With apologies to Mr. Ifshin - David Ifshin - column

National Review, Nov 7, 1988 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

A FEW WEEKS ago I received a letter from a television viewer in Victoria, Texas, a paragraph of which read, "I believe the people of our country, especially Vietnam veterans, should be made aware of who is designated to bead the Dukakis transition team, which gives further proof that Dukakis is farther to the left than most people realize."

The writer had seen a program on CSpan on the question of "transition" to come, between November 8 and January 20, when a new President is inaugurated. "I was amazed to listen to Frank Fahrenkopf [the chairman of the GOP) when he introduced David Ifshin as the leader of the Democratic transition group."

I too was amazed, and wrote a column in which I detailed Ifshin's activity during the Vietnam War, passed along the word that he had repented these activities, but concluded that as head of the transition team of the Democratic Party, he ought to say a word or two in defense of the genteel maneuvering of Dan Quayle, in contrast to Mr. Ifshin's broadcast from Hanoi denouncing the American enterprise. I made two calls, one to Boston-Dukakis, one to Washington-Dukakis to verify that Ifshin was indeed the chief of Democratic transitional arrangements. In both cases, replies were evasive. But since Mr. Ifshin had served as general counsel to Walter Mondale in 1984, the story seemed plausible enough, and I published it.

I report that there has been much consternation-interestingly, on all sides. Ifshin and his friends were greatly pained by tbe whole redocumentation of his sorry record during the Vietnam War. And the Dukakis people were greatly concerned that the inner circle of Dukakis supporters should proceed on the mistaken impression that Dukakis had given Ifshin so heavy a responsibility, in the event Dukakis were elected President.

Conversations with Mr. Leslie Dach, communications director for Dukakis, and with Mr. Ifshin and others, confirm an interesting story with considerable ramifications.

Shortly after Ifshin's trip to Hanoi, he went to Israel to work in a kibbutz. While there, the Yom Kippur War broke out. He witnessed the role played by our huge cargo planes, the C-5As, in bringing vital war materiel to the beleaguered Israelis. He reflected, with some pain, that while at college he had scorned the building of these airplanes which he now saw as the proximate instruments of Israel's salvation. He began his long turn toward his present position: which is that of what they call a "Scoop Jackson Democrat."

Although Mr. Ifshin came close to Senator Mondale professionally during the 1984 electoral contest, he was even then on the side of a tougher rearmament position. He had collaborated with Professors Ralph Winter and Robert Bork in the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, which moved to challenge a provision in the electoral-spending law that got in the way of citizens seeking to advance the cause of national rearmament. He became the general counsel for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And he became a friend and associate of psephologist Ben Wattenberg, who is the tattered flagholder at Fort Scoop Jackson.

Mr. Ifshin tells us now that although he is still a Democrat formally, he foresees great difficulties whether Dukakis wins or loses. If he wins, Dukakis is going to need to acknowledge the responsibilities the prevailing party inherits if the United States is to continue to be the arbiter of Western peace. If he loses, tbe Democratic Party is going to have to face the alternative that the party cannot succeed in a national election so long as it is identified with the cause of American weakness. The voters will not be satisfied with a Democratic program that calls for effective disarmament in the style of George McGovern, who in 1972 proposed a 25 per cent reduction in Pentagon spending, counterbalanced by one picture of the Democratic candidate riding in a tank and trying to look like Blood and Guts Patton.

"I have agonized every day of my life," Mr. Ifshin says about his conduct in Vietnam. He has attempted to atone for it by pouring his considerable energy into the Institute for Democracy in Vietnam. Mr. Ifshin deserves forgiveness. One only wishes that he were indeed put in charge of transitional arrangements for Governor Dukakis. The Duke could spend a profitable few hours reading an account of the young life of David Ifshin.