Conservative movement focus of Princeton University conference

By: David Campbell
   The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University will host a major three-day conference beginning Thursday on the modern conservative movement, the university said.
   "The Conservative Movement: Its Past, Present and Future" will run from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, in Dodds Auditorium of Robertson Hall on the university campus.
   Political activists, academics and journalists will gather to examine how the modern conservative movement was built and to assess its impact and how it has evolved over the past 40 years.
   New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks will give a keynote address, "The Future of American Conservatism: Hamilton Returns," at 8 p.m. Thursday.
   An earlier session that day will feature a survey of the conservative movement by Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute, with commentary by Midge Decter, George Nash and William Rusher.
   Panels on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 will examine the Goldwater and Reagan eras, the infrastructure of the conservative movement, the relationship between conservatism and the Republican Party, and the impact of conservatism on America’s economic, social and foreign policies.
   Panelists will include William Bennett, Lou Cannon, Stanton Evans, David Keene, Paul Weyrich, George Will and many other prominent conservatives, scholars and journalists.
   The conference is sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School.