Young Americans for Freedom and The Manchurian Candidate

John Bevilaqua · October 14, 2007

Hopefully I can get some questions answered (or theories proposed) about why Richard Condon in The Manchurian Candidate

(1958) discussed and described persons involved with The China Lobby of both Robert J. Morris and Marvin Liebmann and

others from The John Birch Society (including Robert J. Morris, Edwin A. Walker and Major George Racey Jordan) and still

others who were later involved with founding and operating Young Americans for Freedom (like William F. Buckley, Jr.).

How did he refer to these persons in The Manchurian Candidate and more importantly WHY did he mention them in his

book about political assassinations, Mind Control and blatant McCarthyism and Right Wing extremism?

Here are the specific Richard Condon references in The Manchurian Candidate to John Birchers, YAFers and China

Lobby members or CIA and WACL members (World Anti-Communist League):

Notes and Caveats: Just because these people were mentioned in "The Manchurian Candidate" does not mean that they were necessarily part of the JFK assassination plot but they may have had advanced knowledge about it. They may also have been kept in the dark.

(1) William F. Buckley, Jr. "...that fascinating young man who wrote about Man and God at Yale."

Note: William F. Buckley, Jr. was actually the author of "God and Man at Yale" in the early 1950's

(2) George Sokolosky (see below) was quite simply named by name along with Westbrook Pegler and Reverend Gerald L K Smith

("Christ of the Ozarks") and Rev Charles Couglin "Church of the Little Flower" who were some of the most anti-Semitic members of the Right Wing Clerical Fascist or Right Wing reporting corps. Coughlin and Smith were described in "Demagogues of the Depression".

Smith has since been identified as the plotmaster behind the assassination of Senator Huey Long of Louisiana in the 1930's and as the

person present at the Winnipeg Airport Incident (Feb. 1964) discussing the payoff for the JFK Assassination.

(3) Major George Racey Jordan was author of a John Birch published book called "Major Jordan's Diaries" in the early 1950's and

was referenced by Richard Condon in the novel as well.

(4) Senator J. Strom Thurmond was referenced as Senator Thomas Jordan by Richard Condon in an only slightly veiled

anagram which decomposes to Senator "J. Strom Thormond" perhaps after Thor, the God of War. Thurmond spoke often

at John Birch and YAF Jugend-style rallies and meetings and was a staunch segregationist from day one.

(5) Robert J. Morris, identified by both Mae Brussell and William Turner as being one of the major masterminds of the

JFK conspiracy and cover-up was part of The China Lobby and headed the Dallas John Birch Society along with Major

General Edwin A. Walker and Gen. Charles A. Willoughby identified by Dick Russell's informant in The Man Who Knew Too

Much (1994) as "... that clever mind from Heidelburg." Morris represented Walker against the Insurrection charges

after the Ole Miss Riots in 1962 when several persons were killed. Whittaker Chambers called Morris, "the real brains

behind McCarthyism" in Morris' NY Times obituary. Morris also received the "Man of the Year" award from Buckley

in 1964 from YAF. What did Morris do during 1963 to earn this accolade? I can find nothing absent the JFK hit.

Condon referred to Morris in 5 different ways using anagrams, his affiliations and his background as a NYC Judge.

One example: "Major, dismiss." decomposes to "R. J. Moriss is Mad." In fact many persons attested to his paranoia

and shizophrenia after meeting him. He eventually died of some sort of swelling in his brain leading to dementia.

(6) Ray S. Cline who headed up the Mukden, China (OSS) CIA desk during World War II and later headed up the World

Anti-Communist League during its most blatantly Fascist periods. See: Inside the League by Jon and Scott Anderson (1980)

Condon referred to Cline as John (Johnny) Yerkes Iselin which is a perfect anagram for "John E. is Rey S. Kline". Cline

was present in the Phillipines when Benito Aquino was shot dead on the tarmac as he attempted to return to his homeland.

