Viereck and Lindbergh

In his talk to the Athenacum Sunday night, Peter Viereck pounded home the idea that liberal intellectuals still can't bring themselves to hate Communism as much as Hitlerism. As the audience filed out of the hall and into the Square for late snacks, they saw something which did more than all the evening's debate to show that Viereck's indictment held true for but a small number of present "eggheads."

In the newsstands and restaurants of the Square, the Saturday Evening Post had plastered advertisements for its forthcoming series of articles by Charles Lindbergh on his famous flight of the twenties. Now, although Lindbergh's flight brought pride to this country, many of his social and political actions were shameful. At the high tide of Hitlerism he was active in America First, accepted a medal from Hitler himself, and lent his name to a number of totalitarian controlled organizations.

If Lindbergh had done this for the Communist instead of the Nazi cause, you may be sure that the professional patriots would already be easing his work off the newsstands. After all, the public should not, they could say, line the pocket of any man who supports such causes, be he a Lindbergh, a Chaplain or just a name in Red Channels.

If the majority of liberal intellectuals were really sqeamish about extending liberties to the extreme right, they would have protested this new glorification of Lindbergh. If they were still concerned only with Hitlerism (instead of the more inclusive police state methods of which it was just one variety), they would have condemned the Post for giving publicity to the man who lent so much prestige to the Nazi movement in the thirties. That they did not (and this is not an isolated case) can only suggest that perhaps the great bulk of liberal intellectuals, as opposed to their most conservative opponents, can still recognize a man's achievements apart from his political views; that their hatred of suppression is not just limited to Communists; and that perhaps Mr. Viereck and those who condemn with him are just seeking an easy scapegoat for the brute fact of postwar Russian successes.