Counterfeit at a Popular Price

Peter Viereck writes, beyond doubt, the most breathless prose the English language is capable of accommodating. The style is the man. Frenetic, undisciplined, impulsive, and the sport of every eddy of the prevailing wind, he would seem to be asking only for derisive laughter when he puts himself forward as a conservative. Yet in the public eye he has achieved and retained that reputation. His publishers proclaim him “the leading spokesman of a philosophical new conservatism.” And all the proper intellectual journals delight to confirm the title. Titillated by their daring, they present his “conservatism” just as proudly, and almost as often, as the more orthodox offerings of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Or George Kennan Or Richard Rovere.

The risk, indeed, is not very great. If it involves a speculative flutter on the long side in Metternich or Burke, it is always well hedged with short commitments in whatever is particularly obnoxious to the Liberals on the contemporary scene. Against Taft in ‘52 and McCarthy in 54, Mr. Viereck blossomed out as the conservative champion of “a better and wiser future under the better and wiser intellectualism of Stevenson.’

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

Featured Tags

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Liberals

Capitalism

Peter Viereck writes, beyond doubt, the most breathless prose the English language is capable of accommodating. The style is the man. Frenetic, undisciplined, impulsive, and the sport of every eddy of the prevailing wind, he would seem to be asking only for derisive laughter when he puts himself forward as a conservative. Yet in the public eye he has achieved and retained that reputation. His publishers proclaim him “the leading spokesman of a philosophical new conservatism.” And all the proper intellectual journals delight to confirm the title. Titillated by their daring, they present his “conservatism” just as proudly, and almost as often, as the more orthodox offerings of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Or George Kennan Or Richard Rovere.

The risk, indeed, is not very great. If it involves a speculative flutter on the long side in Metternich or Burke, it is always well hedged with short commitments in whatever is particularly obnoxious to the Liberals on the contemporary scene. Against Taft in ‘52 and McCarthy in 54, Mr. Viereck blossomed out as the conservative champion of “a better and wiser future under the better and wiser intellectualism of Stevenson.’