And Cline was in Taiwan when Lee Harvey Oswald was allegedly subjected to Mind Control experiments with the Marines.

Can anyone offer any theories or answers for me here? I think that Condon became aware of a John Birch, CIA and YAF plot

against JFK when he was a Senator and attempted to list those in the know in an attempt to forewarn the world and failed.

Or he attempted to record for posterity those potential participants so that if they were successful they would be discovered.

What do you think?

From the YAF Website here is their own story...

Rebels with a Cause part 1

The YAF Story 1960-1967

by Lee and Anne Edwards

One of the most spectacular successes of the conservative movement in America is that of the youth organization, Young Americans for Freedom. It has grown from a literal handful to tens of thousands in only seven years. We both know YAF well. Lee was at its founding meeting in Sharon, Conn., in September 1960. He was a member of the first board of directors. He was the first editor of The New Guard. He was chairman of Metropolitan (Washington) YAF. And he has served as public relations consultant to YAF for several years. Anne was active in New York State YAF and would have run for the national board if she had not been president of the New York Women's Young Republican Club. But she always kept a sharp eye on YAF and in July 1963, wrote a letter to the editor of The New Guard, praising him for the obvious improvement in the magazine. Two years later, the letter writer and the editor got married, so YAF is responsible for bringing us together. We think the YAF story is an important and informative story for every conservative, and Lee is going to tell it.

The sky was blue and the sun was warm as I walked across the broad, green back lawn of the Buckley estate at Sharon, Conn. It was Saturday morning, September 10, 1960. I had been invited by Doug Caddy and Dave Franke to attend a meeting of young conservatives who wanted to form a national organization. I had been asked, I suppose, because I was editor of the Young Republican National Federation's newspaper, had been active in District of Columbia YR politics, and was press secretary to a United States Senator, John Marshall Butler of Maryland.

Most of the others had arrived Friday night and were now seated or reclining around a gigantic elm, discussing membership. Doug and Dave were there, as were Stan Evans, Bob Schuchman, Carol Dawson, Bob Croll, the Kolbe brothers (John and Jim), George McDonnell, Howie Phillips, Carl McIntire, Herb Kohler, and many others. As I approached the group, someone was saying, "This organization must be a youth organization and I therefore move that the maximum age be set at 27." I looked at my companion, Vic Milione, president of the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, and said, "Well, Vic, I guess we might as well leave right now. I'm going to be 28 in December and I know you are older than I am."

Following debate, however, the motion was defeated-although not because it would have eliminated Vic and me. It was rejected because several people pointed out there were numerous young people on the way up, including some Congressmen, who would be barred if the age were set that low. The maximum age was raised to 35 and then, as I recall, at a subsequent meeting of the national board, upped to 39, where it remains today. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of YAF's members and leaders have been under 30, with few exceptions. And in the last two years there has been a steady influx of college students into leadership positions-which I think is all to the good.

Aside from such comparatively mechanical questions as membership, dues, location of the national office, the size of the national board and the like, the main questions came down to two: what was to be the purpose of the organization, and what would be its name? Throughout much of Saturday, approximately ninety of us debated purpose and principle. We recessed for a delightful dinner with Bill Buckley and several of his friends and associates, including Frank Meyer, Marvin Liebman, and Brent Bozell. We then broke up into groups to discuss and prepare various parts of the constitution and by-laws while Stan Evans, Carol Dawson and a couple of others went off to write what became the Sharon Statement. Stan had written a first draft on the plane from Indianapolis, where he is editor of the Indianapolis News (he was, by the way, then the youngest editor of a major daily newspaper). The draft was barely changed "in committee" and the next morning, after church, was approved with the only serious objection coming over the phrase, "God-given free will." However, only a handful objected and the phrase stayed in. In my opinion, the Sharon Statement is a moving statement, worthy of study by conservatives, young and old.

