Jacobin Radio

Behind the News: The Myth of Respectable Conservatism w/ David Austin Walsh

Feb 2, 2026
Laura Field, researcher of Trump-era ideas and author of Furious Minds. David Austin Walsh, historian of conservative movements and author of Taking America Back. They trace how respectable conservatives and fringe radicals interlock. They explore Buckley’s role, how crackpots catalyze mass movements, intellectual apocalypticism, national conservatism, and the culture-war networks reshaping politics.
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INSIGHT

Why Responsible Conservatism Emerged

  • "Responsible conservatism" was created to be a respectable opposition that liberals would take seriously during the Cold War.
  • This strand defined itself against a more radical, conspiratorial, and openly racist right that sought to overthrow the liberal order.
INSIGHT

Buckley's Central Role In The Right

  • William F. Buckley helped bind disparate right-wing factions and sought approval even from extremists like George Lincoln Rockwell.
  • His role in unifying the right made him pivotal to conservatism's rise despite later repudiations.
ANECDOTE

Buckley's Controversial Purge

  • Buckley publicly distanced National Review from The American Mercury in 1959, triggering huge hate mail and controversy.
  • He waited until 1965 to fully condemn the John Birch Society partly because Goldwater's 1964 campaign needed Bircher volunteers.
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