Word: wilsonian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Those who came late to Wilsonian autocracy are familiar only with the brooding mandarin, ominously reminiscent of Sydney Greenstreet contemplating the bust of the Maltese falcon. The persona was carefully cultivated by the master, whose "Do not disturb" sign was printed in his face and on his stationery ("Mr. Wilson regrets that it is impossible for him to .. write introductions ... make speeches ... judge literary contests ... give interviews ... autograph books for strangers ... donate copies of his books to libraries . . . contribute to symposiums of any kind ... supply personal information about himself"). Critic Alfred Kazin suggests that "anyone so extraordinarily gifted, and obsessed...
Despite such disappointments, living in a small town offers some special Wilsonian satisfactions. It is pleasant, he notes among other things, to have the cemetery so close, "where I can look up family dates." Yet his memory of Talcottville as "a clean and trim settlement" soon proves out of date. Some of its houses are "tumbledown" and "squalid," its citizens "ambitionless." Highways are closer and larger. Birch Society posters recommend impeaching Earl Warren. Teen-age motorcyclists ride across the lawn and drink on Wilson's porch, forcing him to scare them away "with a roar and the ancient...
...upon which policy is primarily based. It admits little respect for the democratic values it occasionally professes; at times contempt almost bursts forth. (No more idealism; policies are for the protection of interests, not the implementation of ideals; perhaps a reflection of an overwhelming desire to avoid playing the Wilsonian fool.) This is facilitated by the anti-democratic content of the policy goals that it accepts...