Russell Kirk’s political theories proved essential to the modern conservative movement in America. It was his powerful imagination, however, which was behind the famed man of books and letters. “Mine was not an Enlightened mind,” he explained. “It was a Gothic mind.” Kirk’s mind was recently unveiled once more as the Heritage Foundation celebrated the newly-published collection of his most enduring essays. Dr. George H. Nash was present to reflect upon the exceptional person of Russell Kirk, and his works that engraved his legacy as an essential pioneer of the American conservative movement.
Kirk cultivated his thirst for knowledge at an early age, following his father’s Romantic literary mindset and reading many classic works, especially those of Hugo and Dickens. At his alma mater, Michigan State University, he was appalled at the “modern” liberal education he received and was firmly opposed to conforming to such beliefs.
In the years to follow, Kirk resided in the American south, where he found his acquaintance with the simple agrarian society. He always would refer to himself as a “northern agrarian.” While working for the industrial Ford Motor Company, he furthered his ire against the complexities of big business, big government, and the bureaucracy.
After World War II, Kirk attended St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. In those years of intense study and contemplation, he forged a new path in his life, earning a Doctorate in Letters degree, and then remaining in Great Britain shortly afterward. There, Nash remarked, he was intimately connected with the lore and heritage of his ancestral homeland, Scotland, and also became deeply aware of the spiritual order in nature while exploring the rugged terrain of the island. Kirk ultimately commenced his lifelong journey for self-fulfillment during those years, having implanted in himself a deep yearning for truth and the supernatural, through study and contemplation.
Returning home, he practiced his new “classical philosophy of education,” promoting study and thought of the classics, while excoriating the decadence of the modern universities. Kirk maintained his deep respect for the mysterious, the venerable, and the virtuous with his imagination, abhorring the calculations and sophistry of the old “Enlightenment” principles. In his studies, he also had discovered the writings of Scottish philosopher Edmund Burke, unearthing a “Burkean Traditionalism” upon which Kirk based his conservative school of thought. Kirk consistently re-affirmed Burke’s intellectual influence on the minds of early American thinkers as he explored the deep roots of American thought. In 1953, he published The Conservative Mind, a defining work which proved the conservative movement’s long-standing intellectual tradition.
Kirk soon began writing a regular column for the magazine National Review, though refusing to be identified in the magazine as an editor. His intellect now entered the political realm, as he reminded readers that problems in politics are primarily rooted in deeper moral and social issues. As a moralist and a man of letters, Kirk grounded conservativism in religion. Dr. Nash, Senior Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, affirmed that Russell Kirk constantly emphasized the “truths we keep coming back and back to,” quoting the poet Robert Frost.
Kirk’s imagination also played a fundamental role in his leadership of the conservative movement. Though lamenting the corruption of the age, he never withdrew into his own ideological world, preferring to fight the opposition with the pen. Kirk did usually refrain from the divisive infighting of the various conservative parties, opting to stay away from political agendas. In the face of modern progressive science, he consistently quoted poetry and wrote multiple works of fiction, preferring to keep a healthy imagination rather than conform mindlessly to the progressive belief system of the day.
In 1964, Kirk’s spiritual journey culminated in his conversion to Roman Catholicism. His Christian beliefs were especially influential in his refusal to support various libertarian agendas of the time. His spiritual background contradicted the liberalism of little to no legal restraint on a person’s beliefs and actions. Kirk also maintained that such unrestrained capitalism and individualism were in question with Burke’s writings.
Instead of advocating unrestrained freedom to choose, Kirk relied upon his cultivated intellect to instruct his reading audience about the right choices to make.
Russell Kirk founded his own legacy upon his religious beliefs and the forging of his own intellectual path. He invested often in his imagination, but never rooted his movement in any distinct ideology. Kirk instead rooted conservatism not only in early American thought but within the vast Western heritage.
Matt Hadro is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
