ANOTHER LINK IN WINGNUT WORLD

A Talk of the Nation episode from 2004¹ has an interesting statement from William Kristol:

CONAN: When did you first become acquainted with the teachings of Leo Strauss?

Mr. KRISTOL: I never actually met Leo Strauss. He died in 1973, I believe, and I was just beginning graduate school then. But I studied political philosophy as an undergraduate student at Harvard, and Strauss was a well-known interpreter of texts, and one became familiar with him just in the course of one's studies. In particular also, I had Harvey Mansfield of Harvard, who still teaches there--a very fine scholar in his own right, maybe the most preeminent interpreter of Machiavelli, I would say, alive today. And he had been a student of Strauss or had read Strauss and had been so convinced by Strauss' writings that he became a, quote, "Straussian," even though he actually hadn't gone to Chicago and had never actually, I guess, taken courses with Strauss. So Mansfield was considered a Straussian, therefore I'm considered a Straussian, and we're all cheerful parts of the Straussian cabal now, I suppose.

You can listen to the show here.

¹National Public Radio (NPR)
October 25, 2004 Monday
SHOW: Talk of the Nation 3:00 PM EST NPR
Understanding Leo Strauss
ANCHORS: NEAL CONAN
LENGTH: 6471 words