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Conservatism in Crisis

Conservatism in Crisis Harry Jaffa was an intellectual leader of American conservatism, particularly as it developed in the second half of the twentieth century. In 2013, when Jaffa was 94 years old, the National Review called him “the most important conservative political theorist of his generation” (Miller 2013, 34). When Jaffa died, two years later, his eulogists all echoed that judgment. Charles Kesler, for instance, told the Los Angeles Times that “Harry helped to reshape the American conservative movement” (Woo 2015, B8). Jaffa spoke about himself in similar terms; he described himself as a conservative and talked about his work in terms of building “the conservative movement” (Benson 2012, 23).Most such accounts of Jaffa’s career tie his influence on American conservatism to his reading of Abraham Lincoln, particularly in Crisis of the House Divided. Writing for the Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward (2015) puts it this way: “It is no exaggeration to say that [Jaffa] singlehandedly caused conservatives to embrace Lincoln after a long period of indifference or even hostility toward the Great Emancipator.” Joseph Fornieri writes that throughout Jaffa’s work, “Lincoln’s statesmanship figures prominently as the gold standard of measurement” for American conservatism (2016, 43).Generally speaking, I agree with these assessments. It http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Political Thought University of Chicago Press

Conservatism in Crisis

American Political Thought , Volume 12 (2): 11 – Mar 1, 2023

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References (22)

Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Copyright
© 2023 The Jack Miller Center. All rights reserved.
ISSN
2161-1580
eISSN
2161-1599
DOI
10.1086/724492
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Harry Jaffa was an intellectual leader of American conservatism, particularly as it developed in the second half of the twentieth century. In 2013, when Jaffa was 94 years old, the National Review called him “the most important conservative political theorist of his generation” (Miller 2013, 34). When Jaffa died, two years later, his eulogists all echoed that judgment. Charles Kesler, for instance, told the Los Angeles Times that “Harry helped to reshape the American conservative movement” (Woo 2015, B8). Jaffa spoke about himself in similar terms; he described himself as a conservative and talked about his work in terms of building “the conservative movement” (Benson 2012, 23).Most such accounts of Jaffa’s career tie his influence on American conservatism to his reading of Abraham Lincoln, particularly in Crisis of the House Divided. Writing for the Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward (2015) puts it this way: “It is no exaggeration to say that [Jaffa] singlehandedly caused conservatives to embrace Lincoln after a long period of indifference or even hostility toward the Great Emancipator.” Joseph Fornieri writes that throughout Jaffa’s work, “Lincoln’s statesmanship figures prominently as the gold standard of measurement” for American conservatism (2016, 43).Generally speaking, I agree with these assessments. It

Journal

American Political ThoughtUniversity of Chicago Press

Published: Mar 1, 2023

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