Know Your Enemy

The Death of Conservatism? (Part 1)

Episode Summary

How did a once-marginal movement of right-wing ideologues manage to take power in America, ascending to the highest levels of government? In the first of two episodes on Sam Tanenhaus's "The Death of Conservatism," we look at the early history of post-war American conservatism. (Buckley, Bozell, and Burnham, oh my!)

Episode Notes

Sam Tanenhaus's original 2009 essay in The New Republic, the basis for the book we're discussing today: https://newrepublic.com/article/61721/conservatism-dead

Whitaker Chambers's 1957 dismantling of Ayn Rand in the pages of National Review: https://www.nationalreview.com/2005/01/big-sister-watching-you-whittaker-chambers/

And here's Buckley's 1955 mission statement for National Review: https://www.nationalreview.com/1955/11/our-mission-statement-william-f-buckley-jr/