CONSERVATISM in America has generally 'been a losing proposition. Although critics of left and right have questioned various aspects of Louis Hartz's analysis in The Liberal Tradition in America, his basic point—the dominance of liberalism in the national experience—remains one of the commonplaces of American political thought. The extent of liberal domination varies according to realm: the Right has by no means gone without victories in electoral or legislative politics, but in the world of ideas, American conservatives have, in this century at least, constituted an often feeble and always beleaguered minority. Through most of recent history, conservative ideas have simply not been taken seriously; the significant division in the American intellectual community has occurred not between liberals and conservatives but between liberals and radicals. So inappropriate and foreign an influence has conservatism seemed in liberal America that use of the term has been as often pejorative as descriptive. Ever since John Stuart Mill branded the Tories as the stupid party, the suspicion has persisted that conservatives in the generality are not altogether bright, and to such suggestions of obtuseness hints of emotional rigidity and meanness of spirit have frequently been added as well. In general, then, Clinton Rossiter's description of American conservatism as the "thankless persuasion" has seemed quite apposite,