The postwar smothering of fascism didnât seem to slow conservativesâ lust for right-wing strongmen. By the 1960s, the primary home for such reverence was found not necessarily in Washington but in the pages of National Review, where founder William F. Buckley and his claque of writers apparently never found a hard-right despot they couldnât support. There was Spainâs Francisco Franco, whom Buckley dubbed an âauthentic national hero,â Heilbrunn writes. There was Portugalâs Antonio Salazar, who wrote in the magazine that he was âfighting for Western civilization and Christian values.â There was Chileâs Augusto Pinochet, whom Buckley viewed as a âbona fide leader who knew how to exercise power.â (After Pinochet used a car bomb to assassinate a political opponent in Washington, D.C., Chilean officials turned directly to Buckley for advice on how to âsanitize Pinochetâs reputation,â for which Buckley happily obliged.)
Worth considering whenever that nostalgia for ââŚwhen the JBS was kicked out of the RNC conventionâ arises.