''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is

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

, and its editor is Ramesh Ponnuru. 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 one of two major political ideologies in the United States, with the other being liberalism. Traditional American conservatism is characterized by a belief in individualism, traditionalism, capitalism, ...

, helping to define its boundaries and promoting fusionism while establishing itself as a leading voice on the American right.

History

Background

Before ''National Review''s founding in 1955, the American right 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 is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during co ...

, 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 the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

was president, and many major magazines such as the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', ''

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

'', 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 wi ...

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

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

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

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

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

conservatism in the 1950s. In 1953, Russell Kirk published ''The Conservative Mind'', which traced an intellectual bloodline from

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...

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 William F. Buckley Jr. was greatly influenced by Kirk's concepts. Buckley had money; his father grew rich from oil fields in Mexico. He first tried to purchase '' Human Events'', but was turned down. He then met Willi Schlamm, 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 wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
revolution, for instance, could hardly have happened save for the cumulative impact of ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...
'' and ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', and a few other publications, on several American college generations during the twenties and thirties.

Founding

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, Russell Kirk,

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). Bur ...

, Frank Meyer, and Willmoore Kendall, and Catholics L. Brent Bozell and Garry Wills. The former ''

'' editor Whittaker Chambers, who had been a Communist spy in the 1930s and then turned 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 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), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

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

Buckley said that ''National Review'' "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 Conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to social group, group norms, politics or being like-minded. Social norm, Norms are implicit, specific rules, guidance shared by a group of individuals, that guide t ...

quite like this one, or a camaraderie quite like the Liberals.'

Goldwater era

''National Review'' promoted

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

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. Garry Wills broke with ''National Review'' and became a liberal commentator. Buckley's brother-in-law, L. Brent Bozell Jr. left and started the short-lived

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

magazine, '' Triumph'' in 1966. Buckley and Meyer promoted the idea of enlarging the boundaries of conservatism through fusionism, whereby different schools of conservatives, including libertarians, 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 (JBS),

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

, and anti-Semites. Buckley's goal was to increase the respectability of the conservative movement; in 2004, current editor

, compiled various quotes of articles commenting on Buckley's retirement including from ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'': "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 and their sort." However, others such as political historian Matthew Dallek, contend that while the mainstream view has long been that Buckley excluded Bircherism, his "gesture toward kicking out the Birchers was far more concerned with cordoning off BS founder Robert Welch while retaining the support of the rank-and-file members." 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 Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

. In the late 1960s, the magazine denounced segregationist

, 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 or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

from the conservative movement and barred holders of those views from working for ''National Review''. In 1962, Buckley denounced Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society as "far removed from common sense" and urged the Republican Party to purge itself of Welch's influence.

Supporting Reagan

After Goldwater was defeated by

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

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, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. Reagan, a longtime subscriber to ''National Review'', 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 the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

in 1976 and his successful 1980 campaign. During the 1980s, ''National Review'' called for tax cuts,

supply-side economics Supply-side economics is a Macroeconomics, macroeconomic theory postulating that economic growth can be most effectively fostered by Tax cuts, lowering taxes, Deregulation, decreasing regulation, and allowing free trade. According to supply- ...

, the

Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...

, and support for President Reagan's foreign policy against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The magazine criticized the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), 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 oppor ...

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 and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. It first embraced and 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 during the magazine's $16 million libel suit against '' The Spotlight''.

Political views and content

Victor Davis Hanson Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American classics, classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern warfare, modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics fo ...

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

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

and anti- liberal contributors: The magazine has been described as "the bible of

American conservatism Conservatism in the United States is one of two major political ideologies in the United States, with the other being liberalism. Traditional American conservatism is characterized by a belief in individualism, traditionalism, capitalism, ...

Trump era

In 2015, the magazine published an editorial titled "Against Trump", calling

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

a "philosophically unmoored political opportunist" and announcing its adamant and uniform opposition to his presidential candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. After Trump's 2016 electoral victory over

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, and through his administration, the ''National Review'' editorial board continued to criticize him. However, some ''National Review'' and ''National Review Online'' contributors took more varied positions on Trump. Hanson, for instance, supports him, while others, such as editor Ramesh Ponnuru and contributor Jonah Goldberg, have remained uniformly critical of Trump. In a ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' 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 web version of the magazine, ''National Review Online'' ("N.R.O."), includes a digital version of the magazine, with articles updated daily by ''National Review'' writers, and conservative blogs. The online version is called ''N.R.O.'' to distinguish it from the printed 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. 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 A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

: * The Corner is a selection of postings from a group of the site's editors and affiliated writers discussing the issues of the day. * Bench Memos provides legal and judicial news and commentary. Markos Moulitsas, who runs the liberal ''

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal American politics. The site publishes blog posts, polls, election and cam ...

