HERALDS OF REAGANISM LAUD REGNERY

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000100200009-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 21, 2011
Sequence Number: 
9
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
July 26, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000100200009-3.pdf71.1 KB
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S1, Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000100200009-3 nRTif=1.f, APPEARED ON P~~'~ ~'- WASHINGTON TIMES 26 July 1985 Heralds of Reaganism laud Refinery By George Archibald THE WASHINGTON TIMES GG he ubiquitous group;' as longtime conservative politico Marvin Liebman calls them, was gathered to pay homage to book publisher Henry Regnery, whose authors over most of the past four decades sowed the seeds of the Reagan revolution. "The early people in the trenches are all here;' said Eugene Meyer, son of the late Frank S. Meyer, whose "In Defense of Freedom: A Conserva- tive Credo" is one of many Regnery classics. And indeed they were: more than 400 of the Right's best-known authors, political commentators, intellectual heavies, administration officials, and political activists from all strains of the conservative move- ment. Old Right, New Right, Neo- Conservative and Libertarian were brought together by Young America's Foundation and the Inter- collegiate Studies Institute for a tri- bute to the founder of the weekly' conservative newspaper Human Events and Regnery Gateway pub- lishers. Luminaries attending the black_ tie droner Wednesday evening at the Mayflower Hotel included CIA Director William Casey; Rep. Jack F.. Kemp, R-N.Y., who was the dinner speaker; retired Army Gen. William Westmoreland; and Donald J. Devine, former director of the Office of Personnel Management. "The first rampart of peaceful revolution is the printing press;' wrote President Reagan in a letter written for a special reprint of Mr. Regnery's "Memoirs of a Dissident Publisher," first published in 1979, which every dinner guest received. "In the early days of the resurgent movement among conservative intellectuals, in the 1950s," wrote the president, "it was Henry Regnery who possessed the vision to draw together and publish landmark books, such as Russell Kirk's 'The Conservative Mind' and 'God and Man at Yale; a volume by a recent Yale graduate which launched a bril- liant career for the man - Bill Buck- ley - whom many call the godfather of the conservative movement.' Mr. Regnery is "a publisher of conviction and idealism," who rejected the path of fortune and blockbuster books in favor of "books that mattered;' said author Donald Lambro. Mr. Lambro's Regnery-published books include "Fat City," "The Fed- eral Rathole;' and "City of Scandals: Washington Waste Exposed;' said syndicated columnist M. Stanton Evans, who served as master of ceremonies. Columnist William Buckley, who was unable to attend the dinner, dis- closed in a message that Mr. Reg- nery's decision in 1951 to publish "God and Man at Yale" lost the pub- lisher "a lucrative account with the University of Chicago for daring to exercise the doctrine of academic freedom advertised by all American colleges and practised by virtually none:' Rep. Kemp said Mr. Regnery's insistence on publishing books that promoted "old traditions and old principles that were worth saving" had spearheaded "a conservative intellectual revolution that is the underlying cause of our political revolution" to change the dominance of the political parties. Regarded by many conservative leaders as a top contender for the 1988 GOP presidential nomination, Mr. Kemp joked that the Regnery company's fall listing of new books includes "1,000 Seconds: The Pres- idential Memoirs of George Bush:' The audience roared its approval. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100200009-3