''National Review'' is an

American conservative Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conser ...

editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author

William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is

Rich Lowry Richard Lowry (; born August 22, 1968) is an American writer who is the former editor and now editor-in-chief of ''National Review'', an American conservative news and opinion magazine. Lowry became editor of ''National Review'' in 1997 when selec ...

, while the editor is

Ramesh Ponnuru Ramesh Ponnuru (; born August 16, 1974) is an American conservative thinker, political pundit, and journalist. He has been a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute since 2012. He is the editor of ''National Review'' magazine, a colu ...

. Since its founding, the magazine has played a significant role in the development of

conservatism in the United States Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conservative ...

, helping to define its boundaries and promoting

fusionism In American politics, fusionism is the philosophical and political combination or "fusion" of traditionalist and social conservatism with political and economic right-libertarianism. The philosophy is most closely associated with Frank Meyer. ...

while establishing itself as a leading voice on the

American right Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conservative ...

. The online version, ''National Review Online'', is edited by Philip Klein and includes free content and articles separate from the print edition. The free content is limited, but National Review Plus allows ad-free and unlimited access to both online and print articles.

History

Background

Before ''National Review''s founding in 1955, the

was a largely unorganized collection of people who shared intertwining philosophies but had little opportunity for a united public voice. They wanted to marginalize the

antiwar An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to ...

, noninterventionistic views of the Old Right. In 1953, moderate Republican

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

was president, and many major magazines such as the '' Saturday Evening Post'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', and ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' were strongly conservative and anticommunist, as were many newspapers including the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' and '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat''. A few small-circulation conservative magazines, such as ''

Human Events ''Human Events'' is an American conservative political news and analysis website. Founded in 1944 as a print newspaper, ''Human Events'' became a digital-only publication in 2013. ''Human Events'' takes its name from the first sentence of the U ...

'' and ''

The Freeman ''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chamberl ...

'', preceded ''National Review'' in developing

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

Conservatism in the 1950s.

Early years

In 1953,

Russell Kirk Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...

published ''The Conservative Mind'', which traced an intellectual bloodline from

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...

Frohnen, Bruce, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Nelson (2006) ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia''. ISI Books, Wilmington, DE, pp. 186–188 to the Old Right in the early 1950s. This challenged the notion among intellectuals that no coherent conservative tradition existed in the United States. A young

was greatly influenced by Kirk's concepts. Buckley had money; his father grew rich from oil fields in Mexico. He first tried to purchase ''

'', but was turned down. He then met

Willi Schlamm William S. (Willi) Schlamm (originally Wilhelm Siegmund Schlamm, June 10, 1904 – September 1, 1978) was an Austrian-American journalist. Biography Schlamm was born into an upper middle class Jewish family in Przemyśl, Galicia, in the Austrian ...

, the experienced editor of ''

''; they would spend the next two years raising the $300,000 necessary to start their own weekly magazine, originally to be called ''National Weekly''. (A magazine holding the trademark to the name prompted the change to ''National Review''.) The statement of intentions read:

Middle-of-the-Road, qua Middle of the Road, is politically, intellectually, and morally repugnant. We shall recommend policies for the simple reason that we consider them right (rather than “non-controversial”); and we consider them right because they are based on principles we deem right (rather than on popularity polls)... The
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
revolution, for instance, could hardly have happened save for the cumulative impact of ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' and ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', and a few other publications, on several American college generations during the twenties and thirties.

Contributors

On November 19, 1955, Buckley's magazine began to take shape. Buckley assembled an eclectic group of writers: traditionalists, Catholic intellectuals, libertarians and ex-Communists. The group included: Revilo P. Oliver,

James Burnham James Burnham (November 22, 1905 – July 28, 1987) was an American philosopher and political theorist. He chaired the New York University Department of Philosophy; his first book was ''An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis'' (1931). Burn ...

, Frank Meyer, and Willmoore Kendall, Catholics L. Brent Bozell and

Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...

. The former ''

'' editor

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...

, who had been a Communist spy in the 1930s and was now intensely anti-Communist, became a senior editor. In the magazine's founding statement Buckley wrote:

The launching of a conservative weekly journal of opinion in a country widely assumed to be a bastion of conservatism at first glance looks like a work of supererogation, rather like publishing a royalist weekly within the walls of Buckingham Palace. It is not that of course; if ''National Review'' is superfluous, it is so for very different reasons: It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no other is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.

