Actually, I think pretty much everyone at NR is at least two removes from Trotsky in that Max Eastman was Trotsky’s translator and one-time literary agent and I have to assume WFB shook Eastman’s hand on many an occasion. And, Lord only knows how many times Burnham shook hands with Trotsky (and presumably Lenin). And one can only imagine the hands Chambers shook in his day. So if you shook hands with Buckley, you’ve got the magic going.

Also my grandmother heard Trotsky speak when she was a seamstress in the New York garment district.