Party of the Right (Yale)
Encyclopedia
The Party of the Right is a fraternal, political, and intellectual organization founded in 1953, functioning secondarily as one of the parties within the Yale Political Union
. The POR was founded by genuinely conservative members of the Conservative Party, outraged by the Conservative Party's chairman's support of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 U.S. presidential election
, and is the third-oldest party in the Yale Political Union. Membership in the Party of the Right is elective, and is, as a quotation from the 1950s boasts, awarded on the basis on intellectualism, not ideology. "We care not what you think, only that you do think."
The Party of the Right is most conservative of the seven Parties in the Yale Political Union. Its membership, however, has never been exclusively restricted to conservatives, and the POR's traditions and identity explicitly embrace both Traditionalism and Libertarianism.
Its membership has traditionally been divided between libertarian
and (usually Roman Catholic) traditionalist camps, but POR debates are characteristically devoted much more commonly to philosophy, intellectual history, and culture than to current governmental issues and policy. The POR has been described in a recent Yale Herald article as "at once flamboyant, intellectually elitist, aggressive, mischievously subversive, eccentric, and maniacally eager to challenge anyone and everyone."
Members of the POR publish Yale's only regular conservative publication, the Yale Free Press.
According to one former Associate Editor of the National Review
, "The Party of the Right is the most important organization an intelligent young conservative can join in America today."
A number of POR members have gone on in later life to prominent roles in government, politics, the American conservative movement, and as public intellectuals and political commentators.
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union , a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold , to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union...
. The POR was founded by genuinely conservative members of the Conservative Party, outraged by the Conservative Party's chairman's support of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 1952
The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional...
, and is the third-oldest party in the Yale Political Union. Membership in the Party of the Right is elective, and is, as a quotation from the 1950s boasts, awarded on the basis on intellectualism, not ideology. "We care not what you think, only that you do think."
The Party of the Right is most conservative of the seven Parties in the Yale Political Union. Its membership, however, has never been exclusively restricted to conservatives, and the POR's traditions and identity explicitly embrace both Traditionalism and Libertarianism.
Its membership has traditionally been divided between libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and (usually Roman Catholic) traditionalist camps, but POR debates are characteristically devoted much more commonly to philosophy, intellectual history, and culture than to current governmental issues and policy. The POR has been described in a recent Yale Herald article as "at once flamboyant, intellectually elitist, aggressive, mischievously subversive, eccentric, and maniacally eager to challenge anyone and everyone."
Members of the POR publish Yale's only regular conservative publication, the Yale Free Press.
According to one former Associate Editor of the National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, "The Party of the Right is the most important organization an intelligent young conservative can join in America today."
A number of POR members have gone on in later life to prominent roles in government, politics, the American conservative movement, and as public intellectuals and political commentators.
Notable members
- Daniel H. Lowenstein, professor of law UCLA
- Jared Charles Lobdell, POR Chairman, 1956-57, writer, teacher of literary criticism,
- Charles Gardner Mills IV, attorney
- Karl Ziebarth, POR Chairman, international rail and transportation consultant
- Peter KeislerPeter KeislerPeter D. Keisler is an American lawyer whose 2006 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit became embroiled in partisan controversy...
, Speaker, POR Chairman, co-founder of the Federalist Society - Richard BrookhiserRichard BrookhiserRichard Brookhiser 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 Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and George Washington.-Life and career:Brookhiser was born...
, POR Chairman, Fall 1975, senior editor at National Review - Walter OlsonWalter OlsonWalter K. Olson is an author and blogger who writes mostly about tort reform. Olson is a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington DC. Formerly Olson was associated with the Manhattan Institute in New York City...
, POR Chairman, Spring 1974, author and legal critic, senior fellow at the Cato Institute - Steven CalabresiSteven CalabresiSteven G. Calabresi is a professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law. He is also a visiting professor at Brown University.Calabresi co-founded the Federalist Society when a student at Yale University, and is an active conservative author and commentator.Among others, he has...
, President Yale Political Union, Fall 1978, co-founder of the Federalist Society, professor of law Northwestern University - Maggie GallagherMaggie GallagherMargaret Gallagher Srivastav , better known by her working name Maggie Gallagher, is an American writer, commentator, and opponent of same-sex marriage. She has written a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate since 1995, and has published five books...
, POR Chairman, 1981 , columnist - Matthias StormeMatthias StormeMatthias Edward Storme is a Belgian lawyer, academic and conservative philosopher.- Family life :Storme was born and raised in a Catholic family in the Belgian city of Ghent. His father Marcel Storme Matthias Edward Storme (born Ghent, 1959) is a Belgian lawyer, academic and conservative...
, professor of law Catholic University Leuven - Robert PollockRobert PollockRobert L. Pollock is an editorial writer and Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member.- Biography :Robert Pollock was born in Buffalo, New York. He studied at Yale and was a member of the Party of the Right...
, POR Chairman, member of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board - Fareed ZakariaFareed ZakariaFareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000 to 2010, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010 he became Editor-At-Large of Time magazine...
, President of the Yale Political Union, Spring 1984 , Newsweek columnist, editor of Time - Grover Rees, IIIGrover Rees, IIIGrover Joseph Rees, III , a Louisiana lawyer, is the former United States ambassador to the Democratic Republic of East Timor. He presented his credentials to East Timorese President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão in December 2002, following his nomination by then U.S. President George W. Bush and...
, POR Chairman, Spring 1971, former US Ambassador - Brian CarneyBrian Carney (editorialist)Brian M. Carney is an editor, journalist and member of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.Since August 2009, he has been living in London and serving as editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe. He is the coauthor, with Isaac Getz, of Freedom, Inc., When times are tough ...
, member of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board - Eve Tushnet, journalist