The second major debate on Sunday revolved around the selection of the organization's name. After several hours, the choice had narrowed down to (a) Young Conservatives of America and ( Young Americans for Freedom. The militants wanted to proclaim their conservatism to the nation and the world. Others, including Dave Franke and myself, thought otherwise. I argued that the word "'conservative" would lose us liberal anti-Communists and libertarians and also bring down on our heads the wrath and derision of the liberal press. In those days, conservative was a word avoided by all but the very hardy. Dave also argued, most effectively, that conservatives had to keep title to the word "freedom" and not let the Left capture it as they had "democracy" and other useful words. We both noted how often the words "free" and "freedom" were used in the Sharon Statement. The vote was very close: by a margin of only 44 to 40, if memory serves right, Young Americans for Freedom became the official name of the nation's newest and most ambitious conservative organization.

Robert Schuchman, a brilliant student at Yale Law School, was elected the first national chairman. Other officers included Robert Croll (who had just served as Youth for Goldwater chairman at the 1960 GOP convention in Chicago); Carol Dawson (later to become Mrs. Robert Bauman), secretary; and David Franke, treasurer. Doug Caddy, who had done most of the spadework in setting up the Sharon Conference, was appointed national director. A 21member Board of Directors was created, and I was elected to it. YAF was to be headquartered in New York City, and would operate out of Marvin Liebman's offices at 343 Lexington Avenue until such time as YAF bad the wherewithal to fend for itself.

Let me say right here that although YAF has always been run by its young leaders from the start, it could not have accomplished all it has without the cooperation and advice of more senior conservatives, particularly Bill Buckley and Marvin Liebman, the organizer and fund-raiser par excellence .

Perhaps some of you are wondering why some 90 young conservatives got together at Sharon that September weekend. It was no accident. It has been written that YAF grew out of the Youth for Goldwater for Vice-President organization which was active at the GOP National Convention held in Chicago in June, 1960. It is true that most of the young people who came to Sharon were active in the Goldwater group, and that plans were laid for the September meeting in Chicago. But the real beginnings of YAF lie in the Student Committee for the Loyalty Oath, created by David Franke and Doug Caddy in 1958, when both were students in Washington, D.C.

As you may recall, the National Defense Education Act contained a provision that a student had to sign an affidavit stating that he was not a member of any subversive organization, and was loyal to the United States government from which he was seeking a grant for his higher education. This reasonable stipulation did not sit well with some, and a campaign was launched among liberal-left students on campus to eliminate the provision. The New York Times and other Establishment publications took up the cry in the name of free speech and civil liberties. Doug and Dave became angry and decided to launch a counter-offensive.

The Student Committee for the Loyalty Oath established campus chapters, collected petitions, testified before Congressional committees, wrote articles, distributed literature and generally got conservative students stirred up for the first time in almost everyone's memory. Doug began to show a flair for the dramatic, headline-winning event which he was to use as national director of YAF with awesome success. Back to YAF. If you were the head of a brand-new organization that had less than 100 members, what would you do? Probably go slowly, build up a mailing list, start a newsletter, establish a modest budget, perhaps plan a small public meeting in six months or so, and generally feet your way along. Not YAF's leaders. From the very beginning, YAF has been an audacious, chance-taking organization, as a youth group should be. If the day should ever come when Young Americans for Freedom becomes respectable, preoccupied with its image and overly sensitive to public and press opinion, that day will mark its decline and possible fall.

