~l~---------) -January-February 1977 - Vo/.VI, No.1 $1.50 political, and cultural interests. The Rockefellers, Morgans, Harrimans, and Dillons are some examples POWER ELITES I of Yankee' families. The Yankee and Cowboy War: jTHE The Cowboys represent a second group within the national political-economic elite, and this group has Conspiracies from Dallas to Watergate its geographical foundations in the "Southern Rim" extending from Miami through New Orleans, Dallas, By Carl Oglesby Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Deriving their economic strength from such diverse "growth" sectors as petroleum, agribusiness, high­ Power Shift: The Rise of the Southern Rim technology research and development, and defense contracting, the Cowboys have emerged as a major and Its Challenge to the Eastern Establishment new power center contending for control of the national apparatus. The Cowboy members of the By Kirkpatrick Sale political-economic elite share a common cultural heritage that is largely derived from the frontier heri­ tage of the West and that sharply distinguishes them Reviewed by Alan Fairgate Power Shift Random which appeared in the September I I 1974Libertarian from their Yankee associates. Unlike the Yankees, the House, 1975/ $12.95 / Yankee and Cowboy War / Forum. Cowboys perceive the Pacific Basin as the focus for 1976 / $4, ph; $12, he Sheed and Ward, The Yankee-Cowboy model identifies within the their essential' interests and tend to be far more national political-economic elite two .groups, or doctrinairely anti-Communist. "poles," whose members hold fundamentally differ­ ---v-- To'drastically sirttplify a highly detailed analysis, ent world-views." The Yankees are those individuals For many years now,. the "Yankee-Cowboy" model Oglesby argues that the Kennedy assassination in concentrated in the old, established families of the of conflict·· within tbenational political-econQ1'l1ic 1963 represented a' virtual coup d'etat within the elite has beenwidety discussed within American political-econornic elite, transferring leadership from radical circles. Originally developed in the late 1960s the Yankee elements to the Cowboy elements repre­ by Carl Oglesby, a fornier president of Students for sented by Johnson and Nixon. However, following a Democratic Society, the model provided an ex­ growing disillusionment within the Yankee camp over tremely useful theoretical framework for analyzing the direCtion of the Vietnam War,'the Yankee ele­ the broader meaning of such prominent and trau­ ments attempted to reassert their control within the matic political events as the abortive Bay of Pigs national political-economic elite through a carefully invasion, the John F. Kennedy assassination, Lyndon orchestrated campaign to remove Nixon without Johnson's sudden and unexpected resignation and revealing the full extent ofcovert activites by govern­ the Watergate crisis that precipitated· the downfall of ment agencies-in effect, a second coup d'etat. Richard Nixon. Oglesby argued forcefully that the In .the past year, two books have been published significance of these events could not be grasped by that explore various aspects of the Yankee-Cowboy considering them in isolation. Instead, he contended model in considerably greater detail than is possible that they were manifestations of a far more funda­ here: Carl Oglesby's The Yankee and Cowboy War mental tension that, in one form or another, has di­ and Kirkpatrick Sale's Power Shift. The publication vided the political-economic elite governing America of these two books in such close succession ensures since the earliest days of our Republic, a tension that, that the Yankee-Cowboy model will re~eive wide­ in recent years, has contributed to growing political spread public attention and should provoke a re­ instability at the national level. examination of many of the most prominent events Oglesby's early, fragmentary fonnulations of the of the past 15 years from this new perspective. For Yankee-Cowboy model were presented in a series of example, while Woodward and Bernstein provided us articles appearing in such periodicals as the Guardian, with extensive coverage of the events surrounding Ramparts, and the Boston Phoenix. As a result, they Northeast whose power is derived from their control the Watergate crisis, in a very real sense they merely did not receive wide attention among the general of Wall Street financial finns and vast, multinational told us what happened; Oglesby has gone beyond this public, but they did capture the imagination of many corporations. These are the people who direct the and very persuasively argued why it happened. Sirtt­ radicals and libertarians who preceived the analytical affairs of the network of interlocking institutions ilarly, many authors have compiled evidence challeng­ insights of the model. Murray Rothbard was one of that comprise the "Eastern Establishment." Strongly ing the assumption that Lee Harvey Oswald was the the first libertarians to recognize the importance of Anglophile, the Yankees perceive the North Atlantic Oblesby's model in his "Only One Heartbeat Away," industrial community as the focus of their economic, (Continued on page 4) • The Yankee and Cowboy War by Carl • "Thomas Paine: A Soldier for AIl Sea­ sons" by Carl Shapiro .............. 