William F. Buckley, Jr.: Pied Piper for the Establishment [Hardcover]

John F. McManus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1881919064 | ISBN-13: 978-1881919063 | Publication Date: July 15, 2002

Conservatism used to equal an undeniable love for God, family, and our Republic. That was before the "neo" conservatives came, before William F. Buckley, Jr. was chosen by the liberal establishment as the chief spokesman for conservatives. From the 1960s to today, conservative Americans have been led astray by Buckley and other false conservatives who want to interject the U.S. government into almost every aspect of our lives. John F. McManus, president of The John Birch Society, presents a critical examination of Buckley's life and career, including Buckley's: promotion of liberal causes, from abortion, drugs, and pornography, to the Panama Canal giveaway; connections to the CFR, CIA and Yale's Skull & Bones Society; selection of ex-Communists, Trotskyites, and CIA veterans to staff National Review; and unwarranted attack on JBS founder Robert Welch to prove himself "acceptable" to the liberal establishment. Don't let yourself be fooled! By understanding how and why the New York-Washington establishment embraced Buckley and his so-called conservatism, you can avoid the traps laid down by similar false conservatives. Get your copy today!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Grigg shows the UN plan, not only in lands where populations have been disarmed, but even in America. -- The New American, November 19, 2001

About the Author

An award-winning investigative journalist, William Norman Grigg is Senior Editor for The New American magazine. He resides in Appleton, Wisconsin, with his wife Korrin and sons William, Isaiah, and Jefferson.

As a correspondent for The New American, Mr. Grigg has covered numerous United Nations summits and conferences, including the 1994 population control summit in Cairo, Egypt, the 1995 social development summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the 2000 Millennium Forum and 2001 small arms conference, but at UN Headquarters in New York City.

Mr. Grigg has written and co-produced several video documentaries, including Tragedy by Design (1997), Injustice for All: The International Criminal Court (1998), and Civilian Disarmament: Prelude to Tyranny (2000). His previous books are The Gospel Revolt: Feminism vs. The Family (1993) and Freedom on the Altar: The UN's Crusade Against God and Family (1995).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: John Birch Society (July 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881919064
• ISBN-13: 978-1881919063
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understand the "Establishment", January 9, 2007

By 

Craig Davidson (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: William F. Buckley, Jr.: Pied Piper for the Establishment (Hardcover)

This is a great book to help understand the relationship of the Establishment Elite to the control of high government positions, the Major Media, and the use of that media in portraying false images (reputations) of various persons in positions of leadership and influence. And, of course, it shines a light on Buckley's phoney "conservatism" and allows you to also see through deceptions of other so-called conservatives who spout similar rhetoric.

25 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totalitarian conservative?, January 1, 2004

By 

David H Miller "rothbardianphysicist" (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: William F. Buckley, Jr.: Pied Piper for the Establishment (Hardcover)

In his introduction, John McManus quotes from a 1952 essay by William F. Buckley, Jr. published in the Catholic magazine Commonweal. Buckley wrote:

"...we have got to accept Big Government for the duration -- for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged, given our present government skills, except through the instrument of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores..."

I had seen this infamous quote before I read McManus' book, but reading the book motivated me to check the original source in the local university library: McManus is quoting accurately and the quote is not taken out of context.

So, why would a writer, such as Buckley, who has made a career claiming to be an opponent of Big Government and a defender of traditional values and individual rights, endorse a "totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores"?

This is the question which McManus' book aims to answer.

McManus is President of the right-wing John Birch society, but, although I myself differ from McManus and his group on a host of issues (ranging from abortion and the Drug War to China policy), I found his book to be well-documented, accurate, and chockful of relevant facts.

