On the Right

Let the Joy be Unconfined

New York, Sept. 25—The combination of dignity, ebullience, and purpose shown by Daniel Patrick Moynihan at the United Nations is the nearest thing to a jolt of pleasure we have taken since the formation of the Tower of Babel. One associates the UN, in memory, as the place where American representatives regularly apologize for Thomas Jefferson’s having owned slaves, which ends up being the direct cause of poverty in Liberia. And yet as the years Went on it became clear that the United Nations would never be used, and probably never could be used, as a genuine pulpit for right-minded reform. No American ambassador would ever go to the General Assembly, address the distinguished leaders of the so-called 77 indigent nations of the Third World, and say, “Gentlemen: My government recommends that you go home and tell your people to get off their behinds and start to work; that your politicians cut down the level of their conspicuous consumption—which, for instance, requires General Mobuto to travel here with 66 personal attendants; and while you’re at it, we suggest you give a few moments each day to the contemplation of the entirely problematic future of your everlasting soul.” Ixnay.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

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

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Let the Joy be Unconfined

New York, Sept. 25—The combination of dignity, ebullience, and purpose shown by Daniel Patrick Moynihan at the United Nations is the nearest thing to a jolt of pleasure we have taken since the formation of the Tower of Babel. One associates the UN, in memory, as the place where American representatives regularly apologize for Thomas Jefferson’s having owned slaves, which ends up being the direct cause of poverty in Liberia. And yet as the years Went on it became clear that the United Nations would never be used, and probably never could be used, as a genuine pulpit for right-minded reform. No American ambassador would ever go to the General Assembly, address the distinguished leaders of the so-called 77 indigent nations of the Third World, and say, “Gentlemen: My government recommends that you go home and tell your people to get off their behinds and start to work; that your politicians cut down the level of their conspicuous consumption—which, for instance, requires General Mobuto to travel here with 66 personal attendants; and while you’re at it, we suggest you give a few moments each day to the contemplation of the entirely problematic future of your everlasting soul.” Ixnay.