THE YRs

Stephen R. Maloney’s article “Hanging Tough” in the August 31 national review brought welcome word that the flag of conservatism still flies over the Young Republican National Federation. But Mr. Maloney’s statement that “the 1963 convention marked the takeover of the YRs by the conservative forces of the ‘Syndicate’ ” is inadvertently misleading. Lest the long and honorable (and highly successful) efforts of the conservative YRs of the 1950s be forgotten altogether, kindly allow one of their diminishing number to set the record straight. (Just call me Ishmael.)

The modern history of the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) began, for all practical purposes, at its Salt Lake convention in 1949, when a fresh coalition of forces elected John Tope, then of Michigan, as YR chairman. During Tope’s two-year administration, the coalition found its natural leader when one of its members, F. Clifton White, was elected president of the New York YRs.

WA

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William A. Rusher

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Stephen R. Maloney’s article “Hanging Tough” in the August 31 national review brought welcome word that the flag of conservatism still flies over the Young Republican National Federation. But Mr. Maloney’s statement that “the 1963 convention marked the takeover of the YRs by the conservative forces of the ‘Syndicate’ ” is inadvertently misleading. Lest the long and honorable (and highly successful) efforts of the conservative YRs of the 1950s be forgotten altogether, kindly allow one of their diminishing number to set the record straight. (Just call me Ishmael.)

The modern history of the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) began, for all practical purposes, at its Salt Lake convention in 1949, when a fresh coalition of forces elected John Tope, then of Michigan, as YR chairman. During Tope’s two-year administration, the coalition found its natural leader when one of its members, F. Clifton White, was elected president of the New York YRs.