Willmoore Kendall: Philosopher of Consensus I. Kendall’s Fundamental Position

During the winter of 1966, Willmoore Kendall visited me for two weeks at Oxford, an incredible, marvelous, phantasmagoric two weeks. One afternoon, after we had spent quite a bit of time at a pub called The Turf, Willmoore disclosed to me one of his important goals. He wanted to be the intellectual leader of modern American conservatism. At the time this seemed to me rather quaint. I had just published a book celebrating the various strands of conservatism, and I regarded variety as strength. Moreover, after we left The Turf and were walking along High Street in the dusk, Willmoore collapsed against a Gothic wall in acute pain from angina and took a nitro pill. His prospects of becoming that intellectual leader did not seem very bright to me.

I was wrong. I now believe firmly that Kendall’s position, though it is not widely or fully grasped, really is the essence of American conservatism, and that it will increasingly be recognized as such.

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Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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During the winter of 1966, Willmoore Kendall visited me for two weeks at Oxford, an incredible, marvelous, phantasmagoric two weeks. One afternoon, after we had spent quite a bit of time at a pub called The Turf, Willmoore disclosed to me one of his important goals. He wanted to be the intellectual leader of modern American conservatism. At the time this seemed to me rather quaint. I had just published a book celebrating the various strands of conservatism, and I regarded variety as strength. Moreover, after we left The Turf and were walking along High Street in the dusk, Willmoore collapsed against a Gothic wall in acute pain from angina and took a nitro pill. His prospects of becoming that intellectual leader did not seem very bright to me.

I was wrong. I now believe firmly that Kendall’s position, though it is not widely or fully grasped, really is the essence of American conservatism, and that it will increasingly be recognized as such.