing seminal pieces on politics and philosophy, reviewing important conservative and poisonous liberal books, and developing young writers...
...Bill Buckley and his National Review troops kept lobbing stink bombs at the liberals every other week...
Vol. 40 • October 2007 • No. 8
