Ralph de Toledano (August 17, 1916 – February 3, 2007) was an American writer in the conservative movement in the United States throughout the second half of the 20th century. A friend of Richard Nixon, he was a journalist and editor of Newsweek and the National Review, and the author of 26 books, including two novels and a book of poetry. Besides his political contributions, he also wrote about music, particularly jazz.

Background

Toledano was born in Tangier, Morocco, the son of Simy (Nahon), a former news correspondent, and Haim Toledano, a businessman and journalist. His parents were both Sephardic Jews and American citizens. Toledano was brought to New York at the age of four or five. A proficient violinist from childhood, Toledano attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and the Juilliard School. Later, at Columbia University, Toledano studied literature and philosophy; he also became President of the Philolexian Society, member of the Boar's Head Society, and a contributor to Jester of Columbia. In addition, he joined the Socialist Party of America, becoming youth leader of the avowedly anticommunist "Old Guard" faction led by Louis Waldman. The Old Guard left the Socialist Party in 1936. He graduated from Columbia University in 1938.

Career

The New Leader

In 1940, Toledano became editor of the Socialist Party of America's magazine, The New Leader, succeeding James Oneal. During World War II, Toledano was drafted and became an anti-aircraft gunner before being transferred to the Office of Strategic Services and trained for covert work in Italy. However, he was ultimately not sent to Italy, as the OSS felt he was "too anti-Communist to work with Italian leftists." After the war, he became a publicist for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).

Plain Talk

In 1946, Toledano helped found Plain Talk with fellow journalist Isaac Don Levine and China Lobby funder Alfred Kohlberg. By 1946, the magazine focused on exposing Soviet "spy rings," "secret armies," and other communist subversion in the USA. Toledano served as managing editor or assistant editor. (In 1950, the US Senate reported that Emmanuel S. Larsen, investigated as part of the Amerasia spy case, had stated that Kohlberg, Levine, and Toledano had changed an article he had written for Plain Talk, specifically that "Levine completely rewrote the article," and later had asked Larsen to "go easy on the Plain Talk article" when testifying. )

Newsweek

Pursuing a career in journalism, after several journalistic jobs Toledano joined Newsweek in 1948. Toledano covered the 1950 perjury trial of Alger Hiss (Hiss being accused of being a Soviet spy), and in what the New York Times later described as "his political turning point," Toledano sided against Hiss and for accuser, Whittaker Chambers. Toledano cowrote an "intensely partisan" book about the trial, Seeds of Treason, in 1950 and became a Republican. Toledano met Nixon during the case, and during Toledano's coverage of Nixon's 1950 Senate campaign, Nixon would have him address crowds, introducing him as the author of Seeds of Treason. Around the same time (October 1950–April 1951) Toledano cohosted the television series Our Secret Weapon: The Truth.

National Review and Human Events

Toledano was among the founders of National Review in 1955, and in 1960 began a column for the King Features Syndicate. During the 1960s, Toledano became a major writer for Human Events and contributed several page-one stories. In the 1980s, Toledano resumed regular contributions to National Review as a music reviewer.

Nixon

Toledano met Nixon during the case, and during Toledano's coverage of Nixon's 1950 Senate campaign, Nixon would have him address crowds, introducing him as the author of Seeds of Treason. Toledano's differences with his conservative National Review colleagues became very pronounced before long, first in 1960 when Toledano dissented from the other National Review editors when they endorsed Barry Goldwater, while Toledano supported Nixon. By 1963, however, Toledano had switched to Goldwater. Years later when Nixon became president, Toledano was particularly close to the administration, in a rivalry with Daniel Patrick Moynihan over the privilege of being named guru of Nixon's domestic policies, which conservatives both supporting and opposing them as a kind of Tory socialism. Moynihan's victory in the struggle was likely a key moment in the rise of neoconservatism.

Legal issues

A 1975 lawsuit by Ralph Nader against Toledano dragged through the courts for years, costing Toledano his life savings. The lawsuit concerned an alleged suggestion by Toledano, which Nader rejected, that Nader had "falsified and distorted" evidence about the Chevrolet Corvair's handling. It was eventually settled out of court. In 2006, Toledano sued in connection with the rights to Mark Felt's memoir, The FBI Pyramid, which he had cowritten in 1979 without knowing that Felt was "Deep Throat".

Personal life and death

Toledano married Nora Romaine, with whom he had two sons, James and Paul. His second wife, Eunice Godbold, died in 1999 Toledano held forth until the end of his life at the National Press Club. There, in 2005, he succeeded John Cosgrove as National Press Club American Legion Post No. 20 commander. Toledano and first wife Nora were long-time friends of Guenther Reinhardt, another anti-communist journalist and frequenter of the National Press Club. Toward the end of his life, he labeled himself a libertarian, according to his son Paul. He died in Bethesda, Maryland, at 90. Obituaries included:

Writings

In 1956, literary critic Irving Howe decried Toledano's biography Nixon for its "Cohn-&-Schine prose." In 2006, William F. Buckley, Jr. called Toledano's Cry Havoc "must reading... Toledano's best." Professor Paul Gottfried (a fairly frequent contributor, like Toledano, to The American Conservative) wrote, "Toledano uncovers continuities between the Frankfurt School's conspiracy and the rampant cultural terrorism in America." According to Martin Jay in Cry Havoc "the crackpot claim is actually advanced that the Frankfurt School was a Commie front set up by Willi Muenzenberger." Never straying far from his first passion of music, Toledano distinguished himself as an avid scholar of jazz. During the latter half of his long career at National Review, he was relegated to writing a music review column, on account of his growing variance with the direction of American conservatism. He also wrote about music a good deal (by no means only jazz) for The American Conservative in his last years. Non-Fiction Books: Fiction Books: Poetry: Music (Jazz): Plain Talk (1946–1948): Commonweal (1947–1948): The Saturday Review (1948): American Mercury (1949–1955): American Scholar (1950): Colliers Weekly (1951): House Un-American Activities Committee (1956): National Review (1956–1991): Human Events (1948–1969): Modern Age (1965–1981): Policy Review (1980–1992): Chronicles (1992–2001): Commentary (1996): American Conservative (2004–06):