Table Of Content essays I rv I ng $29.95 us / $34.50 caN
Highlights from The NeocoNservative PersuasioN K r I sto l
T he
“Auden is certainly one of those ‘whose works are in better taste than their lives.’ . . . the
T
bitterly acquired political wisdom of a generation seems to flourish in the pen and stagnate
h
rving Kristol, the “godfather” of
in the poet.” —audeN: the Quality of doubt, 1942 e
i
neoconservatism and one of our most
N
N e o c o N s e r vat i v e
mily “If in time the victory goes to leo strauss, he will have accomplished nothing less than a e important public intellectuals, played
ol fa revolution in intellectual history, and most of us will—figuratively, at least—have to go back to o an extraordinarily influential role in the
rist school to learn the wisdom of the past that we thought we knew.”
K c development of American intellectual and
he —the PhilosoPher’s hiddeN truth, 1952
of t o political culture over the past half century. these
y
rtes “to be disillusioned one must have had illusions. the liberalism of the modern Jew is N P e r s u a s i o N essays, many hard to find and reprinted here
u
o
C one that has been especially rich in illusions. . . . It is the intensity and obstinacy of
s for the first time since their initial appearance,
the Jewish commitment to this liberalism that is so special.”
e represent a penetrating survey of the intellectual
I rv I n g K r I s t o l , —liberalism aNd americaN Jews, 1988
r
development of one of the progenitors of
the founder and editor of The Public Interest, was v
“For the past century the rise of liberalism has been wedded to the rise of secularism in all neoconservatism.
also a regular contributor for three decades areas of American life. In the decades ahead, the decline of secularism will signify the a
over the years, Kristol wrote on a
t
to The Wall Street Journal. He taught at new decline of liberalism as well. . . . today, it is the religious who have a sense that the
remarkably broad range of topics—from W. H.
i
York University and was a senior fellow at the wave of the future is moving in their direction.”
v
Auden to ronald reagan; from the movement’s
American Enterprise Institute. He was the —takiNg religious coNservatives seriously, 1994 e
roots in the 1940s at City College to American 6-5/16 x 9-1/2
s e l e c t e d
author of Two Cheers for Capitalism and Reflections of “It is true that populism can be a danger to our democratic orders. But it is also true that S: 1-7/16
P foreign policy; from tacitus to leo strauss; from
a Neoconservative, among other books. In 2002, populism can be a corrective to the defects of democratic order, defects often arising e s s ays , B: 1-1/16
e religion to capitalism. Kristol’s writings provide
President george W. Bush bestowed upon him from the intellectual influence and the entrepreneurial politics of our democratic elites.”
r 1942-2009
us with a unique and penetrating guide to the BASIC
the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest —the right stuff, 1996
s HC
development of neoconservatism, establishing
civilian honor. “neoconservatism is the first variant of American conservatism in the past century that is in u
it as one of the leading strands of thought in
4/COLOR
the ‘American grain.’ It is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its a
recent American political, intellectual, and
general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic.” s
FINISH:
social history.
—the NeocoNservative PersuasioN, 2003 i matte poly
Introduction by gertrude Himmelfarb
o At once erudite and engaging, the essays in
Foreword by William Kristol $29.95 US / $34.50 CAN N The Neoconservative Persuasion are no less
ISBN 978-0-465-02223-6
52995 I r v I n g K r I s t o l compelling today than they were for so many
readers in the past.
Jacket design by Alyssa stepien A Member of the Perseus Books group
www.basicbooks.com
02/11 9 780465 022236
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page i
THE NEOCONSERVATIVE PERSUASION
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page ii
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page iii
The
Neoconservative
Persuasion
Selected Essays,
1942–2009
I R V I N G K R I S T O L
Edited by
Gertrude Himmelfarb
Foreword by
William Kristol
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
0465022236-KristolRev_Design 11/18/10 2:21 PM Page iv
Copyright © 2011 by Irving Kristol
Foreword copyright © 2011 by William Kristol
Introduction copyright © 2011 by Gertrude Himmelfarb
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information,
address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in
the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more
information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books
Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call
(800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Brent Wilcox
The Library of Congress has catalogued the print edition of this book as follows:
Kristol, Irving.
