In The Room With Lee Edwards And The Greatest Generation Of Conservatism

A young conservative who looks at our country today can be excused for wondering what good his father’s and grandfather’s “conservative movement” has done. OK, we won the Cold War and, more recently, seem to have installed a reliable majority of sane justices on the Supreme Court, but other than that, of the objectives with which gleeful conservatives sent Ronald Reagan to the White House four decades ago, which have they achieved?

Every generation must respond to new challenges of its own, so it is no criticism of the activists of 1964 or 1980 to observe that mindlessly repeating their agenda and tactics will not succeed today. But many conservatives wonder if the problem is deeper. Perhaps the conservative movement — perhaps America itself — was somehow misbegotten. If the institutions, organizations, and leaders collectively derided as “Conservatism, Inc.” have proved impotent in the face of a 70-year cultural and political onslaught from the left, perhaps they were never good at anything besides raising money.

Even if one takes a more forgiving view, it can be tempting to dismiss the old guard as irrelevant. Lincoln urged his contemporaries, “As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.” Yesterday’s Chamber of Commerce conservatism is no match for the ferocious neo-Marxism that now controls nearly every major American institution. We’re getting mauled on the field while the aging alumni partying in the stands exhort us to win one for the Gipper.

But a recent gathering in Washington of a few old conservative warriors reminded me how distorted that view is.

The occasion was the 90th birthday of Lee Edwards, known today as the historian of the conservative movement but himself one of its key players since the early 1960s. By Richard Viguerie’s calculations, Lee is the longest-tenured member of the conservative movement, having moved up to that exalted position upon the death of Phyllis Schlafly.

Richard (who is No. 2) assembled six other veterans — five men and one woman — for a luncheon at the Monocle in Lee’s honor. Founders and leaders of some of the movement’s most important organizations, they have all served the cause since 1964 or earlier. Richard also included two “youngsters,” Tim Goeglein and me.

It’s not often that I’m the pup in the room, but I felt like a high school baseball coach who has somehow found himself hanging out with a bunch of Hall of Famers, listening to tales not only of their own exploits but of time they spent with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Lee Edwards met Ronald Reagan in 1965 when the movie star was contemplating a run for governor of California. Others talked about their last visit with Bill Buckley before he died.

Lee’s engaging memoir, “Just Right: A Life in Pursuit of Liberty” (2017), tells the story of this remarkable cohort. They came from all over the country and from every kind of background, brought together by their shared anti-communism and their enthusiasm for Barry

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