L. Brent Bozell Jr.
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L. Brent Bozell Jr. | |
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Born | Leo Brent Bozell Jr. January 15, 1926 commentator, activist |
Education | Yale University (BA, LLB) |
Subject | American conservatism, anti-communism, judicial activism, Catholic social teaching |
Spouse | Patricia Buckley Bozell |
Children | 10, including Brent |
Leo Brent Bozell Jr. (
Early life and education
Bozell was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Lois (née Robbins) and Leo B. Bozell, the co-founder of Bozell Worldwide.[1] He attended Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha.
Bozell was the state American Legion Oratorical Contest Champion of Nebraska in 1943 and 1944, winning the national title in 1944. He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine in the Pacific during World War II.[2] Bozell resolved to convert to Catholicism in 1946. But after his father's death that same year, he deferred his decision until 1947 so as not to upset his family.[citation needed]
Bozell attended Yale University, where he became best friends with William F. Buckley Jr., who was his teammate in the Yale debating society. In the book Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, Buckley described Bozell as "a young, energetic red-haired Yalie from Omaha".[3] At Yale, Bozell also was president of the Yale Political Union and president of Yale's World Federalist Movement.
Career
Bozell was a consistent supporter of
In 1958, Bozell ran for the Maryland House of Delegates but lost.[citation needed] After this defeat he proposed the formation of a new political party at one of the editors' evening meetings in New York; the idea was summarily rejected by the more fusionist editors Buckley and James Burnham.[5] He later worked as a speechwriter for Senator Barry Goldwater, for whom he ghostwrote the 1960 book The Conscience of a Conservative.[6] He was a founding member of Young Americans for Freedom.[7]
In 1960, he took his family to Spain for the first time, making him absent from the
In 1964, Bozell ran for the
Triumph
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Conservatism in the United States |
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In 1965, he moved his family to
However, the relationship between Bozell and his brother-in-law had already begun to sour; in March 1966, when Buckley wrote a column warning that Catholics should not try to seek legislation that would impose on others their belief that abortion is murder, Bozell wrote a letter to the editors of National Review protesting that the column "reeks of relativism...Mr. Buckley writes in this instance as though he had never heard of the natural law." Buckley was stung by the letter and had composed a bitter reply, but decided against sending it. In 1966, Bozell published The Warren Revolution, a scholarly critique of the Supreme Court of the United States under Chief Justice Earl Warren. Despite his relocation to Spain, Bozell remained conscious of U.S. politics; he opposed the Nixon administration, writing in Triumph that, in supporting Nixon's candidacy in 1968, the conservative movement had "ceased to be an important political force in America." Buckley later changed his mind and agreed with Bozell on this subject.[11]
He later repudiated his support for the American experiment itself in his own book The Warren Revolution. Buckley summarized Bozell's new position as, "[Bozell's] thesis now is that the republic of the
Friends of Bozell blamed his increasing devotion to Catholicism, his dissolving relationship with Buckley, who was reportedly traumatized by the loss of his closest friend, and his evolving political views on mental deterioration. Neal B. Freeman said, "Brent simply started to fade and you could see it happening, but you couldn't do anything about it." John Judis wrote in William Buckley Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives that, "the breakup of their relationship probably could not have occurred ten years prior or ten years hence. It was very much a product of the tumultuous sixties, which exhilarated Buckley and which lifted him to new heights of celebrity, but in which more troubled, less stable souls like Bozell capsized."
After founding Triumph, Bozell also founded the Society of the Christian Commonwealth whose educational arm, the Christian Commonwealth Institute, headed by
Bozell was a staunch supporter of
In 1985, Bozell founded Misión Guadalupe, a program devoted to the assistance and evangelization of Hispanic immigrants.[16]
Anti-abortion activity
In June 1970, three years before the Roe v. Wade decision and when abortion was illegal in most of United States outside California, Washington, D.C., and New York, Brent and Patricia Bozell led the first "Operation Rescue" mission to try by direct action to negotiate with administrators at
Bozell asked clinic administrators to stop the abortions and, if they would not do so, to appoint a Catholic nurse to administer Baptism and prepare the remains for Catholic burial after each abortion.
After the rally, Bozell, donning a red beret himself, approached the clinic with seven others.[18] They were spotted by a security guard who locked the door to prevent their entry. One of the "Sons of Thunder" raced to one of the buildings unlocked side-doors and was able to jam it open with a crucifix.[18] By means of the jammed door, Bozell and the rest of the group entered the building and began shattering windows while shouting "Viva Cristo Rey!" (a Catholic battle cry used during the Cristero War).[18] The Washington police were called and had to use billy clubs to subdue Bozell's group and arrest them.[18] Appearing in court in October, 1970 Bozell declared "America is going to have to reckon with its Christians, like it or not."[18] Bozell and the other members of his group received suspended sentences.[17] Bozell later said, "If disorder is necessary to stop this murdering of babies, I'm in favor of disorder."[19]
Buckley denounced Bozell's actions, declaring in National Review that "the Sons of Thunder have moved precious few of the unconvinced over to their side." Though Triumph closed two years later, its staff and Bozell remained active, including the organization of the first March for Life.