'' 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 Whittaker Chambers family prevailed on the N.R.I. to cease an award in Chambers' name, after an 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." These candidates were endorsed by ''National Review'': * 1956:

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

* 1960: ''No endorsement'' * 1964:

* 1968:

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

* 1972: John M. Ashbrook * 1976:

* 1980: ''No endorsement'' * 1984:

* 1988:

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

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

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

* 2004: ''No endorsement'' * 2008:

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

* 2012: ''No endorsement'' * 2016:

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward 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 was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

* 2020: ''No endorsement''

Editors and contributors

The magazine's editor-in-chief is

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

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

and

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

. Prominent guest authors have included

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

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

, and

in the online and print edition.

Contributors

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 President of the United States, presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a ...

* Richard Brookhiser, senior editor * Charles C. W. Cooke, editor of ''N.R.O.''. * Frederick H. Fleitz * John Fund, ''N.R.O.'' national-affairs columnist * Jim Geraghty * Paul Johnson *

Roger Kimball Roger Kimball (born 1953) is an American art critic and Conservatism, 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 w ...

* Larry Kudlow * Stanley Kurtz * Yuval Levin * James Lileks * Rob Long, ''N.R.'' contributing editor * Kathryn Jean Lopez *

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

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

correspondent * John J. Miller, ''N.R.'' national political reporter * Stephen Moore, financial columnist * Deroy Murdock * Jay Nordlinger * John O'Sullivan, ''N.R.'' editor-at-large * Ramesh Ponnuru * David Pryce-Jones * Tom Rogan * Noah Rothman * Reihan Salam * Armond White

Past contributors

* Renata Adler * Steve Allen * Wick Allison * W. H. Auden * Edward C. Banfield *

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, ...

* Peter L. Berger * Tom Bethell *

Allan Bloom Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Un ...

George Borjas George Jesus Borjas ( born Jorge Jesús Borjas, October 15, 1950) is a Cuban-American economist and the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has been described as "America’s leading immigr ...

Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on ...

* L. Brent Bozell Jr. * Peter Brimelow * Pat Buchanan * Jed Babbin * Myrna Blyth * Christopher Buckley * William F. Buckley Jr., founder *

* John R. Chamberlain * Whittaker Chambers * Mona Charen * Shannen W. Coffin * Robert Conquest * Richard Corliss * Robert Costa * Ann Coulter * Arlene Croce *

* Guy Davenport * John Derbyshire *

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didio ...

* Rod Dreher * Dinesh D'Souza * John Gregory Dunne * Max Eastman * Eric Ehrmann * Thomas Fleming * Samuel T. Francis * David French *

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

David Frum David Jeffrey Frum (; born 30 June 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is a senior editor at ''The Atlantic'' as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the ...

Francis Fukuyama Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, and international relations scholar, best known for his book '' The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992). In this work he argues th ...

* Eugene Genovese * Paul Gigot * Nathan Glazer * Jonah Goldberg * Mark M. Goldblatt * Stuart Goldman *

Paul Gottfried Paul Edward Gottfried (born November 21, 1941) is an American paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer. He is a former Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is editor-in-chief of the paleocon ...

* Michael Graham * Ethan Gutmann * Ernest van den Haag *

* Jeffrey Hart *

Henry Hazlitt Henry Stuart Hazlitt (; November 28, 1894 – July 9, 1993) was an American journalist, economist, and philosopher known for his advocacy of free markets and classical liberal principles. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Hazlit ...

* Will Herberg *

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

* Harry V. Jaffa * Arthur Jensen *

John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...

* Willmoore Kendall * Hugh Kenner * Florence King * Phil Kerpen * Russell Kirk * Charles Krauthammer * Irving Kristol * Dave Kopel *

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (31 July 1909 – 26 May 1999) was an Austrian-American nobleman and polymath, whose areas of interest included philosophy, history, political science, economics, linguistics, art and theology. He oppose ...

* Michael Ledeen *

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Along with Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery. Life ...

* John Leonard * Mark Levin *

John Lukacs John Adalbert Lukacs (; Hungarian: ''Lukács János Albert''; January 31, 1924 – May 6, 2019) was a Hungarian-born American historian and author of more than thirty books. Lukacs described himself as a reactionary In politics, a reactionar ...

* Arnold Lunn *

Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (20 February 1930 – July 2023) was a controversial English psychologist and self-described " scientific racist" who advocated for a genetic relationship between race and intelligence. He was the editor-in-chief of '' Mankind Qua ...

Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (12 January 1929 – 21 May 2025) was a Scottish-American philosopher who contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of ...

* Harvey C. Mansfield *

Malachi Martin Malachi Brendan Martin (23 July 1921 – 27 July 1999), also known under the pseudonym of Michael Serafian, was an Irish-born American Traditionalist Catholic priest, biblical archaeologist, exorcist, palaeographer, professor, and writer on ...

