Binkley and I have a bookshelf for your perusal or if you are thinking of buying a book and want to know if we’ve come across it and have anything to say about it, search for it alphabetically by author or in the search box. We have quite a few on the shelf already, but here are two more I just bought…
Go Quietly or Else: His Own Story of the Events Leading to His Resignation, by Spiro T. Agnew (1980).
I always assumed Richard Nixon’s co-elected Vice President, Spiro Agnew, was swept out of office in the Watergate scandal, leaving us the unelected Gerald Ford to take over the Presidency when Nixon resigned, but I was wrong. Agnew was pushed out of office through a totally unrelated scandal which he argues in this book was completely trumped up yet succeeded in getting him out of office. I am always interested in the actual mechanisms of shadow power and this account sheds some light on that darkness. As a bonus, it’s actually a pretty good read, though Agnew, quite the war hawk, is not my kind of guy.
William F. Buckley, Jr.: Pied Piper for the Establishment, by John F. McManus (2002).
My parents volunteered for Buckley when he first started National Review in the Sixties. They stuck with him all the way until he unceremoniously ousted Joe Sobran via fax in 1993. Years later, I realized with his secret and elite society membership from Skull & Bones to the Council on Foreign Relations, he was for sure not the Classical Liberal my parents mistook him for. I bought this book to learn more about his true agenda and the interests he served. The book is written by the president of the John Birch Society, which has done some great stuff but as the author’s introductory remarks in the video below demonstrate, they seem to believe in using the force of government to keep society in line–I personally don’t think that’s possible nor right as the power of government is the power to kill and steal and nothing more and should be used with extreme caution. The article that attracted me to the book, however, is a good read:
A God Who Failed: William F. Buckley and his “conservative” movement.
2 thoughts on “Two New Books for The Bookshelf”
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Monica,
You bring back memories with your post on the book by Spiro Agnew. I grew up in Baltimore County, Maryland and vaguely recall Agnew holding the position of Chief Executive of Baltimore County. He was a Republican. I also recall Agnew’s subsequent political achievemtns and felt pride with the “Baltimore Connection” when he became Vice President of the U.S. But I was young then, soon to leave home for colleges and the U.S. Army so I sort of lost touch with matters Agnew. And I was not as intently focused on politics then as I am now. I recall many years later when I was a corporate credit officer visiting with the CEO of a business, and this individual was related to Agnew. He swore Agnew was set up, but who knows. I did recall Agnew’s removal did not relate to Watergate. Maryland was and is a heavily Democrat state, and my dad, a Republican, always told me to be cauticious re showing my colors (I didn’t often comply, and certainly not now). Monica, I appreciate this memory jogger!