Paul Edward Gottfried(born November 21, 1941) is an Americanpaleoconservativepolitical philosopher, historian, and writer.[1][2][3]He is a former Professor of Humanities atElizabethtown CollegeinPennsylvania.He is editor-in-chief of the paleoconservative magazineChronicles.[4]He is an associated scholar at theMises Institute,a libertarian think tank,[5]and the US correspondent ofNouvelle École,aNouvelle Droitejournal.[6]
Paul Gottfried | |
|---|---|
 Gottfried speaking in 2017 | |
| Born | Paul Edward Gottfried November 21, 1941 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Yeshiva University(BA) Yale University(MS,PhD) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy American philosophy |
| School | Paleoconservatism |
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | Catholic Romanticism in Munich, 1826–1834(1968) |
| Doctoral advisor | Herbert Marcuse |
Main interests | Welfare state,pluralism,Romanticism |
Notable ideas | Therapeutic state,movement conservatism,alternative right,white nationalism(denied) |
Gottfried helped coin the termpaleoconservativein 1986 andalternative right(withRichard Spencer) in 2008.[2][1]TheSouthern Poverty Law Center(SPLC) has described him as a "far-right thinker".[7]He founded the H.L. Mencken Club, which the SPLC considers awhite nationalistgroup.[7][8]Although noted for working with far-right and alt-right groups and figures, he has said that he does "not want to be in the same camp with white nationalists" or associated with pro-Nazis, "as somebody whose family barely escaped from the Nazis in the '30s".[2][1]
Early life and education
editGottfried was born in 1941 in theBronx,New York City.His father, Andrew Gottfried, was afurrierinBudapestwho fled Hungary after theJuly Putschof 1934. The family relocated toBridgeport, Connecticut,soon after Paul Gottfried's birth. Andrew Gottfried had a fur business in Bridgeport and was involved in its Hungarian Jewish community.[1]
Gottfried attendedYeshiva Universityin New York as an undergraduate. He returned to Connecticut to attendYalefor graduate school, where he studied underHerbert Marcuse(with whom he disagreed).[1][9]He defended his thesis onCatholic Romanticism in Munich, 1826–1834in 1968.[10]
Career
editGottfried had written 13 books as of 2016.[1]With Thomas Fleming in 1986 he coined the termpaleoconservative(a term he identifies with), and withRichard Spencerin 2008 he coinedalternative right.[2][11]He has aimed to revitalize theOld Rightto counterneoconservativeandneoliberalinfluence in theconservative movement.[3]He is considered a prominentreactionarycritic of theRepublican Partyand has called himself a "right-wing pluralist".[12][13][14]
He is a former Horace Raffensperger Professor of Humanities atElizabethtown CollegeinElizabethtown, Pennsylvania,as well as aGuggenheim Fellowshiprecipient.[15][16]He moved to Elizabethtown after his first wife died, and taught at the college until "a school official encouraged his early exit", according to a 2016 article inTablet.[1]
Gottfried was a friend ofRichard Nixonafter Nixon resigned from the presidency.[17]Gottfried was expelled as a contributor toNational Reviewin the 1980s; interviewed in 2017, he saidNational Review"didn’t throw anybody out because they were racist," but alleged that it and the conservative movement had been captured by interests supportive of immigration andmulticulturalism.[18]In the 1980s, he edited the journalContinuityfor theIntercollegiate Studies Institute,which included someneo-Confederatewriting.[19]He was a key advisor in the 1990s toPat Buchanan,notably during Buchanan's campaign in the1992 Republican primariesagainstPresident George H. W. Bush.[20][1]He worked for the journalTelos,which embraced some far-right causes.[9]He is opposed tonation-buildingand is a critic of Americaninterventionistforeign policy;[citation needed]he additionally opposes theZionist movementand the creation of theState of Israel.[21]He has written thatMurray Rothbardwas a close friend and influence.[22]
Gottfried is an associated scholar at theMises Institute,a libertarian think tank.[5]In 2018, he joined theInstitut des sciences sociales, économiques et politiques(Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences), founded byMarion MaréchalandThibaut Monnier,inLyon,France.[23]Gottfried is the US correspondent ofNouvelle École,aNouvelle Droitejournal founded byGRECEin 1968.[6]
In 2008, Gottfried founded the H.L. Mencken Club, a group the SPLC has described aswhite nationalist.[7]Richard Spencer was a board member.[24]It is named for the famous writerH.L. Mencken;aVillage Voicearticle about the club in 2013 noted Mencken's casual racism. TheVillage Voicesaid the club was "overwhelmingly geriatric" and met in airport hotels nearBaltimore.Marilyn Mayo of theAnti-Defamation League(ADL) Center on Extremism said the ADL did not consider the club a hate group, but that it "attracts a number of white supremacists to their conferences".[24]
