I’m quite sure that we all know Carroll Quigley by now.
We all know that he was the author of Tragedy and Hope and The Anglo-American Establishment. We know that he taught at Georgetown University where he mentored Bill Clinton, and that he “did a great deal of study in political science at Harvard.” We know that he “persisted in the private study of modern psychological theory for more than thirty years”; and that he was “a member of the American Anthropological Association, the American Economic Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the American Historical Association for many years.” [T&H, p. x]
Indeed, we all know this by now.
But who, save for a very small number, knows Carroll Quigley, or what his work represents? Unfortunately, very few people, I’m sure. But you probably knew that, too.
Yet even for those slender few of us who know his words and stab at his sentiments, there is but more to learn. For while a man might reveal his soul in his writing, he is sure to show his animal in his speech.
So then let us turn to the man himself, nearly fifty years ago, when he spoke on tape to a reporter from a famous magazine. The tape is scratchy and hard to hear, though valuable nonetheless. And if it grows daunting on your ear, well, never fear, for a summary is here, modern, cogent, and clear.
The Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKClR0qCv4I
The Summary (faithfully done by Kevin Cole): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLd0ypQfsGM
I hope you all find some value in this little capsule being posted here. If you’ve heard these before, listen again. Be humble in the receding face of the past. Learn its lessons before they go, and be off!
This is the first in a series of probably three very important historical interviews I’ll be posting on this site. While they may not be exactly timely, they do outline the course – or as Bacon might put it, “Form” – of modern events. If you appreciate this post be silent, for “attaboys” don’t pay no bills; and if you’ve got a problem, then cast me off with the rest of the scallywags, for even rejects find work needing done.
