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Melvin E. "Mel" Bradford (1934-March 3, 1993) was a conservative political commentator and professor of literature at the University of Dallas. Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined The University of Dallas is a private Catholic university located in Irving Texas.

Bradford is seen as a leading figure of the paleoconservative wing of the conservative movement. Paleoconservatism (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear is a term for an anti-communist and Anti-authoritarian He died just as the term paleo-conservative was being coined and preferred the term traditional conservative. Paleoconservatism (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear is a term for an anti-communist and Anti-authoritarian In his preface to Reactionary Imperative he wrote "Reaction is a necessary term in the intellectual context we inhabit in the twentieth century because merely to conserve is sometime to perpetuate what is outrageous. "

Bradford's conservativism was rooted within the heritage and traditions of the American South. Although some have argued that he was actually from the Southwest, Bradford would take issue with such a delineation of Texas - one of the original "Pre-Sumpter 7" members of the Old Confederacy - from "the South". The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 Regardless, he always saw both his beloved Texas and himself as part of the greater Southern cultural milieu. He studied at Vanderbilt and wrote his doctoral thesis under the Southern Agrarian and Fugitive Poet Donald Davidson (whose biography Bradford was wrapping up at the time of his sudden death at age 58), and thus was admitted to the succession of this movement to recover the Southern tradition.

Bradford was a larger-than-life individual, at 6'4" and 350 pounds. He was first and foremost a literary scholar and a student of rhetoric. Rhetoric has had many definitions no simple definition can do it justice He was known in literary circles for his work on William Faulkner, where Bradford stressed the importance of the Southern setting and the primacy of community in understanding the action of Faulkner's novels and stories. William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author Outside of literature he wrote extensively on the subjects of history, literature, and culture. Bradford specialized in the history of the American founding and Southern history in the United States. Bradford also advocated the constitutional theory of strict constructionism. Strict constructionism refers to a particular legal philosophy of Judicial interpretation that limits or restricts judicial interpretation

Bradford also frequently wrote for Chronicles magazine and Southern Partisan magazine. Chronicles is a US monthly Magazine published by the paleoconservative Rockford Institute. Southern Partisan is a political magazine published in the United States founded in 1979 that focuses on its Southern region and those states that were

Contents

NEH Nomination

In 1980, Bradford was initially tapped by President-elect Ronald Reagan for chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The National Endowment for the Humanities ( NEH) is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities The selection met with intense objections from neo-conservative figures, centering primarily on Bradford's criticisms of President Abraham Lincoln. Neoconservatism (or Neocon is a Right-wing political philosophy that emerged in the United States from the rejection of the Social liberalism, Moral relativism Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal They circulated quotes of Bradford calling Lincoln "a dangerous man," and saying, "The image of Lincoln rose to be very dark" and "indeed almost sinister. "[1] Their choice, William Bennett replaced him on November 13, 1981. William John Bennett (born July 3, 1943) is an American Neoconservative Pundit, Politician, and Political [2]

A letter supporting Bradford’s nomination, sent to President Reagan during the controversy, was signed by John East, Jesse Helms, John Tower, Strom Thurmond, Orrin Hatch, Jeremiah Denton, Dan Quayle and James McClure and eight other Republican senators. "Russell Kirk, Jeffrey Hart, Bill Buckley, Gerhart Neimeyer, M. Stanton Evans, Andrew Lytle, Harry Jaffa, and dozens of others” were also named as supporters. [3] Irving Kristol, Michael Joyce and William Simon were among Bennett's supporters. [4] Over two decades after the fact, the rift over Bradford's NEH nomination continues to be a major point of contention between paleo- and neo-conservatives. Neoconservatism (or Neocon is a Right-wing political philosophy that emerged in the United States from the rejection of the Social liberalism, Moral relativism

Bibliography

Sources

References

  1. ^ Briefing, The New York Times October 22, 1981
  2. ^ Scholar Chosen as Humanities Chief, The New York Times November 14, 1981
  3. ^ ”Bradford's Boosters” The Washington Post October 20, 1981
  4. ^ “The Amazing Endowment Scramble” The Washington Post, December 13, 1981. Clyde N Wilson (born 1941) is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, U
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