RUSSELL KIRK AND THE AGE OF IDEOLOGY RUSSELL \ R\ AND THE A6E OF DEOL06Y W. WESLEY McDONALD Universily of Missouri Press COLUMBIA AND LONDON CT 2 9 1 ,, '"" VA ,\. /,, Or \ ii; V£RSJTY '0~v Copyright © 2004 by The Curators of the University of Missouri University of Missouri Press, Columbia~ Missouri 65201 Printed and bound in the United States of America All rihts reserved 5 4 3 2 1 08 07 06 05 04 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McDonald, W. Wesley, 1946- Russell Kirk and the age of ideology / W. Wesley McDonald. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8262-1512-2 (alk. paper) 1. Conservatism-United States-History-20th century. 2. Kirk, Russell. I. Title. JC573.2.U6M37 2004 320.52'092-dc22 2003023386 This paper meets the requirements of the (§)TM American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39 .48, 1984. Designer: Elizabeth K. Young Typesetter: Phoenix Type, Inc. Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc. Typefaces: Times and WashingtonD To my wife, Alice J. Baum3ar~, in apprecialion ror all lhe years of devoled love, and lo lhe memory of my falher, William E. McDonald ( 1916-2003) CONTENTS Preface: ' IX I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I In lroduclion , , , , , , . , , . , , , , , . , , , , , , , , , , , , . , 1 1. Kirk and lhe: Re:6irlh of American Conse:rvalism , , , , , . 1~ 2. The: Moral ~asis of Conse:rvalism , , , , , . , .. , , . , . ~2 55 3. The: Moral lma3inalion, Reason, and Nalural Law , , 4. Tradilion and (/The: Pe:rmane:nl Thin3s11 86 , , , , , , , , , , , 5. Order in lhe: Soul and Commonwe:allh , , , . , , , , , 115 Communily and fre:e:dom , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 13 9 6. 7. Le:ade:rship and Educalion , , , , . , , , , , , , , , , , , 170 8. The: Endurin3 Le:3acy .. . , . .. , ......... , .. 201 ~i6lio~yaphy ....... . .. ................. 221 239 Index , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . , , . Vll PREFACE in writing this book is to rescue Russell Kirk from his 0HE Of MY GOALS hagiographers, who, since his death, sometimes venerate him at the expense of understanding the substance of his thought or quote him se- lectively to promote agendas that would have been foreign to his think- ing and nature. Much of what today passes for "conservatism" would not have pleased my subject. Always suspicious of proponents of global military adventures, expansive government, and social innovation, he would have cast a skeptical eye on the ambitious schemes advanced by prominent conservatives to spread democracy throughout the world, link government to private faith-based organizations under the rubric of "compassionate conservatism," and cleanse ourselves of customs and symbols to avoid offending some perceived "victim" group. On the basis of my personal know ledge of hi1n gleaned through the years as his former research assistant and later friend, I do not believe that he would have wanted to become an empty icon for a political movement. I hope that my examination of his social and political thought will cor- rect mis perceptions about Kirk's legacy and lead to an appreciation of his teachings by those who eschew partisan politics. Insofar as my book accomplishes these ends, it will serve as a tribute to the memory of an esteemed teacher. Russell Kirk first entered my life when I was a freshman at Towson State College (now Towson University) in Baltimore, Maryland. I had developed a campus reputation as one of Senator Barry Goldwater's most outspoken supporters during his 1964 campaign for the presidency. Such enthusiasm was hardly appreciated or admired. On this heavily Democratic campus, to declare yourself publicly to be a Republican, much less a supporter of the "extremist" Barry Goldwater, was to invite derision, contempt, and ridicule from most of your classmates and from nearly all the faculty. A tiny band of us, impervious to such censure and blithely unaware that some professors might reward our enthusiasm with less than desirable grades, soldiered on, in the mistaken belief that our candidate was electable. Such are the follies of youth. lX X PREFACE Conservatism in those days meant to me opposition to atheistic com- munism, socialism, anything "on-American," and 1nost things connected with the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. I knew nothing of Edmund Burke, John Adams, John C. Calhoun, or about any of those titanic fig- ures who had articulated and sustained through the generations a tradi- tion of conservative ideas. My introduction to Kirk and the conserva- tive intellectual tradition came when a fellow student and Goldwaterite, P. Michael Ratliff (now vice-president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute), gave me his tattered copy of The Conservative Mind, with the recommendation that I read it. Neither of us could have imagined then how that single act would dramatically shape my life. During my college years, I devoured nearly everything Kirk wrote. Mike Ratliff and I persuaded the college in 1966 to invite Kirk as guest speaker. Unfortunately, I had not seen a picture of him. But, since his books and essays were written in a forceful, manly style, I imagined Kirk was a dynamic, charismatic figure; the sort of a man who fills a room with his personality as soon as he enters. Imagine my shock when the man who appeared was short and rotund and dressed in an unfash- ionable dark three-piece suit. Instead of the brilliant conversationalist whom I had awaited, the speaker was painfully shy and often stammered. My college senior thesis was nevertheless written partly about this taciturn figure. The following year, while a graduate student at Bowl- ing Green State University, I begin a master's thesis on Kirk's political thought. During this time I took the liberty of contacting Kirk to ask him some routine questions about his work-the usual sort of request I assumed that he must have often received from other students and readers. What books would he recommend? Who had influenced his thought most profoundly? Could he sum up his major ideas in a few paragraphs? I never really expected that someone of his stature would answer a letter from a mere graduate student. At most, I thought, he might forward a copy of his bibliography, along with a few polite plati- tudes. Instead, I received a letter graciously inviting me to visit his home, Piety Hill, in Mecosta, Michigan. A fellow graduate student and I drove up from Bowling Green, Ohio, a few weeks later. When we ar- rived at his home, Kirk was engaged in one of his favorite pastimes- planting trees. He barely took notice of our arrival. This apparently indif- ferent reception took me aback. I had been accustomed to having hosts notice my arrival. I had not yet learned that at Piety Hill Kirk's numer-