On the Right

Washington, April 24—Mr. Nixon was apparently pressed to adumbrate his proposals for domestic reform ahead of schedule, and he was good-humoredly annoyed. He wanted to take his time, one gathers. So that, in his press conference, he chided some of his pursuers by observing that reforms are very easily proposed by those who have merely to tap them out on their typewriters; but that what he strove after was “workable” reforms.

Now a “workable” reform can mean one of several things, and Mr. Nixon was careful not to specify which he had in mind. By “workable” he might mean a) a reform that he might hope to pass through a Congress which, after all, is organized by Democrats. Or he might mean by “workable” b) a reform which the public would tolerate, the public and the Congress not being, on all matters, agreed. Or he might mean c) workable in the sense that it would work, i.e. that things would actually improve, by almost everybody’s reckoning, upon the passage of such a reform.

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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.

Washington, April 24—Mr. Nixon was apparently pressed to adumbrate his proposals for domestic reform ahead of schedule, and he was good-humoredly annoyed. He wanted to take his time, one gathers. So that, in his press conference, he chided some of his pursuers by observing that reforms are very easily proposed by those who have merely to tap them out on their typewriters; but that what he strove after was “workable” reforms.

Now a “workable” reform can mean one of several things, and Mr. Nixon was careful not to specify which he had in mind. By “workable” he might mean a) a reform that he might hope to pass through a Congress which, after all, is organized by Democrats. Or he might mean by “workable” b) a reform which the public would tolerate, the public and the Congress not being, on all matters, agreed. Or he might mean c) workable in the sense that it would work, i.e. that things would actually improve, by almost everybody’s reckoning, upon the passage of such a reform.