National Review (
NR) is a biweekly
magazine and
web site, 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
Republican/
conservative news, commentary, and opinion."
[1] It is usually considered the center of intellectual activity for the American Conservative movement in the twentieth century. While the print version of the magazine is available online to subscribers, the web site's free content is essentially a separate publication.
Prior to National Review's founding in 1955, some conservatives believed that the American Right was a largely unorganized collection of individuals who shared intertwining philosophies but had little opportunity for a united public voice. They also wanted to marginalize what they saw as the isolationist views of the Old Right.
At the time several major magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, The American Mercury and Reader's Digest were generally conservative and anti-communist, as were a number of newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and St Louis Globe-Democrat. Also, Human Events and The Freeman preceded National Review in developing Cold War Conservatism in the 1950s.
During the Eisenhower years, many American intellectuals considered President Calvin Coolidge and the Laissez-Faire economics philosophy he was perceived to have practiced preceding the The Great Depression anachronistic. After Franklin Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932, they believed that the country had tilted permanently leftward — and soon turned to government to solve the country's socio-economic problems. As the Democratic Party gained control of the political landscape, the Republicans assumed the role of an almost-permanent contrarian minority.