So what did Doug and the others decide to do? (I was off on the Eastern Shore of Maryland campaigning for a former Congressman who was trying to get back his seat in the House.) They determined, no less, to hold a public rally in New York City's Manhattan Center, capacity 3,000, in March, 1961. At first I was skeptical, but when they told me that Senator Barry Goldwater would be the main speaker and Marvin Liebman would help with the details, I said "Let's go." The evening was billed as YAF's First Annual Awards Rally and citations were to be presented to William F. Buckley, Jr., Taylor Caldwell, Russell Kirk, industrialist Herbert V. Kohler, publisher Eugene C. Pulliam, George Sokolsky, Lewis L. Strauss and James Abstine, state chairman of the Indiana College Young Republicans. All but Lewis Strauss, who was unexpectedly called away on business, attended-as did 6,000 enthusiastic conservatives, only 3,000 of whom could get in. It was a grand evening, perhaps the grandest of all because none of us knew our potential and power. Senator Goldwater, who was to be the catalyst for YAF's astounding growth over the next three years, called young conservatives "the nation's young leaders of tomorrow. They are concerned with their future, and they don't want it mortgaged by political persuasions with which they are not in sympathy."

Just how concerned we were can be seen in the lead editorial of The New Guard, the first issue of which was distributed at the Manhattan Center Rally. It tells much about YAF's spirit in those early days and I reproduce it in full.

"Ten years ago this magazine would not have been possible. Twenty years ago it - would not have been dreamed of. Thirty-five years ago it would not have been necessary. Today, The New Guard is possible, it is a reality, and it is needed by the youth of America to proclaim loudly and clearly: We are sick unto death of collectivism, socialism, statism, and the other utopianisms which have poisoned the minds, weakened the wills and smothered the spirits of Americans for three decades and more.

"Thirty-five years ago Americans believed in themselves and in the institutions and traditions which bad brought them to a broad plateau of power and prosperity. But something went wrong-not so much with the system as with its members-and a Great Depression settled over the nation like a thick cold blanket of fog. A self-confident political leader rubbed his ambition against his personality and ignited a small area around him. For eight years he struck match after match of statism and collectivism until finally the fog lifted-when the United States went to war.

"Twenty years ago The New Guard would have remained a dream, for the educators bad done their job well. Liberalism was the banner on nearly every campus from the East Coast to the West, and it was agreed in a thousand rathskellars but a little while more and utopia would be here.

"Ten years ago the first open rebellion appeared. How long do we have to wait? asked the more impatient ones. How much more do we have to give up? demanded the more philosophical. In the past decade organizations like the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists were formed; magazines like National Review and Modern Age were published; and only last September, 1960, Young Americans for Freedom was born.

"The statement of principles adopted then, the Sharon Statement, is brief and to the point: it upholds and affirms 'certain eternal truths,' among them, man's God-given free will, the interdependence of economic and political freedom, the efficacy of the market economy and the need for enlightened self-interest in foreign policy. " The New Guard will publicize and promote all activities of Young Americans for Freedom and young Americans who extend these 'eternal truths.' It will be non-partisan only in the sense that it will not align itself with any particular party or group. It will, however I support and actively work for men and women in both parties who believe in these truths.

"Action is the key word and principal motivation of Young Americans for Freedom and this publication. One has only to make the most cursory examination of our nation and of the world to know that action is imperative for our preservation and that of the world.

"So far we have not used the word 'conservative' but do so now. The New Guard is 'conservative' in our sense of the word, which we define as believing in and desiring to extend those principles responsible for the greatness of this Republic.

"We anticipate a certain measure of opposition and even ridicule, both of which we welcome. The tide of conservatism is rising all over the United States, and we will rise with it leaving behind those unfortunates still chained to the rotting posts of 'liberalism,' collectivism, and statism. If they wish to sacrifice themselves for a lost cause, let them do so. Nevertheless, we offer them the pincers of liberty, individualism, and initiative to free themselves of chains as rusty as the shibboleths which undoubtedly our opponents will attempt to wrap around us.

"With this issue, we extend to every young American an invitation to help build an Ark which will carry America to the highest peak of all."

The New York Times put its story about the rally on page one. Television networks carried film clips the following evening. Hundreds of articles and columns were generated. In one night, Young Americans for Freedom became a national institution, and has remained one to this day.

