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PARTISAN REVIEW
the mid-I990S. In a recent issue of the
Times Literary Supplement,
two
books under review are by former staffers. The institute attracted many
distinguished scholars to its conferences . I remember a conference on
Russian nationalism attended by Adam Ulam, Peter Reddaway, Robert
Conquest, and John Dunlop. Leo Labedz, the tough-minded editor of
the journal
Survey,
was also there, as well as the French scholars Helene
Carrere d'Encausse and Alain Besancon. At another conference Murray
Feshbach, the leading Western scholar on the Soviet environment,
talked about the dismal state of Soviet health care.
In short,
RFE/RL
was a lively place because
RFE/RL
staffers were
novelists, poets, journalists, academics, and former military officers.
Many had life stories that would make a riveting memoir or movie. Of
course, all was not sweetness and light in Munich, which brimmed over
with backbiting and slander because there were so many factions. There
were quarrels between emigres from different countries, and there were
quarrels among emigres from the same country who had arrived in the
West at different times. The older generation generally had never lived
under a communist regime, whereas the younger had-and many had
been Party members. Some of the nastiness was fomented by spies who
hoped to create a scandal so that Congress would close the Radios. I
used to have lunch occasionally with a very charming, cultured
employee who turned out to be a spy for an East European country.
It
is hard to overstate the intellectual brio of
RFE/RL,
which was a
great think tank. But I was not at the Radios to learn about Eastern
Europe or to enjoy good conversation; I was there to do a job.
What does a Special Assistant do? Though 1 was Special Assistant to
Jim Buckley, lowed my job to two other Reagan Administration
appointees: Frank Shakespeare and Ben Wattenberg. Shakespeare, who
headed the United States Information Agency during President Nixon's
first term, had recently been made Chairman of the Board for Interna–
tional Broadcasting, which was the federal agency responsible for over–
seeing
RFE/RL.
Ben Wattenberg-author, television journalist, and
columnist-was appointed Vice-Chairman. Wattenberg, whom I met
when I was an American Enterprise Institute fellow, persuaded Shake–
speare to create a job for me because he thought 1 could help Buckley
carry out his policies.
It
was an odd situation, and my job was a work-in-progress. 1
reported to Buckley, but Shakespeare was also my boss insofar as he
occasionally would ask me to do things for the Board (I also attended
Board meetings). Wattenberg was only half a boss, because all he
wanted me to do was keep him informed; he would call me to ask what
