Author: Ralph Raico

[Excerpted from “Harry S. Truman: Advancing the Revolution,” in Reassessing the Presidency: The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom, John Denson, ed.] The most spectacular episode of Harry Truman’s presidency will never be forgotten but will be forever linked to his name: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki three days later. Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast majority were civilians, including several thousand Korean workers. Twelve US Navy fliers incarcerated in a Hiroshima jail were also among the dead.1 Great controversy … Continue reading →

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[This appears to have been written while Professor Raico was a university student. No date is given. The paper was found in a folder in the Rothbard Papers.] As a university student, as an heir of the Western tradition, and as a libertarian — on all three of these counts I was aroused by Mr. Buckley’s article, “Peace and Pacifism.” For he has, it appears to me, considered the just arguments neither of youth, nor of civilization, nor, even, of freedom, all of which will live or die, depending on whether it is to be peace or atomic war. To … Continue reading →

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[This essay originally appears in The Costs of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories, edited with an introduction by John V. Denson.] Churchill as Icon When, in a very few years, the pundits start to pontificate on the great question: “Who was the Man of the Century?” there is little doubt that they will reach virtually instant consensus. Inevitably, the answer will be: Winston Churchill. Indeed, Professor Harry Jaffa has already informed us that Churchill was not only the Man of the Twentieth Century, but the Man of Many Centuries.[1] In a way, Churchill as Man of the Century will be appropriate. … Continue reading →

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[This article appears in the January-February 2016 issue of The Austrian.] THE AUSTRIAN: Among those of us who are very laissez-faire, Europe’s liberal nineteenth century seems like ancient history, and people like Richard Cobden seem to be incredibly far from what is now the mainstream. And yet, leftists seem to believe that “neoliberalism” (i.e., the ideology of “limited government”) is making gains everywhere. Can you put things into perspective for us? Historically speaking, how much cache does liberalism have right now? RALPH RAICO: Yes, today Cobden is far from the mainstream, which is a pity. He was the best classical … Continue reading →

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[Leon Trotsky • By Irving Howe • Viking Press, 1978 &bull 214 pages. This review originally appeared in Libertarian Review, March 1979.] Leon Trotsky has always had a certain appeal for intellectuals that the other Bolshevik leaders lacked. The reasons for this are clear enough. He was a writer, an occasional literary critic — according to Irving Howe, a very good one — and an historian (of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917). He had an interest in psychoanalysis and modern developments in physics, and, even when in power, suggested that the new Communist thought-controllers shouldn’t be too harsh on … Continue reading →

The headlines have been full of reports of the ship lost at sea off the coast of Libya, filled with as many as 900 people seeking to reach Europe. Nearly all are feared drowned. It turns out that this is just a sample of thousands of refugees who have set out to cross the Mediterranean in the past year alone. Some have been rescued, mainly by the Italian navy, most have been lost at sea. The migrants come from as far away as Syria, now wracked by a civil war abetted by the United States and the Saudis, who aim … Continue reading →

Churchill as Icon Opportunism and Rhetoric Churchill and the “New Liberalism” World War I Between the Wars Embroiling America in War — Again “First Catch Your Hare” War Crimes Discreetly Veiled 1945: The Dark Side The Triumph of the Welfare State [This essay originally appears in The Costs of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories, edited with an introduction by John V. Denson.] Churchill as Icon When, in a very few years, the pundits start to pontificate on the great question: “Who was the Man of the Century?” there is little doubt that they will reach virtually instant consensus. Inevitably, the answer … Continue reading →