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978-1-58731-251-9
Cloth $28
Introduction by Richard Brookhiser, 400 pages, introduction, notes, bibliography, appendices, index 6" x 9"
Fighting the Good Fight
A History of the New York Conservative Party
Marlin, George J.
The story of New York's feisty Conservative Party is really the saga of America's tumultuous political maturity. Born in response to the rise of Nelson Rockefeller's liberal Republicanism, the New York's Conservative Party has grown to become the nation's most successful third party. It has also turned out to be its political conscience.
The Conservative Party's founders understood that their mission was primarily to keep the Republicans honest; to ensure that there was room in New York's GOP for conservatives and conservatism. They knew this meant that some Republican candidates who sought the Conservative endorsement might flourish and others who shunned it might founder, and this is exactly what happened. But throughout its forty-year history, the Party has stuck to its principles as much as it has played politics.
In vivid and often amusing detail, Mr. Marlin gives us an insider's view of:
The derailing of Rockefeller's presidential freight train.
William F. Buckley Jr.'s race for mayor of New York City in 1965.
The Conservative Party's battles with John Lindsay in the late Sixties.
The senatorial victory of Conservative James Buckley in 1970.
The Conservative response to New York City's fiscal crisis.
The Party's love-hate relationship with Rudy Giuliani.
Fighting the Good Fight confirms Ronald Reagan's observation that "The Conservative Party has established itself as a preeminent force in New York politics and an important part of our political history."
Marlin is chairman and COO of The Philadelphia Trust Company, and has served two terms as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, president of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Raiway, and President of the Newark Legal Center. In 1993, he ran for mayor of New York on the Conservative Party ticket, and in 1994 served on governor-elect Pataki’s transition team. He is the author or editor of The Politician’s Guide to Assisted Suicide, Cloning, and Other Current Controversies, The Bond Buyer’s Guide to Municipal Bonds, The Quotable G.K. Chesterton, More Quotable Chesterton, The Quotable Fulton Sheen, The Quotable Paul Johnson, The Quotable Ronald Knox, and as general editor of the 46-volume Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. He has appeared in such periodicals as National Review and The American Enterprise, and in most of New York City's newspapers.