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Ronald Berman—who was nominated by President Nixon in 1971 for the job of Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and who served in that capacity until 1977 —leaves two major questions unanswered in Culture & Politics (University Press of America, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Md. 20706; $10.95). The first, which he does not address, is why a well-known Shakespeare scholar and former associate editor of The Kenyon Review would wish to leave a presumably pleasant job with the University of California in order to embroil himself in a political culture in which the discussion attendant upon a visit to America by the Royal Shakespeare Company focused on whether or not the trip were equitable to Actors Equity. This may seem like a naive question, rather like wanting to know why Ronald Reagan wanted to leave his elaborate ranch in sunny California in order to be President of the United States. It does, nevertheless, bear upon the second, and more important, question, which Berman does address but fails to answer; namely, Why have a National Endowment for the Humanities in the first place?

Berman, a self-described conservative who was recognized as such during the nomination hearing by natural enemies like Senators Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and Jacob Javits of New York, admits that as his “Monaco-sized” fiefdom of the Federal Government grew, “I was something of a problem to conservatives,” for whom government subsidy of ideas means their debasement.

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Ronald Berman—who was nominated by President Nixon in 1971 for the job of Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and who served in that capacity until 1977 —leaves two major questions unanswered in Culture & Politics (University Press of America, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Md. 20706; $10.95). The first, which he does not address, is why a well-known Shakespeare scholar and former associate editor of The Kenyon Review would wish to leave a presumably pleasant job with the University of California in order to embroil himself in a political culture in which the discussion attendant upon a visit to America by the Royal Shakespeare Company focused on whether or not the trip were equitable to Actors Equity. This may seem like a naive question, rather like wanting to know why Ronald Reagan wanted to leave his elaborate ranch in sunny California in order to be President of the United States. It does, nevertheless, bear upon the second, and more important, question, which Berman does address but fails to answer; namely, Why have a National Endowment for the Humanities in the first place?

Berman, a self-described conservative who was recognized as such during the nomination hearing by natural enemies like Senators Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and Jacob Javits of New York, admits that as his “Monaco-sized” fiefdom of the Federal Government grew, “I was something of a problem to conservatives,” for whom government subsidy of ideas means their debasement.