Why? (1) Because there was no other young conservative activist group in America, and YAF filled an obvious void. (2) Because every adult American-liberal, conservative, or moderate -is always interested in what young people-liberal, conservative, or moderate-are doing and saving. (3) Because YAF has sponsored and carried out a staggering variety of important and frequently sensational projects. Here are just a few undertaken from 1961 through 1966:

1. During the first week in January, when the now Congress and the new President-elect, John F. Kennedy, were preparing for the first year of the New Frontier, nearly 500 YAF members picketed the White House in favor of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. For the first time, pro-HCUA pickets outnumbered anti-HCUA pickets. The Communists and their associates were dumbfounded.

2. In March, 1961, following the Manhattan Center rally, YAF received a George Washington Honor Medal Award from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. The organization's Freedom Action Program, an educational project, was described as cc an outstanding achievement in helping to bring about a better understanding of the American way of life."

3. In the spring of 1961, YAF leaders, including national chairman Robert Schuchman, participated in a Washington Conference on the Peace Corps. YAF representatives emphasized the need for security clearances of all Peace Corps members, as well as training in the fundamentals of the free enterprise system before Corpsmen were sent overseas, where they would be challenged by Communists, socialists and nationalists about American principles and practices. Various Congressional leaders later informed YAF that its participation spotlighted the lack of sufficient planning in the original Peace Corps.

4. On March 7, 1962, every one of Madison Square Garden's 18,500 seats were filled for YAF's Second Annual Awards Rally. Awards were presented to former President Herbert Hoover (author Eugene Lyons accepted for the ailing Hoover); John Dos Passos; Senator Strom Thurmond; Professor Richard M. Weaver; John Wayne (George Murphy was the stand-in for the Hollywood actor, who was on location in England); Charles Edison former governor of New Jersey and one of the most devoted supporters of YAF; Ludwig von Mises, the noted economist; Marvin Liebman; the Deering-Milliken Company (its president, Roger Milliken, modestly refused to accept a personal award, so we gave his company one and got him to appear personally to accept it); M. Stanton Evans; and a special award to Moise Tshombe,, then the embattled President of Katanga Province in the Congo.

Among the brilliant speakers that night were Senator John Tower, Brent Bozell, and Senator Barry Goldwater, who predicted that a 199 wave of conservatism" would eventually triumph in America.

YAF understood its responsibility as part of that prediction. As Bob Schuchman wrote in a special message which was printed in The New Guard, and distributed at the rally:

"With the coming of the second awards rally of Young Americans for Freedom, we are, at last, approaching the state of political maturity. We can now leave pettiness behind, and concentrate on effectuating our ideals: understanding them, promoting them, insuring that they gain political success. We must do this, because the philosophy of conservatism is so desperately needed if the West is to survive; and only if the West and its institutions survive will freedom continue to exist on this earth."

(The "pettiness" Bob referred to stemmed from three struggles within YAF: (a) The struggle for power between individuals and groups. This is inevitable in any organization, large or small, and if YAF's power plays were sometimes a little more fierce than usual it was due to the youthful drive and ambition of its leaders. ( The struggle between those who placed conservatism first and those who placed the Republican Party first. Several members of YAF's first board attempted to use the organization to further their own ambitions within the Young Republicans. They were all ousted within two years. YAF has scrupulously maintained its non-partisan character throughout its history. © The struggle between conservatives and libertarians. In the beginning, the conservatives-primarily fundamentalists and the disciples of Russell Kirk-were dominant. Of late there has been an appreciable increase in strength of the libertarians, who follow Milton Friedman, F. A. Hayek, and, to some extent, Ayn Rand. This clash is becoming the major philosophical struggle within Young Americans for Freedom-a clash which I happen to think will strengthen it.)

5. In the fall of 1962, local and state YAF organizations worked hard for conservative candidates. In New York City, YAF worked in 17 races, in seven of which YAF members were candidates. Marion County (Indianapolis) YAF turned out hundreds to labor for Congressman Donald Bruce. In Texas, YAF fought hard for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Cox. Florida YAF boosted COr1gressman Bill Cramer while YAF members in Virginia were active for Congressman Joel Broyhill.

