IV. Editor, Thinker, Colleague

Jeffrey Hart

Willmoore Kendall once told me that James Burnham would drink one martini, but only one, because he would in no way impair, even for an evening, that formidable instrument inside his skull. Whether or not that is precisely accurate, Burnham was a pre-eminent mental presence at national review, never raising his voice, prevailing, when he did, through the modes of facts and analysis, so calmly that one never realized how powerful his presence was until it wasn’t there any more.