Up from L-b-r-lism

The New Republic has just observed its sixtieth anniversary, and the occasion has been marked—or marred—by frequent and unusual appearances in the news. First, last March, a young Harvard lecturer, Martin Peretz, bought it. By January things had become so strained between him and editor-in-chief Gilbert Harrison that Harrison resigned, despite a previous agreement that he would remain on the job until 1977. In the meantime, two of TNR’s most distinguished contributors died: Alexander Bickel, who at 49 had long since distinguished himself as a trenchant authority on constitutional law; and Walter Lippmann. Lippmann of course had left the magazine a half-century ago, but its star and his had risen together in its first decade around World War I, and the obituaries naturally dwelt on the association.

Published weekly as “a journal of politics and the arts,” The New Republic resembles national review in format, though it is more austere, with double columns of prose usually unbroken by illustrations or typographical eyecatchers; as if scornful of any appeal but to the mind. First there is Richard Strout’s acid, cussed “TRB from Washington,” which occupies the inside front cover, right across from the lead editorial; then the editorials; perhaps a Walter Pincus piece following up on the Watergate residue; John Osborne’s “White House Watch,” formerly “The Nixon Watch,” probably the most thorough regular coverage of the Presidency to be found anywhere; and short signed articles on politics. Stanley Kauffmann reviews films and theater, and the rest —nearly a third of TNR’s usual 34 pages—is given to book reviews.

JS

About the Author

Joseph Sobran

The New Republic has just observed its sixtieth anniversary, and the occasion has been marked—or marred—by frequent and unusual appearances in the news. First, last March, a young Harvard lecturer, Martin Peretz, bought it. By January things had become so strained between him and editor-in-chief Gilbert Harrison that Harrison resigned, despite a previous agreement that he would remain on the job until 1977. In the meantime, two of TNR’s most distinguished contributors died: Alexander Bickel, who at 49 had long since distinguished himself as a trenchant authority on constitutional law; and Walter Lippmann. Lippmann of course had left the magazine a half-century ago, but its star and his had risen together in its first decade around World War I, and the obituaries naturally dwelt on the association.

Published weekly as “a journal of politics and the arts,” The New Republic resembles national review in format, though it is more austere, with double columns of prose usually unbroken by illustrations or typographical eyecatchers; as if scornful of any appeal but to the mind. First there is Richard Strout’s acid, cussed “TRB from Washington,” which occupies the inside front cover, right across from the lead editorial; then the editorials; perhaps a Walter Pincus piece following up on the Watergate residue; John Osborne’s “White House Watch,” formerly “The Nixon Watch,” probably the most thorough regular coverage of the Presidency to be found anywhere; and short signed articles on politics. Stanley Kauffmann reviews films and theater, and the rest —nearly a third of TNR’s usual 34 pages—is given to book reviews.