As editors and contributors, Buckley especially sought out intellectuals who were ex-Communists or had once worked on the far Left, including Whittaker Chambers, William Schlamm,

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...

, Frank Meyer and James Burnham. When James Burnham became one of the original senior editors, he urged the adoption of a more pragmatic editorial position that would extend the influence of the magazine toward the political center. Smant (1991) finds that Burnham overcame sometimes heated opposition from other members of the editorial board (including Meyer, Schlamm, William Rickenbacker, and the magazine's publisher

William A. Rusher William Allen Rusher (July 19, 1923 – April 16, 2011) was an American lawyer, author, activist, and conservative columnist. He was one of the founders of the conservative movement and was one of its most prominent spokesmen for thirty years as ...

), and had a significant effect on both the editorial policy of the magazine and on the thinking of Buckley himself.

Mission to conservatives

''National Review'' aimed to make conservative ideas respectable, in an age when the dominant view of conservative thought was, as expressed by Columbia professor Lionel Trilling:

beralism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation... the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not... express themselves in ideas but only... in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.

William Buckley Jr. said of the purpose of ''National Review'':

'National Review''stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it… it is out of place because, in its maturity, literate America rejected conservatism in favor of radical social experimentation…since ideas rule the world, the ideologues, having won over the intellectual class, simply walked in and started to…run just about everything. There never was an age of conformity quite like this one, or a camaraderie quite like the Liberals’.

''National Review'' promoted Barry Goldwater heavily during the early 1960s. Buckley and others involved with the magazine took a major role in the "Draft Goldwater" movement in 1960 and the 1964 presidential campaign. ''National Review'' spread his vision of conservatism throughout the country. The early ''National Review'' faced occasional defections from both left and right.

broke with ''National Review'' and became a liberal commentator. Buckley's brother-in-law,

L. Brent Bozell Jr. Leo Brent Bozell Jr. (; January 15, 1926 – April 15, 1997) was an American conservative activist and Roman Catholic writer, and former US Merchant Marine. He was a conservative Catholic, and a strong supporter of the anti-abortion movement. ...

left and started the short-lived

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

magazine, ''

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

'' in 1966.

Defining the boundaries of conservatism

Buckley and Meyer promoted the idea of enlarging the boundaries of conservatism through

, whereby different schools of conservatives, including

libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...

, would work together to combat what were seen as their common opponents. Buckley and his editors used his magazine to define the boundaries of conservatism—and to exclude people or ideas or groups they considered unworthy of the conservative title. Therefore, they attacked the

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ide ...

, George Wallace, and anti-Semites. Buckley's goal was to increase the respectability of the conservative movement; as

noted: "Mr. Buckley's first great achievement was to purge the American right of its kooks. He marginalized the anti-Semites, the John Birchers, the

nativists Nativism is the political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of native or indigenous inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the support of immigration-restriction measures. In scholarly studies, ''nativism'' is a standard ...

and their sort." In 1957, ''National Review'' editorialized in favor of white leadership in the South, arguing that "the central question that emerges... is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas where it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes – the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race." By the 1970s ''National Review'' advocated colorblind policies and the end of affirmative action. In the late 1960s, the magazine denounced segregationist George Wallace, who ran in Democratic primaries in 1964 and 1972 and made an independent run for president in 1968. During the 1950s, Buckley had worked to remove

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

from the conservative movement and barred holders of those views from working for ''National Review''. In 1962 Buckley denounced

Robert W. Welch Jr. Robert Henry Winborne Welch Jr. (December 1, 1899 – January 6, 1985) was an American businessman, political organizer, and conspiracy theorist. He was wealthy following his retirement from the candy business and used his wealth to sponsor ...

and the

as "far removed from common sense" and urged the Republican Party to purge itself of Welch's influence.

