On the Right

New York, June 2—The President’s designation of Daniel Patrick Moynihan to succeed John Scali as our Ambassador to the United Nations has aroused opposition from a curious quarter. Henry Fairlie is an Englishman who lives in the United States and every now and again writes impressively from a position roughly identified as “conservative.” For instance, back when everyone with a moral IQ of more than 100 was assumed to be totally opposed to our resistance to aggression in Vietnam, Mr. Fairlie was saying reassuring things about how he slept better at night for the knowledge that America’s military-industrial complex was steadfastly engaged in the business of containment.

But like many other English conservatives, Mr. Fairlie is a thoroughgoing eccentric, and is capable of writing prose so ponderous as to require a pick and shovel to blast down to its meaning. I have made the exertion, and Mr. Fairlie seems to be saying that Moynihan, though a charming gentleman, is no good for us in the United Nations because said Moynihan does not sufficiently appreciate “liberalism,” the “tradition” of “American decency.” Far from having reached the dead end that Moynihan says liberalism has reached, it is in the opinion of Mr. Fairlie, writing in the Washington Post, up and going. Indeed, “what is surprising in this respect is the resilience and vitality that liberalism has continued to exhibit.” Mr. Moynihan, says Fairlie in a neat venture in paralepsis, having rejected his own tradition causes concern because of “—one hesitates to say his malice, because he is not a malicious man—the illtemper . . . with which Mr. Moynihan repudiates a large part of his own past.” Fairlie speaks of Moynihan’s “lack of generosity,” and suggests that he be subjected to “a period of benign neglect”— so that Moynihan’s “friends could then enjoy him more in the evenings.” I know both Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Fairlie, and I know Mr. Moynihan to be the most generous of men, though I would be surprised if that generosity extended to his consenting to spend an evening with Mr. Fairlie.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

New York, June 2—The President’s designation of Daniel Patrick Moynihan to succeed John Scali as our Ambassador to the United Nations has aroused opposition from a curious quarter. Henry Fairlie is an Englishman who lives in the United States and every now and again writes impressively from a position roughly identified as “conservative.” For instance, back when everyone with a moral IQ of more than 100 was assumed to be totally opposed to our resistance to aggression in Vietnam, Mr. Fairlie was saying reassuring things about how he slept better at night for the knowledge that America’s military-industrial complex was steadfastly engaged in the business of containment.

But like many other English conservatives, Mr. Fairlie is a thoroughgoing eccentric, and is capable of writing prose so ponderous as to require a pick and shovel to blast down to its meaning. I have made the exertion, and Mr. Fairlie seems to be saying that Moynihan, though a charming gentleman, is no good for us in the United Nations because said Moynihan does not sufficiently appreciate “liberalism,” the “tradition” of “American decency.” Far from having reached the dead end that Moynihan says liberalism has reached, it is in the opinion of Mr. Fairlie, writing in the Washington Post, up and going. Indeed, “what is surprising in this respect is the resilience and vitality that liberalism has continued to exhibit.” Mr. Moynihan, says Fairlie in a neat venture in paralepsis, having rejected his own tradition causes concern because of “—one hesitates to say his malice, because he is not a malicious man—the illtemper . . . with which Mr. Moynihan repudiates a large part of his own past.” Fairlie speaks of Moynihan’s “lack of generosity,” and suggests that he be subjected to “a period of benign neglect”— so that Moynihan’s “friends could then enjoy him more in the evenings.” I know both Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Fairlie, and I know Mr. Moynihan to be the most generous of men, though I would be surprised if that generosity extended to his consenting to spend an evening with Mr. Fairlie.