|
One a mogul, always a contrarian
Adam Daifallah
National Post
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The National Post is looking for Canada's most important
"public intellectual" -- which we define as a thinker
who has shown distinction in his or her own field and can
communicate ideas and influence debate outside of it. In today's
instalment, Adam Daifallah profiles Conrad Black, an author,
businessman and founder of the National Post. All profiles
to date, as well as contest rules, appear at www.nationalpost.com/beautifulminds.
- - -
Many people meet the National Post's criteria for a public
intellectual -- "someone who has shown distinction in
his or her own field, and can communicate ideas and influence
debate outside of it." But how many can claim to have
written two major works of biography that changed the accepted
wisdom about their subjects, while building one of the world's
greatest modern newspaper empires? And how many can casually
quote the likes of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin? Or show up
to a costume party dressed as Cardinal Richelieu?
None can, except for Conrad Black.
Lord Black was a great newspaper proprietor. In an era where
"dumbing down" content and catering to the lowest
common denominator too often rules the day, he kept his papers
to the highest standard of quality. Even some of his critics
-- including not a few left-wing journalists who happily accepted
a paycheque from him over the years -- now privately say they
miss him.
Yet I suspect Lord Black's intellectual pursuits are what
give him the greatest satisfaction and sense of pride. His
colourful personality, his lofty prose and his fondness for
taking on controversial topics have made him as well known
among book reviewers as among social columnists and business
editors.
Lord Black enjoys being a contrarian. One of the most memorable
episodes came in 1969 when, as the newly-minted 25-year-old
proprietor of the Sherbrooke Record, he used the Quebec daily's
comment page to pen a lengthy editorial praising U.S. president
Lyndon Johnson. As the anti-war movement raged and LBJ's popularity
nosedived, Lord Black defended the president's record and
skewered his critics, labelling novelist Norman Mailer a "bedraggled
warhorse of American blowhardism." It was the first of
many articles written in that trademark style.
In 1976, Lord Black released a biography of Maurice Duplessis
-- a repackaged version of his McGill master's thesis. Until
then, most if not all of the literature on the long-time Quebec
premier had been unflattering. Historians depicted Duplessis
as a tyrant and troglodyte. They labelled Duplessis's time
in office, which preceded the Quiet Revolution, as la grande
noirceur ("the great darkness"). Black took on the
Quebec intelligentia's groupthink head on, showing that Duplessis
had in fact been a modernizer, implementing what was at the
time Canada's most liberal minimum wage, disability pension
and daycare legislation.
In 2003 came Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.
The 1,300-page tome was met with near-universal critical acclaim.
Given the smugness of the professoriate, it is rare for a
scholarly book written by a non-academic to receive such praise.
Like his book on Duplessis, Champion of Freedom cast its subject
in a totally new light. Rather than being a tax-and-spend
socialist who sold out Eastern Europe to Stalin, Black's FDR
is portrayed as a sensible centrist who saved capitalism and
secured the best deal possible at the Tehran and Yalta conferences.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I
played a small research role in the FDR project. But by the
time I got involved, the manuscript was already complete.
(It was then tens of thousands of words longer than what was
published.) When I first saw the draft, it was obvious that
this was the product of a lifetime's worth of reading and
research about a man Black clearly admired. Whatever Black's
other troubles, he must be gratified that his work is now
regarded as one of the most important books on FDR ever written.
When the lawyers have all had their say, Conrad Black will
still be remembered as one of this country's most fertile
minds. He not only helped facilitate more rigorous and healthy
intellectual debate, he continues to make great contributions
to it himself.
Adam Daifallah, a former member of the National Post
editorial board, is co-author of the upcoming book Rescuing
Canada's Right. www.rescuingcanadasright.com.
|