6. In April, 1963, YAF published the NSA Report , documenting the leftist activities of the National Student Association. The Report became a major weapon for student leaders in their efforts to have their schools withdraw from NSA, which, as an editorial in The New Guard put it, "is a gigantic smear job on the American student."

7. In mid-1963, YAF members in every state participated in a Petition drive against the proposed nuclear test ban treaty. Major TV networks covered the presentation of thousands of signatures by YAF's national chairman, Robert Bauman, to Senator Strom Thurmond on the steps of the Capitol in Washington. (In January, 1963, YAF moved its national headquarters to the Nation's Capitol to be where the action is.)

8. As we've seen, YAF and Barry Goldwater had long been intertwined. As the Arizona senator became more interested in his party's Presidential nomination, YAF members worked harder to convince him that he should try to capture that nomination In July, 1963, hundreds of YAFers from across the nation attended the Draft Goldwater Rally in Washington, D.C. YAF -Director Donald Shafto was the rally's coordinator and did a brilliant job. In September, a Youth for Goldwater group was formed. YAF member James Harff was appointed director while Carol Bauman, editor of The New Guard ., was named executive secretary. Five members of YAF's board of directors were appointed to the national steering committee of Youth for Goldwater.

During the 1964 primaries, YAF members were at airports, meeting halls, campuses, street corners, shopping centers and Madison Square Garden to help turn out and swell crowds for candidate Goldwater. At the GOP convention in San Francisco, YAF Chairman Bob Bauman testified before the Republican Platform Committee. In September, Dean Burch, chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced the formation of Young Americans for Goldwater-Miller. YAF was one of the five major youth organizations asked to form the group aimed at capturing young voters for the GOP ticket.

The election results disappointed but did not dishearten YAF. In fact, the campaign produced the largest spurt in the organization's history-almost 2,500 young Americans joined in the month of October alone.

9. The big story of 1965 was YAF versus the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. With the open encouragement of the United States government, Firestone announced plans to build a synthetic rubber plant in Communist Rumania. The Philadelphia chapter, under the direction of John LaMothe, decided to initiate a nationwide protest against trading with the enemy. Within a few weeks there were picket lines, demonstrations, letter writing campaigns and boycotts against Firestone dealers. Officials of Firestone attempted to dissuade LaMothe and other YAF leaders but failed. They apparently decided that YAF could get no tougher and proceeded with construction plans.

Until, that is, YAF headquarters' announced that it was considering handing out 500,000 leaflets at the Indianapolis `500 Mile Race" on Memorial Day, informing the several hundred thousand spectators of Firestone's plans. YAF also stated that it might hire an airplane with a large banner to fly back and forth all day denouncing Firestone's plan to build a plant in Communist Rumania. The "500," of course) is one of the most completely reported events of the year-by press, television, and radio. Firestone uses the event to promote heavily its tires and other products. On April 20, Firestone abruptly cancelled the synthetic rubber plant project, and YAF's campaign was cited as the major reason for the cancellation in news stories and editorials from coast to coast.

10. In late 1965 and 1966, under the impetus of its new chairman, Tom Charles Huston, YAF sponsored a variety of projects backing our fighting men in Viet Nam and calling for a win policy in that Southeast Asian country.

In October, the organization sponsored a "Symposium for Freedom in Vietnam" in Washington, D.C. More than 1,500 students heard talks by Senator Thomas Dodd, Tran Van Chuong, former Vietnamese ambassador to the United States, and other experts. The symposium concluded with a march to the Vietnamese Embassy, where American and Vietnamese flags were exchanged.

