40 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American internet media entrepreneur — founder of Breitbart News and The Huffington Post's initial helper — who pioneered the aggregation-plus-outrage model of political internet media before his death at 43.
American healthcare policy analyst — founder of FREOPP (Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity) — former healthcare advisor to Romney, Perry, and Rubio campaigns — the leading conservative healthcare reform analyst.
Former Republican Senator from Nebraska (2015–2023) — former President of Midland University — author of The Vanishing American Adult and Them — who resigned from the Senate to become President of the University of Florida.
American conservative commentator — founder of The Daily Wire — Harvard Law graduate — fastest-talking commentator in conservative media — whose debate style ('Facts don't care about your feelings') made him the most-followed conservative podcaster of the 2010s.
30th President of the United States (1923–1929) — who cut taxes, reduced the national debt, and presided over the prosperity of the 1920s — known for extreme taciturnity ('Silent Cal') — whose hands-off governance is rehabilitated by conservatives as a model of constitutional restraint.
Roman statesman and writer — Marcus Porcius Cato the Censor — who wrote De Agricultura (On Farming, the oldest surviving Latin prose) and was famous for his austere conservatism and his repeated insistence that Carthage must be destroyed (Carthago delenda est).
British journalist and author — former editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator — author of the three-volume authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher — life peer (Baron Moore of Etchingham) — the leading journalistic voice of British Thatcherite conservatism.
American satirical novelist — son of William F. Buckley Jr. — author of Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and The Judge Hunter — former chief speechwriter for George H.W. Bush — one of the wittiest writers in American political life.
American scholar at Hoover Institution — former President of Pepperdine University — who writes on federalism, education, and conservative governance.
American playwright and screenwriter — author of Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow — screenwriter for The Verdict, The Untouchables, Wag the Dog — who publicly converted from liberal to conservative and wrote The Secret Knowledge explaining his political evolution.
American radio host, author, and co-founder of PragerU — who has produced more than 400 short conservative educational videos reaching hundreds of millions of views — a prominent Orthodox-influenced Jewish conservative voice.
British political commentator and associate editor of The Spectator — author of The Strange Death of Europe, The Madness of Crowds, and The War on the West — the most widely read conservative critic of mass immigration to Europe and identity politics.
Irish-British statesman and philosopher — Whig MP — author of Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) — who created modern conservatism by arguing for the value of inherited institutions, tradition, and gradual reform over abstract reason.
American lawyer and politician — US Attorney General under Reagan (1985–88) — former Reagan White House counselor — who championed originalism as the basis for constitutional interpretation and was the most influential conservative legal official of the Reagan era.
American political journalist — co-founder of The Weekly Standard — long-time Fox News contributor and The McLaughlin Group panelist — who covered the Reagan and Bush administrations.
American political columnist — Washington Post, ABC News — two-time Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient — Pulitzer Prize — the most celebrated conservative columnist of the last 50 years — whose combination of baseball writing and political philosophy is his intellectual signature.
American political analyst at the Ethics and Public Policy Center — author of The Working Class Republican — who has specialized in analyzing blue-collar Republican voters and working-class conservatism.
American politician — brother of William F. Buckley Jr. — Senator from New York (1971–77, Conservative Party) — Federal Judge (DC Circuit) — whose 1976 Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court victory established that campaign spending is protected First Amendment speech.
American technology entrepreneur and conservative intellectual — founder of Applied Predictive Technologies (sold to MasterCard) — senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute — author of Uncontrolled (on the limits of social science and the case for policy experimentation).
British journalist and editor — former editor of National Review — former advisor to Margaret Thatcher — O'Sullivan's Law ('any organization or enterprise that is not explicitly right-wing will become left-wing over time') — current editor of Quadrant.
American conservative commentator — editor of Commentary magazine — former White House speechwriter (Reagan and H.W. Bush) — son of Norman Podhoretz — one of the leading voices in neoconservative political commentary.
American conservative commentator — former National Review senior editor — co-founder of The Dispatch — author of Liberal Fascism and Suicide of the West — whose Liberal Fascism was the best-selling conservative political book of 2008.
American essayist — longtime editor of The American Scholar — author of dozens of essay collections — Northwestern University lecturer — the most elegant American essayist of the 20th and 21st centuries in the tradition of Montaigne, Lamb, and Hazlitt.
British Prime Minister (1979–1990) — first female Prime Minister of the UK — who privatized state industries, broke the miners' strike, defeated Argentina in the Falklands, cut inflation from 22% to 3%, and with Reagan ended the Cold War — the most consequential British politician of the 20th century after Churchill.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives (2023–2025) — former constitutional attorney — Louisiana Republican — who was elected Speaker in October 2023 after Kevin McCarthy's ouster, becoming the most powerful Republican in Congress.
48th Vice President of the United States (2017–2021) — former Governor of Indiana — former congressman — evangelical Christian — who refused to block certification of the 2020 election results despite pressure from Trump, a decision that defined his break with the MAGA movement.
American conservative columnist — syndicated since 1987 — author of Useful Idiots and Sex Matters — who booed at CPAC 2018 for criticizing the Republican Party's treatment of women — one of the original Never Trump conservative voices.
American politician and commentator — Nixon and Reagan communications director — who ran for president in 1992 and 1996 — whose 'culture war' speech at the 1992 Republican convention and opposition to free trade and immigration presaged Trumpism by 25 years.
American television host — host of Wheel of Fortune (1981–2024) — the longest-running game show host in television history — a quiet conservative commentator who occasionally expressed right-wing views on social media.
American commentator and interviewer — host of Hoover Institution's Uncommon Knowledge — former Reagan White House speechwriter who wrote 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' — one of the most capable long-form interviewers in conservative media.
American television writer and producer — Cheers writer and showrunner — contributor to National Review — co-founder of Ricochet — who is the most prominent conservative entertainment industry figure to speak openly about Hollywood's political culture.
Governor of Florida (2019–present) — former US Navy lawyer and Iraq War veteran — whose governance of Florida (COVID policies, anti-ESG policies, education reform) made him the leading Republican challenger to Trump before his 2024 primary defeat.
40th President of the United States (1981–89) — former actor, California Governor — who cut taxes, rebuilt the military, confronted the Soviet Union ('evil empire'), and presided over the Soviet collapse — the defining figure of 20th century American conservatism.
American columnist at The New York Times — the leading Catholic conservative intellectual voice in mainstream American media — author of Bad Religion, The Decadent Society, and The Deep Places — who converted to Catholicism at 17.
American author and Hoover Institution fellow — author of The Content of Our Character (1990 National Book Critics Circle Award), White Guilt, and Shame — the most psychologically sophisticated Black conservative writer on American race relations.
American conservative writer — Hoover Institution and Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow — author of Radical-in-Chief (on Obama's socialist background) and The Lost History of Western Civilization — who has focused on education policy and culture war issues.
American political journalist — former Weekly Standard senior writer — co-founder of The Dispatch — author of the authorized biography of Dick Cheney — who left Fox News in 2021 over misinformation concerns.
American economist at Hoover Institution — former Marxist turned free-market conservative — author of over 30 books including A Conflict of Visions, The Vision of the Anointed, and Discrimination and Disparities — one of the most consequential public intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries.
American conservative writer and speechwriter — former Hoover Institution writer — who has contributed to conservative media and speechwriting.
American classicist and military historian at Hoover Institution — raisin farmer — author of The Western Way of War, Carnage and Culture, The Second World Wars, and The Case for Trump — the leading conservative classicist applying ancient history to contemporary politics.