Matthew Continetti on William F. Buckley, the Conservative Movement, and Anti-Semitism

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2017

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Anti-Semitism knows no party. Throughout modern history, it has manifested in different forms, in different countries, across the political spectrum. In the years following the Second World War, antipathy to Jews and the Jewish State was found in the nascent conservative movement in the United States. It had a home there, that is, until William F. Buckley Jr. entered the scene. In his pivotal role as doyen of the American Right, Buckley ensured that anti-Semites had no place in the pages of conservatism’s flagship publication, National Review.

But as the Cold War came to an end, right-wing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism reappeared. As the writings and statements of men like Pat Buchanan and Joe Sobran became ever more hostile to Jews and Israel, Buckley again stepped into the breach. In a special issue of National Review, and then in a fuller and annotated book, Buckley set out In Search of Anti-Semitism. Though it pained him to accuse his longtime friends and allies, Buckley ultimately concluded that men like Sobran could not be defended from the charge of an anti-Semitism that ought to have no place on the Right.

In this podcast, Matthew Continetti, editor of the Washington Free Beacon and scholar of modern American conservatism, joins Tikvah’s Jonathan Silver to discuss Buckley’s book. Continetti lays out the history of anti-Semitism in American conservatism as well as Buckley’s role in driving it to the fringes of the movement. Silver and Continetti also examine the definition of anti-Semitism, what distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate criticism of the State of Israel, and the place of anti-Semitism in today’s fractured conservative politics.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble, as well as Ich Grolle Nicht, by Ron Meixsell and Wahneta Meixsell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tikva podcast and great Jewish essays and ideas.
0:11.8	I'm your host, Jonathan Silver.
0:13.9	If you like listening to our podcast, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, where I hope you'll leave us a rating and a review.
0:20.3	If you'd like to learn more about
0:21.4	the work we do at Tikva, you can visit our website, tikvafund.org, or follow us on Facebook or
0:27.3	Twitter. Anti-Semitism knows no party. It has manifested in forms conservative, liberal, communist.
0:35.2	It's been a potent political force in just about every kind of regime,
0:39.1	from monarchy to theocracy, from socialist republics to democratic ones. Opposition to the Jews
0:45.5	is a tool that can be wielded by political power of all kinds. That's part of its enduring
0:51.5	and wicked genius. In our conversation today, we look at the history
0:55.8	of anti-Semitism in the conservative movement in the United States. Our text was first a special
1:02.6	issue of the National Review, published in 1991 by its founder in Great Presence, William F. Buckley,
1:09.2	then elaborated and annotated to become a short book.
1:12.8	In Search of Antisemitism was published in that form in 1992. To help us understand the book,
1:19.1	the personalities involved, and the ideas they confronted, were joined by Matthew Contenetti,
1:24.2	editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, a contributing editor at the Weekly
1:28.5	Standard and at National Affairs. Matt last joined our podcast to discuss Irving Crystal's
1:34.2	theological politics. Today we talk William F. Buckley and anti-Semitism. Matt, welcome to
1:39.8	the Tikva podcast. Thanks for having me, John. We're going to talk about William F. Buckley, the history of
1:45.2	National Review, the publication he founded, and the role that anti-Semitism played in its own
1:50.9	development, how they've dealt with it as a conceptual issue. Why don't you just tell us, I think,
1:55.8	to begin so that our listeners can remember about who Buckley is and the founding of this publication.
	...

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