William V. Shannon, RIP - obituary

THE DISEASE of liberalism in our time resides in the fact that it has no enemies to the left. Anything goes-Castro, Ortega, Maurice Bishop, Angela Davis, Jesse Jackson, the Salvadoran guerrillas, and, well, you name it, we don't want to.

William V. Shannon, who died of lymphoma on September 27, at age 61, was not a liberal of that round-heeled sort. His roots were in an earlier liberalism that actually made distinctions, hated and despised totalitarianism, and was unabashedly patriotic. NR certainly disagreed with Mr. Shannon on various issues concerning the welfare state, but never on the basic issues of liberty.

Throughout his adult life, Mr. Shannon was a distinguished journalist, writing for the New York Post and later joining the editorial board of the New York Times. He was something of a professional Irishman, his most impressive book being The American Irish (1964), a fine account of that subculture. Perhaps Jimmy Carter's best appointment was Mr. Shannon as ambassador to Ireland in 1977, where he served with great distinction.

He wound up at Boston University, teaching courses in journalism and on the American Presidency. His last column, for the Boston Globe, was written a week before his death. He was a journalist of honor, and will be missed.