November 17, 2004

Leo Strauss Mausoleum in Washington Back on Track

Bush's Re-election and Condoleezza's Ascendancy Aid Straussians

A mausoleum on the National Mall in Washington for the body of Leo Strauss, the father of neoconservatism, is back on track.

Just a few months ago, neoconservatives found themselves in retreat on many fronts and had grown fearful they might never realize their dream of a Strauss mausoleum near the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.

But now with President Bush's re-election and the departure of moderates like Secretary of State Colin Powell and the ascendancy of neoconservative hardliners like Condoleezza Rice, mausoleum supporters are flexing their muscles.

"We're going to get this done," said Joseph Weingarten, chairman of the Mausoleum Task Force at the National Association of Neoconservative Beltway Insiders. "The president favors this. Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz are adamant supporters. You just watch. There will be a Strauss mausoleum on the Mall."

Strauss' highly embalmed and well preserved corpse was discovered earlier this year in a dusty storeroom at the University of Chicago where Strauss was a professor of philosophy. He died in 1973. University officials were startled when the body was discovered in the basement storeroom.

But the discovery sent a shock wave of delight through Washington neocons. They took charge of the body and now keep it in a secret location while they seek a permanent place of public repose.

Strauss is widely regarded as the progenitor of neoconservatism, which has been the intellectual and ideological underpinning of the American presidency for much of the last quarter century and now has at least four more years in the limelight. Strauss taught that ancient texts -- and modern thought, too -- exist on two levels. There is the ostensible meaning for the masses and the secret meaning that Strauss disciples discover and use as they govern or otherwise influence the course of society.

When neoconservatives first began talking about a Strauss mausoleum, they envisioned an Iraq War Memorial that would feature Strauss, since his neoconservative disciples were the force behind the war and the search for weapons of mass destruction. But recently there has been talk among neocons about a split. One group favors a mausoleum and another favors an Iraq war memorial. A joint memorial is no longer discussed.

With Rice's promotion to secretary of state, current speculation is that the mausoleum will win out because she will be able to convince President Bush of its higher priority. Those familiar with Rice's thinking on the matter says she sees the Iraq war as a mere signpost on a much longer neoconservative road to American imperialism. She believes that a memorial to Strauss, particularly since there is a body to showcase, should have a much higher priority.

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