9 Oglesby I Power Shift by Kirkpatrick Departments Sale, reviewed by Alan Fairgate 1 • The Last Days ofthe Qub by Chris Welles, • The Power of Congress (As Congress Sees reviewed by Alan Fairgate ........... 10 It) by Robert LeFevre (edited by R. S. • The Making of the Modern Family by Radford), reviewed by Steve Eddy 3 • An Afterword from Readers, Authors, In Edward Shorter, reviewed by Barbara Reviewers 20 .My Years with Ludwig von Mises by Luce-Turner 10 •A Word to Our Readers 2 Margit von Mises, reviewed by Murray N. • "The Literature of Freethought" by Libertarian Review Rothbard...•..................4 George H. Smith 12 • Briefly in Review ............... 17 • Classified Advertisements 22 .A Civil Tongue by Edwin Newman • "Jazz: The Golden Age" (Part VI: Exit reviewed by Stephen J. Chapman : .5 Artie Shaw, and the Golden Age) by Neil • Contributors in This Issue 2 This Month • "Prohibiting Rattlesnakes and Strychnine" McCaffrey .•.................. 16 • The Decline ...................6 by Gary A. Hughes ................6 • The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail, • Essay Review ~ ................ 12 .Identity and Intimacy by William Kil­ reviewed by Lynn Holdom 16 • Libertarian Cross-Currents 20 patrick, reviewed by Harries-Clichy Peter- .Sentience by Wallace I. Matson, reviewed • Music in Review 16 son, Jr 7 by Tibor Machan .....•.......... 18 • Personalities. ..................9 .Cut Local Taxes by Robert Poole, Jr., .Healer by F. Paul Wilson, reviewed d by • Washington Watch 14 reviewed by Tom G. Palmer .......•...8 Richard E. Geis .. .....•......... 19 oNew' cassette selections' from 'Audio­ BohBrauer, Scootch Pankonin, arid, secutiveweeks, at the Fo:rum:s Sunset from the Register "with his permISSIOn. Forum include recordings of most events Alan Bock, Lobbying Panel; Tape 744 ,Blvd. office. ,Tuition for "the course is Alan Fairgate is a graduate studentill at the 1976 Libertarian Party convention. (32 min), $9.95. $60, payable in three installments. For business administration and' law a( a The, following cassettes may .be ,ordered Walter Block, Defending the Undefen- more information, call George Smith or leading American university. Richard E. ;Audi()~Forum,90L directly from N. dable, Tape 745 (51 min), $9:95. Wendy Grosscupat213467-1 05 1.. Geis ,is ,editor/publisher, •. of th~ award-. Washington, St., Alexandria,', V A 223 14. winning Science Fiction Review (PO Murray Rothbard,Walter Grinder, arid Order'p'repaid,or charge to your 'Ameri­ Box 11408, Portland, OR 97221; one John Egger, Austrian Economics Panel, can Express, BankAmericard, or Master eJames Dale DaVidson, executive direc­ year, 4 issues, $4.50). Lynne Hoidorn has Tape 746 (68 min), $10.50. Charge account ,by providing your ac­ tor of the National Taxpayers Union and been a' history teacher and a computer count. number, card expiration date; Peter Breggin, The Need to Integrate an LR contributor, has been voted Play- ' programmer. 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Barbara Luce-Turner is complet­ (25 min), $8.95. Mountain View, CA 94041; phone: ing her studies at Southern Illinois Uni­ 415-965-1776) has an interesting catalog versity. Tibor R. Machan teaches philo­ Ralph Raico, A History of the Modern eRalph Myles Publisher, Inc. (PO Box available in return for your address and a sophy at SUNY, Fredonia, New York, Libertarian Movement, Tape 734 (42 1533, Colorado Springs, CO 8090l), $.13 cent stamp ($.24 for first class). and is an LR associate editor. HisJatest min), $9.95. specializes, in keeping available classic To quote from the front cover of the book is Introduction to Philosophical Morton Halperin, The CIA -FBI Threat works of revisionist history, anarcho­ catalog, "You will probably never see Inquiries (Allyn and Bacon). Neil to Privacy, Tape 736 (53 min), $9.95. libertarian political philosophy, and ego­ another catalog like this one. In it, you McCaffrey, jazz buff extraordinaire, is ist philosophy.