Gottfried has spoken atAmerican Renaissanceconferences and written essays forVDARE.[8]AnIntelligencerarticle about the far right in 2017 summarized Gottfried as a "nativist strategist" who had "spent a career agitating for an ethno-nationalist conservatism that celebrated white Western values and lamented what feminism and multiculturalism had done to dilute them".[25]
Coining ofalt-rightand associations
editGottfried helped coin the termalternative rightwith a speech to the H.L. Mencken Club in 2008 envisioning a nationalist and populist right-wing movement; it was published byRichard SpencerinTaki's Magazinewith the title "The Decline and Rise of the Alternative Right".[2][1][26]Gottfried has been described as a former intellectual mentor to Spencer.[27][1][28]As of 2010, according to the SPLC, Gottfried was a senior contributing editor atAlternative Right,a website edited by Spencer.[29]He and Spencer co-edited a book in 2015.[3][1]
In a 2016 article in the online magazineTablettitled "The Alt-Right's Jewish Godfather", Gottfried said, "Whenever I look at Richard [Spencer], I see my ideas coming back in a garbled form." He also said, "I just do not want to be in the same camp with white nationalists," and "As somebody whose family barely escaped from the Nazis in the '30s, I do not want to be associated with people who are pro-Nazi." Jacob Siegel, author of theTabletarticle, described Gottfried as having "tried to build apostfascist,postconservative politics of thefar-right"for the past 20 years, but that" Spencer and his acolytes wanted to cross the threshold into fascist thought and beliefs ".[1]
In 2018,Robert Fulfordof theNational Postdescribed Gottfried as the "godfather ofalt-right"and wrote that Gottfried'spaleoconservativeideas were a major source of the alt-right phenomenon.[30]Three weeks later, Gottfried published a response article objecting to some of its points. He wrote, "I do know Richard Spencer and worked with him in 2010 when he edited theTaki's Magazinewebsite. We did develop the term 'Alternative Right' together — it was a headline he put on one of my articles. But my subsequent strategic differences with him are a matter of public record, which should have been noted. "[31]
Books
edit- Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria.Fordham University Press(1979).ISBN978-0-82320982-8.
- The Search for Historical Meaning: Hegel and the Postwar American Right.Northern Illinois University Press(1986).ISBN0-87580114-5.
- The Conservative Movement.Boston: Twayne Publishing (1988); 2nd ed. withThomas Fleming(1992).ISBN0-80579724-6.
- Carl Schmitt: Politics and Theory.Greenwood Press(1990).ISBN0-31327209-3.
- After Liberalism: Mass Democracy in the Managerial State.New Forum vol. 18.Princeton University Press(2001).ISBN0-69108982-5.
- Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt: Towards a Secular Theocracy.University of Missouri Press(2002).ISBN0-826214177.
- The Strange Death of Marxism: The European Left in the New Millennium.University of Missouri Press(2005).ISBN0-826215971.
- Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right.Palgrave-Macmillan(2007).ISBN0-23061479-5.
- Encounters: My Life with Nixon, Marcuse, and Other Friends and Teachers.Wilmington, DL:Intercollegiate Studies Institute(2009).ISBN978-1-93385999-6.
- Leo Strauss and the American Conservative Movement.Cambridge University Press(2012).ISBN978-1-10701724-5.
- War and Democracy.Arktos(2012).ISBN978-1-90716680-8.
- Fascism: The Career of a Concept.Northern Illinois University Press(2015).ISBN978-0-87580493-4.
- Revisions and Dissents.Northern Illinois University Press(2017).ISBN978-0-87580762-1.
- The Vanishing Tradition: Perspectives on American Conservatism.Northern Illinois University Press (2020).
- Antifascism: The Course of a Crusade.Northern Illinois University Press(2021).ISBN978-1-50175935-2.
- A Paleoconservative Anthology: New Voices for an Old Tradition.Ed. Paul Gottfried.Rowman & Littlefield(2023).ISBN9781666919738.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcdefghijklJacob, Siegel (November 30, 2016)."Paul Gottfried, the Jewish Godfather of the 'Alt-Right'".Tablet Magazine.Nextbook, Inc.RetrievedJanuary 14,2022.
- ^abcde"Meet the Jewish 'Paleoconservative' Who Coined The Term 'Alternative Right'".The Forward. August 29, 2016.RetrievedNovember 3,2016.
- ^abcDrolet, Jean-Francois; Williams, Michael C (2022)."From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations".Journal of International Political Theory.18(1): 27.doi:10.1177/17550882211020409.ISSN1755-0882.S2CID236406021.
- ^"Paul Gottfried".Chronicles Magazine.
- ^ab"Paul Gottfried".Mises Institute.June 20, 2014.RetrievedMay 1,2022.
