Prophets on the Right [antikvár]

Introduction An Essay on History and the Questions to Be Raised in This Book This volume tries to examine the political thought and, particularly, the attitudes toward foreign policy, and internationalism, of five vividly different men, from the late 1930s through the beginning years of the emergent cold war. They are editor-journalist Oswald Garrison Villard, of the liberal Nation; economist and writer John T. Flynn, columnist for the New Republic; the noted titular head of the Republican party—"Mr. Republican"— Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio; the Progressive historian Charles A. Beard; and the self-proclaimed intellectual "fascist," Lawrence Dennis. A thread binds them together—endorsement of "isolationism" before World War II and an adherence to the "conservative" camp at the war's end. To many the descriptive terms that may suggest themselves include "right-wing," "fascist," "isolationist," "reactionary," and most charitably, "conservative." These men came from different starting places. Beard was part of the old Progressive tradition. Taft was raised to be President, coming from a political family with deep roots in Ohio. Flynn started out as a liberal economist concerned with Wall Street manipulation. Villard was a pacifist and a wealthy publisher, grandson of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Dennis was a Foreign Service officer who had served in South America. They ended among a group loosely defined as the American right wing. They have often been described as individuals whose ideas exemplify isolationism and extreme conservatism. Since I am an advocate of a socialist solution to America's domestic crisis, it may appear incongruous for me to have made a study of men of the Right. Some readers may wonder if my partisanship makes me incapable of such a task. To many the 11