YAF chapters throughout the nation collected soap, clothing and food for war refugees as college chapters sponsored "bleedins" (blood donations) and mail campaigns supporting U.S. soldiers. In November, YAF's national headquarters announced National Debate-Ins on the war in Viet Nam-an answer to the one-sided diatribes which could be found on most American campuses. YAF was proud to be the sponsor of a format which afforded both sides an opportunity to speak their minds. The debates took place on December 7 and 8, the 24th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. YAF also initiated the International Youth Crusade for Freedom in Vietnam, which is discussed in detail in Chapter Eight, "Rally Round the Flag?"

11. In 1967, under its new chairman, Alan MacKay, and its omnicompetent executive director, Dave Jones, YAF has been expanding its programs with an eye to providing its chapters in high schools, colleges and communities with the best conservative thinking. YAF is unquestionably an activist organization whose members' blood races when a campaign nears, but it has distributed many important theoretical works, including Reclaiming the American Dream by Richard Cornuelle, The Democrats' Dilemma by Philip Crane, The American Cause by Russell Kirk, The Law by Frederic Bastiat, Reflections on the Failure of Socialism by Max Eastman, and many others. It has begun a series of Issue Papers on such subjects as East-West trade, the draft, the minimum wage and social security. It sends out every year the testimony of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations regarding subversive trends and activities in the United States. It has put together several excellent manuals on such topics as press relations, chapter organization, and a speakers program. It has film strips available for showing. It has an extremely comprehensive kit on the Viet Nam war with enough material to keep a graduate of a speed-reading school busy for several hours.

In its latest brochure, YAF describes itself as "the nation's largest political student group dedicated to the principles of private enterprise, limited government and individual responsibility. It is a bi-partisan political action and educational organization composed of members in some 500 chapters across the country in the schools, on the campuses and in the communities. YAF is THE organization which speaks for the thousands of young people who have joined in an effort to preserve constitutional government."

And so it is. May God bless, protect and nourish it-even if the Objectivists object. About the only thing that YAF has to fear is success. It could settle for what it is now-the pre-eminent conservative youth group in America. Much quoted. Financially solvent. Included in every analysis of the current political scene. Respected for its careful blend of audacity and pragmatism. But Young Americans for Freedom should keep striving, keep experimenting, keep proselytizing among students of all philosophical persuasions within the movement, whether they be traditionalists, fusionists, libertarians, or even Objectivists. Young Americans for Freedom, barely seven years old, has made an extraordinary beginning against formidable odds, but it has only begun to realize its potential. It can be and should be the crest of that wave of conservatism which Barry Goldwater predicted would sweep America.

Now, what can we learn from the YAF story which you can apply in your life and community?

1. If you're going to start an organization, plan your initial meeting carefully. As you will recall, Caddy, Franke, Schuchman and the others began working on the September Sharon meeting in July. They sought a balance of abilities and interests among the participants. They assigned the writing of the initial draft of a statement of principles to an appropriate person, Stan Evans. They persuaded an outstanding conservative -Bill Buckley- to be their patron, Nothing was left to chance.

2. Schedule dramatic events now and again to call attention to your organization. The impact of such events lasts for months

and sometimes years, if they are well done. That first rally in Manhattan Center was truly audacious, but YAF brought it off because they obtained a crowd-pulling speaker -Barry Goldwater- and because they were not too proud to use the services of an experienced organizer, Marvin Liebman.

3. Start a publication. YAF could have survived without a monthly magazine, but it took a chance on The New Guard, which, although it has been a financial drain, has repaid the investment many times over in prestige and as a means of communication between members.

4. Stay abreast of today. YAF's most successful projects centered on what was happening that month or that year: the fight against Firestone, the debates and rallies about Viet Nam, political campaigns. Of course, YAF is an activist organization. If you are starting a study club, or discussion group, you can afford to delve into and dwell on the past. But if you're running an activist group, don't spend all your time planning an event to celebrate the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, or calling for the repeal of the income tax law, or exhorting all citizens to fly a flag on the Fourth of July. Please don't misunderstand me: do all of the above if they are appropriate to your community, but also plan projects which deal with the problem of law and order, the giveaway of the Panama Canal, the refusal of the local high schools to carry Human Events or National Review in their libraries, and the incumbent Congressman who is slightly to the left of Staughton Lynd.

