Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2390

Letter to Heath from Russell Kirk, Mecosta, Michigan

September 19, 1954

 

Dear Mr. Heath,

 

Very good it was to have you and your grandson here; I hope you can come again before many months have passed. I have decided not to sail for England until October 29; I should be back here in February or March.

 I certainly approve your letter to the Wall Street Journal heartily. I shall touch upon that matter in a piece called “Loyalty and Legislative Committees”, in this month’s number of Confluence (Harvard).

 Perhaps Mr. Lawrence Brown’s article is unconsciously, rather than consciously, pro-Catholic. I think its philosophical postulates are derived from an important book by Professor Eric Vagelin, The New Science of Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1953). Many thanks for the digest.

 We won’t get out the sample number of The Conservative Review until I return from abroad. A Program for Conservatives should be ready before long, and I shall see that a copy is sent to you. On October 17, I am to appear on the television program “Author Meets Critic”, to be assailed by Sidney Hook and defended by James Burnham.

 I certainly want to go into the matter of proprietorship in my little book on English society which I shall finish next year; and the whole great topic never has been properly explored in this country, of course. I hope we may accomplish something. Before long I shall return your manuscript to you; it has helped me clarify my ideas on these topics.

 More soon. My compliments to your grandson Spencer. Let me know if ever I can be of help in any way.

 

Cordially,

/s/ Russell Kirk