Others have noted and written incisively on the passing of architect Philip Johnson - (See Roger Kimball @ Armavirumque, Prof DeBow @ Southern Appeal, and Johnson's NYT obit) - so there is no need for me to add to what has already been said about his life and works... except for one thing. I noted in response to Prof. DeBow's post that I found it amazing that the Left seemed to have ignored the fact that Johnson was a committed fascist for a number of years in the 1930s. Mark Stevens points out in an op/ed in today's NYT that "[w]ith a few exceptions, critics typically had little interest in the details [of Johnson's infatuation with fascism - SLS], granting Mr. Johnson a pass for youthful indiscretion."
A pass for youthful indiscretion? Sen. Byrd generally gets a pass for his "youthful indiscretion" of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Johnson a pass for fascism, Ted Kennedy a pass for the "youthful indiscretion" of murder, but were any of these gentlemen to be right-of-center in their politics and one can rest assured that the Left would scream bloody murder (no pun intended).
Before Strom Thurmond's passing you hardly ever saw his name without also seeing reference to segregation. What gives? Why the double standard?
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