5. Never be satisfied. Start working toward your next triumph immediately after you have pulled off your last one. Stay lean, hungry, and determined to make your club, organization or yourself the most powerful in your community

Marvin Liebman

Marvin Liebman.Marvin Liebman (born in New York City in 1923, died in Washington, DC in 1997), conservative activist and fundraiser, and gay rights advocate.

Marvin Liebman was one of the pioneers of direct-mail fundraising. His firm Marvin Liebman Associations, Inc. (1957-1968) provided organizational, fundraising and public relations expertise to the anti-communist and conservative movements in the U.S. and abroad. Its extensive list of clients included: the Committee of One Million, Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, the American Emergency Committee for Tibetan Refugees, the American-Asian Educational Exchange, the American African Affairs Association, and the American Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters. In addition, Liebman was an early supporter and co-founder of Young Americans for Freedom and the American Conservative Union.

From 1969 to 1975, Liebman was Managing Director of Sedgemoor Productions in London. During this period, he produced or co-produced nine West End productions, an equal number of touring or out-of-town productions, two television films, and three feature films.

In 1975, Liebman returned to New York City to organize Marvin Liebman Inc, a firm with the same mission as his earlier Marvin Liebman Associates. Among the notable clients were: the Friends of Free China, the Friends of Jim Buckley, the Committee of Single Taxpayers, the American-Chilean Council, the Ad Hoc Citizens Legal Defense Fund for the FBI, Firing Line, and Covenant House.

He enjoyed a long-time friendship with William F. Buckley, Jr. and his family. Liebman viewed Buckley as an inspiring mentor. Despite being born into the Jewish faith, Liebman had, under Buckley's guidance, converted to Roman Catholicism. Upon the occasion of his baptism, Buckley had served as Liebman's godfather, and Buckley's sister Priscilla served as his godmother.

With the Ronald Reagan presidential victory in 1980, Liebman went to Washington, DC. He was Consultant to the Office of Policy and Planning for Action from June through October 1981, Consultant to the Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Education from October 1981 to February 1982, and Director of the Office of Public Affairs and Director of Special Projects for the National Endowment of the Arts from February 1982 to July 1987. He later served as Director of Special Projects and Acting Director for the Office of Public Affairs at the National Endowment for the Arts.

In July 1990, he shed a lifetime of closeted living after writing a coming-out letter to William F. Buckley, Jr., who was then editor-in-chief of the National Review. "I am almost 67 years old," he told Buckley. "For more than half my lifetime I have been engaged in, and indeed helped to organize and maintain, the conservative and anti-communist cause...the Conservative Party of New York...the Goldwater and Reagan campaigns...All the time I labored in the conservative vineyard I was gay." Liebman's personal letter to Buckley was followed up by an interview printed in The Advocate where he expressed his disgust at the increasing influence of the Religious Right within the Republican Party as the Cold War came to an end. He believed that homophobia was becoming the new basis for organizing conservative groups in the U.S., now that anti-communist sentiments were becoming less relevant.

His autobiography, Coming Out Conservative, was published in 1992. In the book, he said that within the Republican Party he'd begun to "feel like a Jew in Germany in 1934 who had chosen to remain silent, hoping to be able to stay invisible as he watched the beginning of the Holocaust." Over the next five years he became an outspoken advocate of gay and lesbian rights in the U.S., writing numerous articles and traveling the country to speak at various meetings and rallies.

Although he initially labeled himself a moderate Republican and worked to support gay-friendly conservative groups, including Log Cabin Republicans, he eventually concluded that he could no longer self-identify as a fund raiser for or supporter of any conservative group because of the increasingly anti-gay rhetoric of the political right. Liebman also later renounced his ties to Catholicism. In the final years of his life, he chose to describe himself as an "independent".

He died of heart failure on March 31, 1997.

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