Ralph de Toledano (August 17, 1916 – February 3, 2007) was an American writer in theconservative movement in the United States throughout the second half of the 20th century. A friend ofRichard Nixon, he was a journalist and editor ofNewsweek and theNational 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.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Toledano was born inTangier, Morocco, the son of Simy (Nahon), a former news correspondent, and Haim Toledano, a businessman and journalist.[9] His parents were bothSephardicJews and American citizens. Toledano was brought toNew York at the age of four or five.[1][4][7]
During World War II, Toledano was drafted and became an anti-aircraft gunner before being transferred to theOffice 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 theInternational Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).[1][4][7]
In 1946, Toledano helped foundPlain Talk with fellow journalistIsaac Don Levine andChina Lobby funderAlfred Kohlberg.[11][12][13][14] By 1946, the magazine focused on exposing Soviet "spy rings," "secret armies," and other communist subversion in the USA.[15] Toledano served as managing editor[16] or assistant editor.[17] (In 1950, the US Senate reported that Emmanuel S. Larsen, investigated as part of theAmerasia spy case, had stated that Kohlberg, Levine, and Toledano had changed an article he had written forPlain Talk, specifically that "Levine completely rewrote the article," and later had asked Larsen to "go easy on thePlain Talk article" when testifying.[17][18])
Pursuing a career injournalism, after several journalistic jobs Toledano joinedNewsweek in 1948.[1] Toledano covered the 1950 perjury trial ofAlger Hiss (Hiss being accused of being a Soviet spy), and in what theNew 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 (withVictor Lasky), in 1950 and became a Republican.[1] 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 ofSeeds of Treason.[1] Around the same time (October 1950–April 1951) Toledano cohosted the television seriesOur Secret Weapon: The Truth.[7]
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 ofSeeds of Treason.[1]
Toledano's differences with his conservativeNational Review colleagues became very pronounced before long, first in 1960 when Toledano dissented from the otherNational Review editors when they endorsedBarry Goldwater, while Toledano supported Nixon.[1] By 1963, however, Toledano had switched to Goldwater.[1][7]
Years later when Nixon became president, Toledano was particularly close to the administration, in a rivalry withDaniel Patrick Moynihan over the privilege of being named guru of Nixon's domestic policies, which conservatives both supporting and opposing them as a kind ofTory socialism. Moynihan's victory in the struggle was likely a key moment in the rise ofneoconservatism.[7]
A 1975 lawsuit byRalph 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 aboutthe Chevrolet Corvair's handling. It was eventually settled out of court.[2]
In 2006, Toledano sued in connection with the rights toMark Felt's memoir,The FBI Pyramid, which he had cowritten in 1979 without knowing that Felt was "Deep Throat".[2][7]
Toledano married Nora Romaine, with whom he had two sons, James and Paul. His second wife, Eunice Godbold, died in 1999[1][2][7]
Toledano held forth until the end of his life at theNational Press Club. There, in 2005, he succeeded John Cosgrove as National Press Club American Legion Post No. 20 commander.[4] Toledano and first wife Nora were long-time friends ofGuenther Reinhardt, another anti-communist journalist and frequenter of the National Press Club.[19]
Toward the end of his life, he labeled himself alibertarian, according to his son Paul.[2]
In 1956, literary criticIrving Howe decried Toledano's biographyNixon for its "Cohn-&-Schine prose."[20] In 2006,William F. Buckley, Jr. called Toledano'sCry Havoc "must reading... Toledano's best."[21] ProfessorPaul Gottfried (a fairly frequent contributor, like Toledano, toThe American Conservative) wrote, "Toledano uncovers continuities betweenthe Frankfurt School's conspiracy and the rampant cultural terrorism in America."[21] According toMartin Jay inCry Havoc "the crackpot claim is actually advanced that the Frankfurt School was a Commie front set up by Willi Muenzenberger."[22]
Books
Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter and singer (1953) was a favorite of Toledano
Never straying far from his first passion of music, Toledano distinguished himself as an avid scholar ofjazz. During the latter half of his long career atNational 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) forThe American Conservative in his last years.
