Posted by
Icarus on Monday, April 20, 2009 1:51:54 AM
I watched David Lynch's wretched 1984 film version of
Dune, the one with Sting wearing some
funky underwear in one particular scene. There is a line in the film concerning jihad, which got me wondering about Frank Herbert's politics given our current struggle against Islamic Supremacists. I was surprised to find, in a brief search for information about Frank Herbert, that the writer of a Science Fiction Classic was nothing less than a Republican speechwriter.
His son, Brian Herbert briefly mentions his father's political activity in
this interview. Frank Herbert wrote speeches for no less then four Republicans,
Guy Cordon, Phil Hitchcock, Phil Roth and Big Bill Bantz. The latter had the misfortune of running against
Henry "Scoop" Jackson, by whom Mr. Bantz was soundly defeated.
It is always fascinating to learn about writers who happen to be associated with conservative / libertarian / Republican politics. I am fairly convinced that if Frank Herbert's political writings were associated with Democrats they would be readily available. When Brian Herbert mentions his father's political work he does so in the context that they were all losing efforts. While this is factually correct, it is interesting nonetheless. "My father wrote for Republicans, they all lost, and that's that." There is no effort to explore this aspect of a Science Fiction legend, which many of Herbert's readers might find interesting.
I would very much like to find some of the speeches Herbert wrote.