Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., RIP

So falls another totem of wit and elegance. Although I haven't read his FDR tome, on the evidence of The Age of Jackson and his cheerful role as Courtier of Camelot I don't care for Schlesinger's kind of power worship. The wistfulness pervading the obits suggests that his sycophancy is, like honor and loyalty, a virtue this generation of leaders lacks:

How to convey the way public intellectuals such as Galbraith and Schlesinger loomed over American politics and ideas for the quarter-century following World War II?

The easiest way would be to point to their latter-day equivalents. But there simply is no one these days who does what they did. They were dominant figures in their intellectual disciplines, but their books were bestsellers. They emblazoned the covers of Time magazine (twice for Galbraith, once for Schlesinger). They steered the Democrats and rallied the fight against the Republicans, and when their side won, they occupied coveted positions in the government. They moved happily among celebrities such as Lauren Bacall and Angie Dickinson; they sat for Playboy interviews. They were especially close to the family -- the Kennedys -- that epitomized the merger of celebrity and politics. And, of course, they were on Richard Nixon's enemies list.

According to reporter John F. Harris, Schlesinger was important because he was (a) a star; and (b) a party hack; (c) a martyr. Note the defensiveness of his lede: "There was a time -- it's been decades now -- when politicians or pundits would call people `liberal intellectuals' and not mean it as an insult."