The neoconservative persuasion : selected essays, 1942–2009 / by Irving Kristol ;
edited by Gertrude Himmelfarb ; foreword by William Kristol.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-465-02223-6 (alk. paper)
1. Conservatism. 2. Conservatism—United States. I. Himmelfarb, Gertrude.
II. Title.
JC573.K6658 2010
320.520973—dc22
2010038251
E-book ISBN: 978-0-465-02333-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page v
CONTENTS
Foreword: In Memoriam: Irving Kristol, 1920–2009: William Kristol ix
Introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb xiii
I IN THE BEGINNING . . . : Enquiry 1
Auden: The Quality of Doubt (1942) 2
A Christian Experiment (1943) 5
Other People’s Nerve (1943) 8
James Burnham’s The Machiavellians(1943) 13
The Moral Critic (1944) 20
II ANCIENTS AND MODERNS 25
The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth (1952) 26
Niccolò Machiavelli (1954) 33
“ . . . And People Opening Veins in Baths”: Tacitus (1956) 42
III DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA 47
“Civil Liberties,” 1952: A Study in Confusion (1952) 48
American Ambiguities: The Jacksonian Persuasion (1958) 61
Republican Virtue versus Servile Institutions (1974) 64
Human Nature and Social Reform (1978) 77
Foundations and the Sin of Pride: The Myth of
the Third Sector (1980) 81
The Spirit of ’87 (1987) 89
The Welfare State’s Spiritual Crisis (1997) 95
The Two Welfare States (2000) 99
v
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page vi
vi Contents
IV THE CULTURE AND COUNTERCULTURE 103
High, Low, and Modern: Some Thoughts on Popular Culture
and Popular Government (1960) 104
What’s Bugging the Students (1965) 117
Vice and Virtue in Las Vegas (1973) 123
Reflections of a Neoconservative (1984) 127
It’s Obscene but Is It Art? (1990) 131
The Way We Were (1995) 135
V CAPITALISM, CONSERVATISM,
AND NEOCONSERVATISM 139
Old Truths and the New Conservatism (1958) 140
What Is a “Neoconservative”? (1976) 148
Toward a “New” Economics? (1977) 151
No Cheers for the Profit Motive (1979) 155
Ideology and Supply-Side Economics (1981) 159
American Conservatism: 1945–1995 (1995) 171
The Right Stuff (1996) 180
The Neoconservative Persuasion (2003) 190
VI FOREIGN POLICY AND IDEOLOGY 195
The Ironies of Neo-Isolationism (1973) 196
Notes on the Yom Kippur War (1973) 200
What’s Wrong with NATO? (1983) 204
International Law and International Lies (1985) 214
“Human Rights”: The Hidden Agenda (1986–1987) 218
Conflicts That Can’t Be Resolved (1997) 231
VII JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY 235
The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew:
The Theological Stigma (1947) 236
How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”? A Comfortable Religion for
an Uncomfortable World (1948) 248
The Political Dilemma of American Jews (1984) 259
Liberalism and American Jews (1988) 272
Christmas, Christians, and Jews (1988) 281
Why Religion Is Good for the Jews (1994) 286
Taking Religious Conservatives Seriously (1994) 292
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page vii
Contents vii
A Note on Religious Tolerance (1998) 296
On the Political Stupidity of the Jews (1999) 301
VIII MEMOIRS 315
An Autobiographical Memoir (1995) 316
Forty Good Years (2005) 350
My “Public Interest” (2006) 356
IRVING KRISTOL BIBLIOGRAPHY 359
Acknowledgments 389
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page viii
0465022236-Kristol_Design 10/29/10 9:48 AM Page ix
FOREWORD: IN MEMORIAM:
IRVING KRISTOL,
1920–2009
In 1994 my father wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journaltitled “Life With-
out Father.” It dealt with the subject of the family and poverty and welfare—
with my father drawing for his argument, as he so often did, on a combination
of social science, common sense, history, and personal experience. In the
course of the article, my father briefly discussed his father, Joseph Kristol, who,
he wrote, “was thought by all our relatives and his fellow workers to be wise,
and fair, and good. I thought so too.”
So have Liz and I always thought about our father. To us, he was wise, and
fair, and good. I honestly don’t think it ever occurred to us that we could have had
a better father. So as we enter the rest of our life—a life without our father—
we are overwhelmed not by a sense of loss or grief, though of course we feel
both, but by a sense of gratitude: Having Irving Kristol as our dad was our
great good fortune.
Now, my father would often speak of his own great good fortune. That was
meeting my mother. Shortly after graduating from City College, my father—a
diligent if already somewhat heterodox Trotskyist—was assigned to attend the
meetings of a Brooklyn branch of the young Trotskyists. As my father later
wrote, the meetings were farcical and pointless, as they were intended to recruit
the proletarian youths of Bensonhurst to a cause they were much too sensible
to take seriously. But the meetings turned out not to be entirely pointless, be-
cause my father met my mother there. They were married, and they remained
happily married—truly happily married, thoroughly happily married—for the
next sixty-seven years.
Dan Bell, who knew my parents for that whole span, called my parents’
marriage “the best marriage of [his] generation.” I only knew my parents for
ix