- ^abFrançois, Stéphane(2018). "Réflexions sur le paganisme d'extrême droite".Social Compass.65(2): 275.doi:10.1177/0037768618768439.ISSN0037-7686.S2CID150142148.
- ^abcPiggott, Stephen (November 4, 2016)."White Nationalists to Gather in Baltimore for the Ninth Annual H.L. Mencken Club Conference".Southern Poverty Law Center.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.
- ^ab"Prominent Racists Attend Inaugural H.L. Mencken Club Gathering".Southern Poverty Law Center.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.
- ^abBraune, Joan (2019)."Who's Afraid of the Frankfurt School?" Cultural Marxism "as an Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory"(PDF).Journal of Social Justice.9(2164–7100): 1–25.
- ^Catholic Romanticism in Munich, 1826-1834 / by Paul Gottfried,Orbis: Yale University Library Catalog,retrievedSeptember 24,2024
- ^Drolet, Jean-Francois; Williams, Michael C (2022)."From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations".Journal of International Political Theory.18(1): 27.doi:10.1177/17550882211020409.S2CID236406021.
- ^Bartee, Seth. (2019). Abstract. "Paul Gottfried and Paleoconservatism." In:Key Thinkers of the Radical Right.Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190877583.003.0007. "He became the foremost critic of the Republican Party and neoconservatism."
- ^Gottfried, Paul (1991). Populism vs. Neoconservatism. Telos: Critical Theory of the Contemporary 90:184.
- ^Bartee, Seth. (2019). Abstract. "Paul Gottfried and Paleoconservatism." In:Key Thinkers of the Radical Right.Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190877583.003.0007. "Since 2008 Gottfried has adopted the label of right-wing pluralist and allows most conservative dissidents into his organization..."
- ^"Search | Elizabethtown College".etown.edu.RetrievedNovember 3,2024.
- ^"Paul Gottfried – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation…".RetrievedNovember 3,2024.
- ^Jay, Martin (2020).Splinters in your Eye: Frankfurt School Provocations.London. p. 164.ISBN978-1-78873-604-6.OCLC1122921518.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Nwanevu, Osita (March 23, 2017)."National Review Wants Credit for Opposing the Alt-Right Movement It Helped Create".Slate Magazine.RetrievedNovember 30,2022.
- ^Sebesta, Edward H.; Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi, eds. (2009).Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction.United States: University of Texas Press. p. 31.
- ^Drolet, Jean-François; Williams, Michael C. (January 2, 2020)."America first: paleoconservatism and the ideological struggle for the American right".Journal of Political Ideologies.25(1): 28–50.doi:10.1080/13569317.2020.1699717.ISSN1356-9317.S2CID213963637.
- ^Gottfried, Paul (June 17, 2012)."Jews Against Israel".The American Conservative.RetrievedNovember 16,2023.
- ^Cooper, Melinda (2021)."The Alt-Right: Neoliberalism, Libertarianism and the Fascist Temptation".Theory, Culture & Society.38(6): 29–50.doi:10.1177/0263276421999446.ISSN0263-2764.S2CID233528701.
- ^Catherine Lagrange (June 22, 2018)."L'école de Marion Maréchal: du business et de la culture (très à droite)".Le Point(in French).RetrievedJuly 22,2018.
- ^abMerlan, Anna (July 10, 2013)."Is the H.L. Mencken Club an Extremist Hate Group, or Just a Bunch of Weary Old White Guys?".The Village Voice.RetrievedDecember 8,2022.
- ^Read, Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, Noreen Malone, Max (April 30, 2017)."Beyond Alt: Understanding the New Far Right".Intelligencer.RetrievedAugust 28,2023.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^"Inside the Far-right Podcast Ecosystem, Part 2: Richard Spencer's Origins in the Podcast Network".Southern Poverty Law Center.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.
- ^Finlayson, Alan (2021)."Neoliberalism, the Alt-Right and the Intellectual Dark Web".Theory, Culture & Society.38(6): 176.doi:10.1177/02632764211036731.ISSN0263-2764.S2CID239690708.
- ^Gray, Rosie (January 12, 2017)."An Alt-Right Leader Sets Up Shop in Northern Virginia".The Atlantic.RetrievedAugust 2,2023.
- ^Keller, Larry (March 15, 2010)."Paleocon Starts New Extreme-Right Magazine".Southern Poverty Law Center.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.
- ^Fulford, Robert (March 29, 2018)."Robert Fulford: How the alt-right's godfather transformed our world".National Post.National Post.RetrievedJanuary 14,2022.
- ^Gottfried, Paul (April 17, 2018)."Paul Gottfried: Don't call me the 'godfather' of those alt-right neo-Nazis. I'm Jewish".National Post.National Post.RetrievedJanuary 14,2022.