After Goldwater

After Goldwater was defeated by

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

in 1964, Buckley and ''National Review'' continued to champion the idea of a conservative movement, which was increasingly embodied in

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. Reagan, a longtime subscriber to ''National Review'', first became politically prominent during Goldwater's campaign. ''National Review'' supported his challenge to President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

in 1976 and his successful 1980 campaign. During the 1980s ''National Review'' called for tax cuts, supply-side economics, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and support for President Reagan's foreign policy against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The magazine criticized the

Welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

and would support the Welfare reform proposals of the 1990s. The magazine also regularly criticized President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. It first embraced, then rejected, Pat Buchanan in his political campaigns. A lengthy 1996 ''National Review'' editorial called for a "movement toward" drug legalization. In 1985, ''National Review'' and Buckley were represented by attorney

J. Daniel Mahoney John Daniel Mahoney (September 7, 1931 – October 23, 1996) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Education and career Born in Orange, New Jersey, Mahoney received a Bachelor of Arts d ...

during the magazine's $16 million libel suit against ''

The Spotlight ''The Spotlight'' was a weekly newspaper in the United States, published in Washington, D.C. from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct antisemitic Liberty Lobby. ''The Spotlight'' ran articles and editorials professing a "populist and ...

''.

Political views and content

Victor Davis Hanson Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American commentator, classicist, and military historian. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for ''The New York Times'', ''Wall Street Journal'', ...

, a regular contributor since 2001, sees a broad spectrum of

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and anti-

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

contributors: The magazine has been described as "the bible of

American conservatism Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conservative ...

".Hari, Johann, "Titanic: Reshuffling the Deck Chairs on the National Review Cruise", in ''The New Republic'', vol. 237, issue 1, July 2, 2007 (in ''MasterFile Premier'' (EbscoHost) (PDF) (subscription may be required)), p. 31

Donald Trump

In 2015, the magazine published an editorial entitled "Against Trump," calling him a "philosophically unmoored political opportunist" and announcing its opposition to his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. Since Trump's election to the presidency, the ''National Review'' editorial board has continued to criticize him. However, contributors to ''National Review'' and ''National Review Online'' take a variety of positions on Trump. Lowry and Hanson support him, while ''National Review'' contributors such as Ramesh Ponnuru and Jonah Goldberg have remained critical of Trump. In a ''Washington Post'' feature on conservative magazines, T.A. Frank noted: "From the perspective of a reader, these tensions make National Review as lively as it has been in a long time."

''National Review Online''

A popular feature of ''National Review'' is the web version of the magazine, ''National Review Online'' ("N.R.O."), which includes a digital version of the magazine, with articles updated daily by ''National Review'' writers, and conservative blogs. The on-line version is called ''N.R.O.'' to distinguish it from the paper magazine. It also features free articles, though these deviate in content from its print magazine. The site's editor is Phillip Klein, who replaced

Charles C. W. Cooke Charles Christopher William Cooke (born 4 November 1984), professionally known simply as Charles C. W. Cooke, is a British-born American journalist and a senior writer at National Review Online. Early life and education Cooke and his sister gre ...

. Each day, the site posts new content consisting of conservative, libertarian, and neoconservative opinion articles, including some syndicated columns, and news features. It also features two blogs: * The Corner – postings from a select group of the site's editors and affiliated writers discussing the issues of the day * Bench Memos – legal and judicial news and commentary

Markos Moulitsas Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (; born September 11, 1971), often known by his username and former military nickname "Kos" ( ), is an American blogger who is the founder and publisher of Daily Kos, a blog focusing on liberal and Democratic Party p ...

, who runs the

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party and liberal American politics. The site includes glossaries and other content. It is sometimes considered an example of " netroots" activism. Daily Kos was ...

'' web-site, told reporters in August 2007 that he does not read conservative blogs, with the exception of those on N.R.O.: "I do like the blogs at the ''National Review''—I do think their writers are the best in the onservativeblogosphere," he said.

National Review Institute

The N.R.I. works in policy development and helping establish new advocates in the conservative movement. National Review Institute was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1991 to engage in policy development, public education, and advocacy that would advance the conservative principles he championed. In 2019, the

family had NRI stop an award in Chambers' name following award to people whom the family found objectionable.

Finances

As with most political opinion magazines in the United States, ''National Review'' carries little corporate advertising. The magazine stays afloat from subscription fees, donations, and black-tie fundraisers around the country. The magazine also sponsors cruises featuring ''National Review'' editors and contributors as lecturers. Buckley said in 2005 that the magazine had lost about $25,000,000 over 50 years.