Non-Fiction Books:
Seeds of Treason (withVictor Lasky) (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950)
Spies, Dupes, and Diplomats (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1952)
Nixon (New York: Holt, 1956)
Lament for a Generation (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1960)
The Winning side, the Case for Goldwater Republicanism (New York: Putnam, 1963)
The Greatest Plot in History (New York; Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1963)
RFK, the Man Who Would Be President (New York: Putnam, 1967)
One Man Alone (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1969)
J. Edgar Hoover (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973)
Let Our Cities Burn (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1975)
Hit and Run – The Rise – and Fall? – ofRalph Nader (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1975)
The Apocrypha of Limbo (Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1994)
Notes from the Underground (Washington: Regnery, 1997)[11]
Cry Havoc: The Great American Bring-down and How It Happened (New York: Anthem, 2006)
"Stalin's Hand in thePanama Canal" (November 1946)
"Liberals' Awakening" (1946)
"Is Native Fascism a Menace?" (1947)
"Acid Test for AVC" (1947)
"When Is a Red Herring?" (October 28, 1948)
Commonweal (1947–1948):
"More Books of the Week: Expatriates End (Review): Cervantes, by Aubrey F.G. Bell" (December 12, 1947)
"Mr. Wilson's Five Points (Review): Between Fear and Hope, by S.L. Shneiderman" (January 16, 1948)
"The Screen: Where Men Are Men (Review): The Rise of the Spanish American Empire, by Salvador de Madariaga" (June 11, 1948)
"As Others See It (Review): Politics in the Empire State, by Warren Moscow" (October 15, 1948)
"Books: Machines and Men" Verdict of Three Decades, by Julien Steinberg" (September 1, 1950)
The Saturday Review (1948):
"Autobiography in Time" (January 31, 1948)
American Mercury (1949–1955):
Toledano criticized unions and other allegedly communist-affiliated organizations and people, includingWalter Reuther (here, during a strike on May 26, 1937)
"Music: The Cult of the Conductor" (June 1949)
"The Book Reviewers Sell Out China"(July 1951)
"Gravediggers of America: Part II: How Stalin's Disciples Review Books" (August 1951)
"The Soft Underbelly of the U.S.A." (February 1953)
"Sound on Disc: Verdi Unadorned, Beethoven Straight" (August 20, 1982)
"Sound on Disc: Four Greats of Piano Jazz" (October 1, 1982)
"Sound on Disc: In Search of God" (November 26, 1982)
"Sound on Disc: Bessie, Satch & Little Jazz" (January 21, 1983)
"Sound on Disc: Five Concertos, Three Violins" (March 4, 1983)
"Sound on Disc: Nostalgia: A Triple Helping" (April 15, 1983)
"Sound on Disc: The Innovators" (June 10, 1983)
"Sound on Disc: The Duke and His Music" (August 5, 1983)
Miracle on Taiwan" (August 19, 1983)
"Sound on Disc" (October 28, 1983)
"Not Real, Not Politics (Review): The U.S. and Free China, by James C.H. Shen" (September 30, 1983)* "Sound on Disc: The Greatness of Billie" (December 9, 1983)
"Sound on Disc: Performing the Sonatas" (January 27, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: The Progressions of Jazz" (March 9, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: Opera: Mozart and Verdi" (May 4, 1984)
"Television: Concealed Enemies" (June 15, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: Will the Real Louis Please Stand" (July 13, 1984)
"Lifestyles: The Homosexual Assault" (August 10, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: From Gothic to Baroque" (September 7, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: The Jazz That Was" (November 16, 1984)
"Sound on Disc: 'Papa' Haydn? Oh, Yes..." (February 8, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: An Olla Podrida of Jazz" (April 5, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: Bringing It Back Alive" (May 3, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: The French Connection" (June 28, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: Schubert, Mozart" (August 23, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: Mozart & the Beat" (November 1, 1985)
"A Siding in Compiegne" (November 29, 1985)
"Sound on Disc: Cherubini & Other Matters" (January 31, 1986)
"South Korea Comes of Age" (February 28, 1986)
"Sound on Disc: The 'Smaller' Music'" (March 28, 1986)
"Sound on Disc: Mozart at the Piano, Plus" (June 6, 1986)
"Whittaker Chambers Remembered: The Imperatives of the Heart" (August 1, 1986)
"Sound on Disc: Liszt & Romanticism" (September 12, 1986)
"Sound on Disc: Jazz & Pop – The Real Legacy" (October 24, 1986)
"Books, Arts & Manners: Spies in the Parlor (Review): No Sense of Evil, by James Barros" (December 19, 1986)
"Sound on Disc: America's Real Music" (March 13, 1987)
"Sound on Disc: Haydn, Beethoven & Old Instruments" (April 10, 1987)
"Sound on Disc: Great & Imperishable" (June 19, 1987)
"Sound on Disc: Jazz: From LP to CD" (September 25, 1987)
"Sound on Disc: Bach & Mozart, Beethoven & Boyce" (December 31, 1987)
"Sound on Disc: Moldy Figs, Rejoice!" (February 19, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Faure & Co." (April 15, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Duke, Django, and Throttlebottom" May 27, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Vivaldi to the Fore" (July 8, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Salute the Commodore" (August 19, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: A Little List" (September 16, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Toward a Jazz CD Collection" (October 28, 1988)
"Twilight of the Idol (Review): The Selected Letters ofRichard Wagner" (September 2, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: Stravinsky, Beethoven, & Others" (December 9, 1988)
"Sound on Disc: From Hoagy to Nancy" (February 10, 1989)
"Sound on Disc" (April 7, 1989)
"Sound on Disc: Toward a Jazz CD Library" (May 19, 1989)
Toledano continued to attack communism inModern Age by writing on books by anti-communistRebecca West (here by Madame Yevond)Toledano continued to attack communism inModern Age by writing on books by communist-sympathizingVivian Gornick (here, 2018)
"A Sort of Traitors (Review): The New Meaning of Treason, byRebecca West" (Spring 1965)
"Verse" (Spring 1966)
"The New Leviathan (Review): The Liberal Establishment, byM. Stanton Evans" (Winter 1966)