* Frank Meyer * Scott McConnell * Forrest McDonald *

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...

* Alice-Leone Moats * Raymond Moley *

Thomas Molnar Thomas Steven Molnar (; ; 26 July 1921, in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Hungary – 20 July 2010, in Richmond, Virginia) was a Catholic philosopher, historian and political theorist. Life Molnar completed his undergraduate studi ...

* Charles Murray * Richard Neuhaus * Robert Nisbet * Michael Novak * Robert Novak *

Michael Oakeshott Michael Joseph Oakeshott (11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher. He is known for his contributions to the philosophies of history, religion, aesthetics, education, and law.Fuller, T. (1991) 'The Work of Michael Oakesh ...

* Kate O'Beirne *

Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...

* Revilo P. Oliver * Thomas Pangle * Isabel Paterson *

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

* Paul Craig Roberts *

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School,Ronald Hamowy, ed., 2008, The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism', Cato Institute, Sage, , p. 62: "a leading economist of the Austri ...

* William A. Rusher, publisher, 1957–88 * J. Philippe Rushton * Steve Sailer * Pat Sajak * Catherine Seipp * Daniel Seligman *

Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, ''Newsweek'', and ''Ami Magazine'', an ...

* John Simon * Joseph Sobran *

Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell ( ; born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, economic historian, and social and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on T ...

Mark Steyn Mark Steyn () is a Canadian author and a radio, television, and on-line presenter. He has written several books, including The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York Times'' bestsellers ''America Alone'', ''After America (Steyn book), A ...

* Whit Stillman *

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...

Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz ( ; ; 15 April 1920 – 8 September 2012) was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. A dis ...

* Allen Tate * Jared Taylor *

Terry Teachout Terrance Alan Teachout (February 6, 1956 – January 13, 2022) was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist. He was the drama critic of ''The Wall Street Journal'', the critic-at-large of '' Commentary' ...

* Taki Theodoracopulos * Katherine Timpf * Ralph de Toledano * Auberon Waugh *

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

* Richard M. Weaver * Robert Weissberg * Frederick Wilhelmsen * George F. Will * Kevin D. Williamson * Garry Wills * James Q. Wilson *

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

* Byron York * R. V. Young

Washington editors

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

Controversies

Climate change denial

According to Philip Bump of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''National Review'' "has regularly criticized and rejected the

scientific consensus on climate change There is a nearly unanimous scientific consensus that the Earth has been consistently warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution, that the rate of recent warming is largely unprecedented, and that this warming is mainly the result o ...

". In 2015, the magazine published an intentionally deceptive graph which suggested that there was no

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. The graph set the lower and upper bounds of the chart at -10 and 110 degrees 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 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

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 The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' 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 ''National Review'' for

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

after columnist

accused Mann of fraud and referenced a quote from Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) 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 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

and the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

and several publications such as ''The Washington Post'' expressed support for ''National Review'' in the lawsuit, filing amicus briefs in their defense. In February 2024, Mann was awarded over $1 million from Steyn and Simberg. He intends to appeal a 2021 ruling saying that the CEI and ''National Review'' could not be held liable.

Barack Obama

In June 2008, ''National Review'' correspondent Jim Geraghty published an article encouraging

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to release his birth certificate in order to debunk false rumors circulating on conservative forums and blogs. Geraghty's column may have brought these conspiracy theories about Obama to mainstream attention. Karen Tumulty wrote in ''Time'' that Geraghty's article "became fodder for cable television." Obama released his birth certificate a few days after Geraghty's column, and Geraghty wrote that there was "no reason" to doubt its authenticity. In a July 2009 column, the ''National Review'' editorial board called conspiracies about Obama's citizenship "untrue." One ''National Review'' article suggested Obama's parents could be

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

because "for a white woman to marry a black man in 1958, or '60, there was almost inevitably a connection to explicit Communist politics".

Ann Coulter 9/11 column

Two days after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, ''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 ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that ''National Review'' was one of three news outlets (along with ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' and ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'') that had published stories written by

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

'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. ''National Review'' retracted the article in July 2019 with apologies and spoke of new methods being used to better filter freelance content.

Rashida Tlaib

After the 2024 Lebanon pager explosions, the ''National Review'' published a cartoon of US Representative Rashida Tlaib with an exploding pager. It was condemned by Tlaib as

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and Islamophobic. Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud called the cartoon " anti-Arab bigotry".

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* * {{authority control 1955 establishments in New York (state) Biweekly magazines published in the United States Climate change denial Conservative magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1955 Magazines published in New York City New Right organizations (United States) News magazines published in the United States Political magazines published in the United States William F. Buckley Jr.