Presidential primary endorsements

''National Review'' sometimes endorses a candidate during the primary election season. Editors at ''National Review'' have said, "Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate." This statement echoes what has come to be called "The Buckley Rule". In a 1967 interview, in which he was asked about the choice of presidential candidate, Buckley said, "The wisest choice would be the one who would win... I'd be for the most right, viable candidate who could win." The following candidates were officially endorsed by ''National Review'': * 1956:

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

* 1960: ''No endorsement'' * 1964: Barry Goldwater * 1968:

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

* 1972: John M. Ashbrook * 1976:

* 1980:

* 1984:

* 1988:

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

* 1992: ''No endorsement'' * 1996: ''No endorsement'' * 2000:

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

* 2004: ''No endorsement'' * 2008: Mitt Romney * 2012: ''No endorsement'' * 2016:

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

* 2020: ''No endorsement''

Editors and contributors

The magazine's current editor-in-chief is

. Many of the magazine's commentators are affiliated with think-tanks such as

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

and

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. ...

. Prominent guest authors have included Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney,

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...

, and

in the on-line and paper edition.

Notable current contributors

Current and past contributors to ''National Review'' (''N.R.'') magazine, ''National Review Online'' (''N.R.O.''), or both: *

Elliott Abrams Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is current ...

* Michael D. Aeschliman *

Richard Brookhiser Richard Brookhiser (; born February 23, 1955) is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at ''National Review''. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilt ...

, senior editor *

Mona Charen Mona Charen Parker (; born February 25, 1957) is a columnist, journalist, and political commentator in the United States. She has written three books: ''Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First'' (200 ...

, editor of ''N.R.O.''. *

* Frederick H. Fleitz *

John Fund John H. Fund (born April 8, 1957) is an American political journalist. He is currently the national-affairs reporter for National Review Online and a senior editor at ''The American Spectator''. Life and career Fund was born in Tucson, Arizona. ...

, ''N.R.O.'' national-affairs columnist *

Jim Geraghty Jim Geraghty () is the senior political correspondent of ''National Review'' and author of several books. In addition to writing for ''National Review'', Geraghty blogs for ''National Review Online'' and is a former reporter for States News Service ...

* Paul Johnson *

Roger Kimball Roger Kimball (born 1953) is an American art critic and conservative social commentator. He is the editor and publisher of ''The New Criterion'' and the publisher of Encounter Books. Kimball first gained notice in the early 1990s with the public ...

Larry Kudlow Lawrence Alan Kudlow (born August 20, 1947) is an American conservative television personality and financial program host for the Fox network who served as the Director of the National Economic Council during the Trump Administration from 2018 ...

* Stanley Kurtz *

Yuval Levin Yuval Levin (born April 6, 1977) is a conservative American political analyst, academic, and journalist. He is the founding editor of ''National Affairs'' (2009–present), the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the Americ ...

James Lileks James Lileks is an American journalist, columnist, author, and blogger living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the creator of The Gallery of Regrettable Foods website. Career Columnist Lileks began his writing career as a columnist for the ...

Rob Long Robert Long is an American writer and television producer in Hollywood. As a screenwriter and executive producer for the long-running television program ''Cheers'', he received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations in 1992 and 1993. Long created the ...

, ''N.R.'' contributing editor *

Kathryn Jean Lopez Kathryn Jean Lopez (born March 22, 1976) is an American conservative columnist who is nationally syndicated by the United Feature Syndicate. She is also the former editor and currently an editor-at-large of ''National Review Online''. Her nicknam ...

, ''N.R.'' editor * Andrew C. McCarthy * John McCormack, ''N.R.''

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

* John J. Miller, ''N.R.'' national political reporter * Stephen Moore, financial columnist *

Deroy Murdock Deroy Murdock (born 1963) is an American political commentator and a contributing editor with ''National Review Online''. A native of Los Angeles, Murdock lives in New York City. A first-generation American, his parents were born in Costa Rica. ...

* Jay Nordlinger * Michael Novak * John O'Sullivan (columnist), John O'Sullivan, ''N.R.'' editor-at-large *

* David Pryce-Jones * Tom Rogan * Reihan Salam * Ben Shapiro * Katherine Timpf * Armond White * George F. Will * Kevin D. Williamson, correspondent at ''N.R.''

