The Partisan Side of Quigley
Background: GU Philosophy Department chairman Tom McTighe had
been an early supporter of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in his campaign to win in 1968
the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in opposition to the
expected effort of then President Lyndon Johnson's to run again.
Many Democrats that year had urged Sen. Robert Kennedy to lead the resisters to
anti-Viet Nam war in opposing a Johnson re-nomination, but Kennedy chose to hold
back and only McCarthy made the effort.
Then, when McCarthy came very close to beating Johnson in the early New
Hampshire primary, Kennedy re-considered and decided to enter the race - taking
much of the wind out of the sails of McCarthy's movement.
McTighe wrote an article in The HOYA urging anti-war Dems to stick with
McCarthy and said some negative things about Kennedy's last minute decision to
run.
Quigley, ever a strong Kennedy family man, responded with this letter:
Thursday, May 2, 1968 THE HOYA
Letters to the Editor...
RASH JUDGMENT
To the Editor:
In a democracy every citizen has the right to have
and to express his political opinions. It is, however, incumbent upon teachers,
and, especially upon those who call themselves philosophers, to practice
self-restraint in the exercising of these rights. By that I mean no professor,
especially when he is advising students, and above all when he is a philosopher,
should allow himself to appear in print when he is in a state of purely
emotional reaction on a subject which he is obviously ignorant. Professor
McTighe’s article in THE HOYA of 4 April, was written, he says, while he was
boiling with anger (for a week!). His personal remarks on Senator Kennedy are
both non-philosophical and ignorant. The Senator’s personality is nothing like
what Professor McTighe seems to believe. The professor may know nothing about
the Senator’s personality. If so, he should recognize that fact and keep quiet
on a subject on which he is ignorant. The professor also knows nothing about the
Senator’s views on the issues and says, "About all he has come up with are tired
generalities and absurd accusations blaming Johnson for all the ills of
society.”
Professor McTighe should be told that no person
mentioned today for the presidency has given his views on more issues and in
more detail over the past five years that Senator Kennedy. If Professor McTighe
ignored these statements, that is his right, but, when he made the decision to
ignore them, he should also have made the decision to refrain from public
statements on matters on which he had decided to be ignorant. The worthy
professor asks, “Has Senator Kennedy anything solid to offer on the agonizing
problem of Viet Nam?” I am astonished. Does he not know that the Senator has
offered detailed plans on this? As one who has read millions of words on this
subject, I am prepared to say that the chapter on Vietnam in Senator Kennedy’s
book, To Seek a Newer World, published last year, is the best brief statement
(in 30 pages) on what went wrong in that area and what should be done about it.
On this and other matters, the Senator’s knowledge of specific detail and his
willingness to express frank opinions on his views are matched by few public
figures in this country. It is a shame that Professor McTighe
has not been paying attention and does not know this.
Carroll Quigley
Professor of History
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