Kirk in Washington.

KIRK IN WASHINGTON

RUSSELL KIRK, "The Wizard of Mecosta," seemed an illsuited visitor to
Washington when he first came to the Heritage Foundation in 1978. Then
sixty years old, he was not a newcomer to the capital, and yet he was
certainly not a part of this transient, political place. Both Russell and
his wife, Annette, enjoyed telling the story of his meeting with President
Nixon in the Oval Office on April 4, 1972.

Unperturbed by the demonstrators in the streets, Mr. Nixon was leisurely in
manner, assured, cordial. The President seated himself on a sofa by Kirk's
chair and asked, "Where do Presidents obtain their support when unpopular
decisions have to be made, Dr. Kirk? What might be done-not just today, but
in the long run-to revive America's spirits and old national character? Dr.
Kirk, have we any hope?"

"That depends upon public belief, Mr. President," Kirk replied. " Despair
feeds upon despair, hope upon hope. If most people believe the prophets of
despair, they will seek out private hidey-holes and cease to cooperate for
the common good. But if most people say, 'We are in a bad way, but we still
have the resources and the intelligence and the will to work a renewal' -why,
they will be roused by the exigency to common action and reform. It is all
a matter of belief."

It was at a seminar sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute more
than thirty years ago, that I first met Dr. Kirk. He was already a fixed
star in the conservative firmament, and although he described himself in
those days as "roly-poly and benign," all of us students were in awe of him.
Had we known that he was an eater of beaver and a smoker of "dark, thick,"
Burmese cigars "looking and tasting ... like torpedoes," we probably would
have addressed him with even greater trepidation.

As we talked on that frosty December night in Detroit, I could not predict
that twenty years later Russell Kirk would be a Heritage Distinguished
Fellow and that three of his books, Reclaiming a Patrimony (1982), The Wise
Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky (1987), and The Politics
of Prudence (1993), would be based on lectures that he first delivered at
Heritage.

These volumes mean that Russell Kirk's influence in Washington will be far
greater than that of most of the transient politicians who descend upon this
city year after year. Kirk taught opinion leaders and legislators some of
the cardinal virtues of statesmanship. In a city of constant change, Kirk
espoused taking the long view and understanding that a "just government
maintains a healthy tension between the claims of authority and the claims
of liberty."

As a frequent back-row observer of his quarterly soirees in the Heritage
auditorium for the last 16 years, I was struck by the inevitable overflow
crowd of young people who couldn't get enough of Russell Kirk. I would ask
one of them what his hold was on them. An instant response was something
like: "I had only admired him from afar, and, of course, reading his books
at my university was not politically correct." Or, as a young Reagan
appointee once told me, "He taught us all why our role was important beyond
ourselves and beyond politics."

Indeed, Russell Kirk became the intellectual leader of "cultural"
conservatism precisely because his perspective encompasses a "faith in a
transcendent moral order," His operating guide was what Patrick Henry called
"the lamp of experience," which abhorred all forms of ideology claiming to
have found some substitute for genuine tradition, custom, and experience.

Russell's impact was perhaps best summarized in the citation when Ronald
Reagan conferred upon him the Presidential Citizens Medal on January 18,
1989: "As the prophet of American conservatism, Russell Kirk has taught,
nurtured, and inspired a generation. From his lofty perch on Piety Hill, he
reached deep into the roots of American values, writing and editing central
works of political philosophy. His intellectual contribution has been a
profound act of patriotism."

PHOTO:Russell Kirk, his wife and President Nixon

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By EDWIN J. FEULNER JR.
Mr. Feulner is president of the Heritage Foundation.

Feulner Jr., Edwin, Kirk in Washington.., Vol. 46, National Review, 06-13-1994, pp 56.