Notes & Asides

Dear Mr. Buckley:

I came across a curious circumstance the other day while seeking illumination in the Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary. In the biographical entries section, it seems that Mao Tse-tung (see also Deng Xiaoping) was a “Chinese Communist leader,” Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a “Russian revolutionary leader,” Joseph Stalin was a “Soviet Communist leader,” and Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a “Soviet statesman.” On the other hand, Adolf Hitler was an “Austrian-born German Nazi dictator,” Benito Mussolini was an “Italian Fascist dictator,” Idi Amin Dada was a “Ugandan dictator,” and Francisco Franco was a “Spanish soldier and dictator.”

Featured Tags

Manage following

William F. Buckley Jr.

Dear Mr. Buckley:

I came across a curious circumstance the other day while seeking illumination in the Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary. In the biographical entries section, it seems that Mao Tse-tung (see also Deng Xiaoping) was a “Chinese Communist leader,” Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a “Russian revolutionary leader,” Joseph Stalin was a “Soviet Communist leader,” and Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a “Soviet statesman.” On the other hand, Adolf Hitler was an “Austrian-born German Nazi dictator,” Benito Mussolini was an “Italian Fascist dictator,” Idi Amin Dada was a “Ugandan dictator,” and Francisco Franco was a “Spanish soldier and dictator.”