Page 104 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

93
V. MINNESOTA
NEAR
NATIONAL REVIEW was founded in 1955 by William F. Buckley, Jr., as the
voice of conservatism. By 1960 it had only 32,000 readers and a deficit of
$860,000, but by 1970 circulation was 111,000 and by 1997, 218,000. On the
35th anniversary, columnist George Will said of the National Review: "It is
simply the case that the National Review is the most consequential journal of
opinion ever.... For two generations it has been the beating heart of the move-
ment that has transformed America." On the 40th anniversary, editor John
O'Sullivan, called by Will Margaret Thatcher's favorite domestic policy adviser,
said the magazine could boast "a world-historical achievement for a journal of
opinion: we made a modest profit."
In a 1955 publisher's statement, Buckley, now the editor at large and author
of spy novels, wrote that the magazine "stands athwart history yelling stop at
a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those
who so urge it." Over the years, the masthead has listed such conservatives as
James Burnham, Russell Kirk, James Jackson Kilpatrick, John Chamberlain,
Joan Didion, and Henry Haslitt.
SOURCE: George Will, Henry Kissinger, Pat Sajak, John O'Sullivan, Jim Talent, and
Kate O'Beirne, "National Review Hits 40," National Review, December 1995.
Don Ranly

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION (NRA) is an organization that seeks to
protect private citizens' right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the
Constitution. When it was created in 1871, it promoted marksmanship, but it
became politically motivated when Washington began to clamp down on gun
ownership as a possible method for deterring crime. Its influence with the U.S.
Congress is indicated by the reluctance of Congress to pass gun control legis-
lation that national polls indicate is favored by a vast majority of the American
public. The NRA is a major contributor to congressional campaigns.

SOURCE: Kathleen Thompson Hill and Gerald N. Hill, The Real Life Dictionary of
American Politics, 1994.
Guido H. Stempel III

NEAR V. MINNESOTA was the first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court
applied and upheld freedom of the press on the state level. In 1927, a newspaper
called the Saturday Press was published by Jay M. Near and Howard Guilford.
It printed scandalous stories about public figures and bigotry against minority
and religious groups. Under Minnesota's Public Nuisance Abatement Law, a
gag order was placed on the newspaper until it toned down its coverage. Near
and Guilford filed a lawsuit (with prompting from the American Civil Liberties
Union) on the grounds that the paper had a right to print as it wished under the
First Amendment. The case eventually was decided in the Court, which ruled
on the press' behalf, 5-4. The Supreme Court majority believed that under the
First Amendment there could be no prior restraint of the press. The minority