Part of McManus' explanation rests on the fact, publicly acknowledged by Buckley, that Buckley was at one time a CIA operative; some of Buckley's closest political associates (e.g., James Burnham, Willmoore Kendall) were also CIA operatives. The CIA's penchant for clandestinely funneling money to useful intellectuals is now a matter of public record (see, e.g., Saunders' "The Cultural Cold War"). For example, the famous "Congress for Cultural Freedom," which published the internationally renowned intellectual journal "Encounter," was eventually admitted by all concerned to be a CIA front. McManus points out that it is more than credible -- given the CIA's admitted record with the CCF, "Encounter," etc. -- that Buckley, along with his flagship operation, the magazine "The National Review," was a CIA front.

To what purpose? Prior to Buckley, American conservatives had been anti-war and anti-militarist: the right-wing had opposed American involvement in both World War II and Korea.

Buckley changed all that.

Regardless of the possible CIA connection, the Buckley re-definition of conservatism served broader goals of the governing establishment. As McManus points out, Buckley's strategy consisted of "portraying the Red menace as nearly invincible. Americans could then be persuaded to accept higher taxation, increasingly onerous controls, and an array of international alliances leading to world government, all under the guise of opposing the external Soviet threat."

The military draft, the Great Society, federal control of scientific research and higher education, etc. -- to use Buckley's phrase, "a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores," all justified by the need to confront and out-compete the Soviet Union.

To anyone who suggests that this was not simply a ruse aimed at maintaining political power, McManus points out that the Buckleyites even "red-baited" McManus' own far-right, rabidly anti-Communist John Birch Society! In October 1965, Buckley's "National Review" accused the Birchers' founder, Robert Welch, of following the "pacifist-Commie line" because Welch had expressed some well-founded doubts about the ill-fated U.S. adventure in Vietnam.

What were Buckley's personal motivations? McManus quotes an early Buckley associate, Medford Evans: "The reluctant conclusion that I have reached is that William F. Buckley Jr. is and has been driven by vanity, ambition, and greed to seek a place in the Establishment which he professes -- or once professed -- to oppose."

McManus also quotes the populist Kevin Phillips who more colorfully hints that Buckley's actions were due to personal status insecurity (the Buckleys were "New Money," not old wealth):

"There was, of course, a time when Bill Buckley was anti-establishment -- back in the long-ago days when he was an Irish nouveau-riche cheer leader for Joe McCarthy. But since then he's primed his magazine with cast-off Hapsburg royalty, Englishmen who part their names in the middle, and others calculated to put real lace on Buckley's Celtic curtains."

Certainly, Buckley's little magazine has, since its inception, reeked of a certain pseudo-sophisticated air that falsely suggested to its readers that the magazine could elevate them to a higher realm of elite taste and intellectual sophistication.

So Bill Buckley is not a real conservative but merely a willing tool of the anti-conservative establishment. Does it matter? Buckley is, after all, now in his dotage -- the influential conservatives nowadays are Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, etc.

The answer is that Buckley, for good or ill, succeeded in shaping the American conservative movement in his own image. If they are not quite Buckley's clones, Limbaugh, Hannity, and Coulter are nonetheless his ideological descendants. Buckley himself will doubtless soon be dead, but his influence lives on.

Furthermore, just as Buckley and his cohorts found the Cold War to be a useful excuse for creating a "totaliatrain bureacracy within our shores," so now a newer generation of faux conservatives is using the threat of Islamic terrorism to squelch any authentic anti-establishment, Constitutionalist elements on the Right and to re-establish a Buckleyite "totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores." History does repeat itself.

For further discussions, from varying perspectives different from McManus', of Buckley's dominating influence on the American conservative movement, I recommend Raimondo's "Reclaiming the American Right," Nash's "The Conservative Intellectual Movement in American Since 1945," and Gottfried's "The Conservative Movement."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Violet, June 7, 2010

By 

Violet Sylvia (Michgian) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: William F. Buckley, Jr.: Pied Piper for the Establishment (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books on the subject of William F. Buckley. It explains why Mr.Buckley is not the great conservative that he tried to make everyone believe. If you want to read the other side of William F. and what he really was all about , this is the book to read!