ABSTRACT
Encounter was accused of being a "Cold War" magazine, which in a sense was true enough. It was published by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, which was later revealed to be financed by the CIA. Even in Britain and the United States, majority opinion in the intellectual elite was, when not fellow-traveling or "neutralist," insistent on distancing itself from America's Cold War policies as overly "militaristic." In Germany, the dominant posture of intellectuals was "neutralist"—i.e., asserting a "moral equivalence" between the United States and the USSR. Even in Britain and the United States, majority opinion in the intellectual elite was, when not fellow-traveling or "neutralist," insistent on distancing itself from America's Cold War policies as overly "militaristic." This intellectual Weltanschauung derived from the fact that most intellectuals, everywhere, were generally on the Left of the political spectrum. Irving Kristol is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and is the founding publisher of The National Interest.