Notable past contributors

* Jonah Goldberg * David French (political commentator), David French * Renata Adler * Steve Allen * Wick Allison * W. H. Auden * Edward C. Banfield * Jacques Barzun * Peter L. Berger * Allan Bloom * George Borjas * Robert Bork *

* Peter Brimelow * Pat Buchanan * Jed Babbin * Myrna Blyth * Christopher Buckley (novelist), Christopher Buckley *

, founder *

* John Chamberlain (journalist), John R. Chamberlain *

* Shannen W. Coffin * Robert Conquest * Richard Corliss * Robert Costa (journalist), Robert Costa * Ann Coulter * Arlene Croce * Guy Davenport * John Derbyshire * Joan Didion *

* Rod Dreher * Dinesh D'Souza * John Gregory Dunne * Max Eastman * Eric Ehrmann * Thomas Fleming (political writer), Thomas Fleming * Samuel T. Francis * Milton Friedman * David Frum * Francis Fukuyama * Eugene Genovese * Paul Gigot * Nathan Glazer * Stuart Goldman * Paul Gottfried * Mark M. Goldblatt * Michael Graham (radio personality), Michael Graham * Ethan Gutmann * Ernest van den Haag * Jeffrey Hart * Henry Hazlitt * Will Herberg * Christopher Hitchens * Harry V. Jaffa * Arthur Jensen * John Keegan * Willmoore Kendall * Hugh Kenner * Florence King * Phil Kerpen *

* Charles Krauthammer * Irving Kristol * Dave Kopel * Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn * Michael Ledeen * Fritz Leiber * John Leonard (critic), John Leonard * Mark Levin * John Lukacs * Arnold Lunn * Richard Lynn * Alasdair MacIntyre * Harvey C. Mansfield * Malachi Martin * Frank Meyer * Scott McConnell * Forrest McDonald * Ludwig von Mises * Alice-Leone Moats * Raymond Moley * Thomas Molnar * Charles Murray (political scientist), Charles Murray * Richard Neuhaus * Robert Nisbet * Robert Novak * Michael Oakeshott * Kate O'Beirne * Conor Cruise O'Brien * Revilo P. Oliver * Thomas Pangle * Isabel Paterson * Ezra Pound * Paul Craig Roberts * Murray Rothbard *

, publisher, 1957–88 * J. Philippe Rushton * Steve Sailer * Pat Sajak * Catherine Seipp * Daniel Seligman * John Simon (critic), John Simon * Joseph Sobran * Thomas Sowell * Whit Stillman * Theodore Sturgeon * Mark Steyn * Thomas Szasz * Allen Tate * Jared Taylor * Terry Teachout * Taki Theodoracopulos * Ralph de Toledano * Auberon Waugh * Evelyn Waugh * Richard M. Weaver * Robert Weissberg * Frederick Wilhelmsen *

* James Q. Wilson * Tom Wolfe * Byron York * R. V. Young

Washington editors

* Neal B. Freeman * George Will, 1973–76 * Neal B. Freeman, 1978–81 * John McLaughlin (host), John McLaughlin, 1981–89 * William McGurn, 1989–1992 * Kate O'Beirne * Robert Costa (journalist), Robert Costa, 2012–13 * Eliana Johnson, 2014–16

Controversies

Barack Obama

In June 2008, six days after Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, ''National Review'' correspondent Jim Geraghty published an article encouraging the Obama campaign to release the candidate's birth certificate in order "to squash all the conspiracy theories once and for all." Geraghty's column notes that it was unlikely that Obama was born in Kenya. Attorney Loren Collins, who has tracked the origins of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, birther movement for years, says that Geraghty may have "unwittingly shined a national spotlight on a fringe internet theory." Geraghty's article "became fodder for cable television." In a 2009 editorial, the ''National Review'' editorial board called conspiracies about Obama's citizenship "untrue," writing: "Like Bruce Springsteen, he has a lot of bad political ideas; but he was born in the U.S.A." One ''National Review'' article said that Obama's parents could be communism in the United States, communists because “for a white woman to marry a black man in 1958, or ’60, there was almost inevitably a connection to explicit Communist politics”. As of 2018, Dinesh D'Souza was on the ''National Review'' masthead, despite stirring controversy for a number of years making inflammatory remarks and promoting conspiracy theories. D'Souza was no longer on the magazine's masthead in 2020. In comments that earned rebukes from ''National Review'' colleagues, D'Souza said that billionaire George Soros was a "collection boy for Hitler and the Nazis," attacked Roy Moore accuser Beverly Young Nelson, said that accusations against Roy Moore were “most likely fabricated,” and described Rosa Parks as an "overrated Democrat".

