What Conservatives Are Telling Each Other

During the last weekend in January several hundred conservatives assembled at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom. The purpose was not exactly R&R: there is nothing particularly restful about attending meetings from breakfast through dinner and then going on to midnight discussions; nor was it for the rehabilitation of those who attended—although it is perfectly clear that there are a number of erstwhile conservatives who need rehabilitating. One of ACU Chairman M. Stanton Evans’ Laws of Politics is: “When our people get to the point where they can do us some good, they stop being our people.” One reason they stop is that they don’t get the requisite support or pressure to keep them in the path of righteousness. And one reason for that is that conservatives don’t get around to meeting often enough to organize their pressure and support. The 1974 Conservative Political Action Conference was designed to remedy that failure.

The people came from, roughly, everywhere. Parents, with children; young people not yet actively engaged in elective politics; slightly older people, slightly involved; practicing local politicians and aspirants; candidates for governor and senator from Alaska; businessmen with a little spare time; retired people; two governors, several senators, representatives, Capitol Hill staff members, and journalists. They wore name tags, at least at the first reception on Thursday night, from which it was possible to determine that they came from too many states to keep track of easily—California, Texas, Utah, Maine, Missouri—from, certainly, all parts of the country. All kinds of clothes (well, nothing outlandish), all lengths’ of hair (well, nothing outlandish)—a cross section, as far as one could tell, even if it would not have met the Warren Court’s strictures for democratic representation.

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Daniel Oliver

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William F. Buckley Jr.

During the last weekend in January several hundred conservatives assembled at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom. The purpose was not exactly R&R: there is nothing particularly restful about attending meetings from breakfast through dinner and then going on to midnight discussions; nor was it for the rehabilitation of those who attended—although it is perfectly clear that there are a number of erstwhile conservatives who need rehabilitating. One of ACU Chairman M. Stanton Evans’ Laws of Politics is: “When our people get to the point where they can do us some good, they stop being our people.” One reason they stop is that they don’t get the requisite support or pressure to keep them in the path of righteousness. And one reason for that is that conservatives don’t get around to meeting often enough to organize their pressure and support. The 1974 Conservative Political Action Conference was designed to remedy that failure.

The people came from, roughly, everywhere. Parents, with children; young people not yet actively engaged in elective politics; slightly older people, slightly involved; practicing local politicians and aspirants; candidates for governor and senator from Alaska; businessmen with a little spare time; retired people; two governors, several senators, representatives, Capitol Hill staff members, and journalists. They wore name tags, at least at the first reception on Thursday night, from which it was possible to determine that they came from too many states to keep track of easily—California, Texas, Utah, Maine, Missouri—from, certainly, all parts of the country. All kinds of clothes (well, nothing outlandish), all lengths’ of hair (well, nothing outlandish)—a cross section, as far as one could tell, even if it would not have met the Warren Court’s strictures for democratic representation.