The cover of Triumph's March 1973 issue after the Roe v. Wade decision was solid black except for a small logo, a white cross, and the words "For the children".[14]
Personal life
Bozell married
Illnesses and final years
Bozell suffered from bipolar disorder, and wrote publicly about his experiences with the disease, the suffering it created, and his recovery in the introduction to Mustard Seeds, a collection mostly of his post-National Review writings, including many from Triumph, published in 1986. The book included "Poland's Cross—And America's," Bozell's first National Review essay in almost two decades. It also included the National Review essay, for which he may be remembered best, "Freedom or Virtue," which touched off a robust debate between himself and Meyer, mostly around whether freedom or virtue should be the paramount consideration for American conservatives.
Bozell faithfully visited inmates at Lorton Correctional Complex in Northern Virginia every week for years until his death.[20]
Death
Bozell died of pneumonia in a nursing home in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 15, 1997, at the age of 71 [21] after years of numerous and crippling health problems. His son, L. Brent Bozell III, spoke of those struggles when eulogizing him:
Dozens of times over...25 years the attacks would come, and with each bout, yet another blow, yet another public humiliation. There were arrests and forced hospitalizations, escapes and re-arrests and recommitments. There was the never-ending parade of lawyers, police, doctors, and, yes, from time to time the State Department was on the line to brief us on yet another prospective international upheaval caused by this very unpredictable man. Manic depression by itself is enough to break the spirit of any man, but Pop was no ordinary man. He suffered from
Alzheimer's. One by one they came, and when it seemed that no part of his body had been left untouched yet a new illness was diagnosed. We wondered how he could endure so much, accept this torture with such nobility, with never one word of complaint.[22]
Works
- The Best of Triumph., contributor, Lawrence, E. Michael, ed. Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press ISBN 0-931888-72-7.
- McCarthy and His Enemies, (co-author with ISBN 0-89526-472-2.
- The Warren Revolution, (New York: Arlington House, 1966.)
- Mustard Seeds: A Conservative Becomes a Catholic, Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press ISBN 0-931888-73-5.
References
- ^ "The Smith Alumnae Quarterly". April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Edwards, Lee (June 9, 1997). "A modern Don Quixote fought the good fight". Insight on the News. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011.
- ^ "The Manuscripts and Archives Digital Images Database (MADID)". images.library.yale.edu. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- Rovere, Richard H. (1950). Senator Joe McCarthy. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 22, 225, and 241.
- ISBN 9780743217972. Retrieved April 27, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 1-932236-43-0.
- ^ "Young Americans for Fascism ... err Freedom and William F. Buckley, Jr". Retrieved April 27, 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Goldwater, the John Birch Society, and Me". www.commentarymagazine.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2008.
- ^ Edwards, Lee. "Standing Athwart History: The Political Thought of William F. Buckley Jr". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ "Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-85. - Free Online Library". Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ "William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008) - National Review". National Review. February 27, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ Bridges, Linda; Coyne Jr., John R. (April 13, 2007). Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement. John Wiley & Sons. p. 122. Retrieved April 27, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
carlism buckley.
- ISBN 9780313213908. Retrieved April 27, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 0253329221. Retrieved April 27, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 0937495069.
- ^ a b L. Brent Bozell Jr. The Confessional Tribe. Donald McClane, Triumph magazine July Issue 1970.
- ^ a b c d e f Michael Warren Davis (January 21, 2018). "The March for Life is what a major political force looks like".
- ^ "The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ a b Edwards, Lee (June 9, 1997). "A modern Don Quixote fought the good fight". Insight on the News.
- ^ Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Boyles to Bradburn". politicalgraveyard.com. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ Henry, Lawrence (March 14, 2008). "The Fountain of Youth". The American Spectator. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
Sources
- Bridges, Linda; Coyne, John R. Jr., Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement
- Buckley, William F. Jr.
- Buckley, William F. Jr., 1997. "L. Brent Bozell, RIP," National Review, May 19.
- Critchlow, Donald T., The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History
- Critchlow, Donald T., Intended Consequences: Birth Control, Abortion, and the Federal Government in Modern America
- Hudson, Deal, Onward, Christian Soldiers
- Perlstein, Rick, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus
- Stout, David, 1997. L. Brent Bozell, 71, a Champion of Conservatism. The New York Times: April 19.