Climate change

According to Philip Bump of ''The Washington Post'', ''National Review'' "has regularly criticized and rejected the scientific consensus on climate change". In 2015, the magazine published an intentionally deceptive graph that suggested that there was no climate change. The graph set the lower and upper bounds of the chart at -10 and 110 degree Fahrenheit and zoomed out so as to obscure warming trends. In 2017, ''National Review'' published an article alleging that a top NOAA scientist claimed that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration engaged in data manipulation and rushed a study based on faulty data in order to influence the Paris climate negotiations. The article largely repeated allegations made in the ''Daily Mail'' without independent verification. The scientist in question later rejected the claims made by ''National Review'', noting that he did not accuse NOAA of data manipulation but instead raised concerns about "the way data was handled, documented and stored, raising issues of transparency and availability". In 2014, climate scientist Michael E. Mann sued the ''National Review'' after columnist Mark Steyn accused Mann of fraud and referenced a quote from Competitive Enterprise Institute writer Rand Simberg that called Mann "the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data." Civil liberties organizations such as the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several publications such as ''The Washington Post'' expressed support for ''National Review'' in the lawsuit, filing amicus briefs in their defense.

Ann Coulter 9/11 column

Two days after the 9/11 attacks, ''National Review'' published a column by Ann Coulter in which she wrote of Muslims, "This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war." ''National Review'' later called the column a "mistake" and fired Coulter as a contributing editor.

Jeffrey Epstein

In 2019, ''The New York Times'' reported that ''National Review'' was one of three news outlets (along with ''Forbes'' and ''HuffPost'') that had published stories written by Jeffrey Epstein's publicists. The ''National Review'' article was written by Christina Galbraith, Epstein's publicist at the time the article was published in 2013. The ''National Review'' bio for Galbraith described her as a science writer. The ''National Review'' retracted the article in July 2019 with apologies and spoke of new methods being used to better filter freelance content.

References

Bibliography

* Patrick Allitt, Allitt, Patrick. ''The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History'' (2010
excerpt and text search
* Bayley, Edwin R. ''Joe McCarthy and the Press'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1981). * Birzer, Bradley J. ''Russell Kirk: American Conservative'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2015). * Bogus, Carl T. ''Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism'' (2011) * Bridges, Linda and Coyne, John R., Jr. ''Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement'' (John Wiley and Sons, 2007). * Critchlow, Donald T. ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Right Made Political History'' (2007) * Del Visco, Stephen. "Yellow peril, red scare: race and communism in National Review." ''Ethnic and Racial Studies'' 42.4 (2019): 626–644. * Frisk, David B. ''If Not Us, Who?: William Rusher, National Review, and the Conservative Movement'' (2011) * Frohnen, Bruce et al. eds. ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia'' (2006) * Jeffrey Hart, Hart, Jeffrey. ''The Making of the American Conservative Mind: The National Review and Its Times'' (2005), a view from the inside * Hemmer, Nicole. ''Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). * Johnston, Savannah Eccles. "The Rise of Illiberal Conservatism: Immigration and Nationhood at National Review." ''American Political Thought'' 10.2 (2021): 190–216. * John Judis, Judis, John B. ''William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives'' (2001) * George H. Nash, Nash, George. ''The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945'' (2006; 1st ed. 1978) * Nemeth, Julian. "The Passion of William F. Buckley: Academic Freedom, Conspiratorial Conservatism, and the Rise of the Postwar Right." ''Journal of American Studies'' 54.2 (2020): 323–350. * Owen, Christopher H. ''Heaven Can Indeed Fall: The Life of Willmoore Kendall'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). * Schneider, Gregory. ''The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution'' (2009) * Smant, Kevin J. ''Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer and the Shaping of the American Conservative Movement'' (2002) () * Walsh, David Austin
"The Right-Wing Popular Front: The Far Right and American Conservatism in the 1950s."
''Journal of American History'' 107.2 (2020): 411–432.

External links

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