The passing of James Moses, after a long battle with cancer, is sad news for many in the Chronicles circle.  Jim was an occasional contributor to Chronicles, a John Randolph Club member, and a longtime foot soldier in Old Right causes.

A native of northern New Jersey, Jim was a graduate of the legendary Bergen County Catholic High School and of Columbia University, where he wrote his senior thesis on John Randolph of Roanoke, a portent of things to come.  Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, he was involved in New Jersey politics, working as a speechwriter and consultant to several candidates, including such stalwart conservatives as Jerry Cardinale and John Scott.

As with many paleoconservatives, Jim, by the early 80’s, had become disillusioned with both Republican Party politics and the drift of the conservative movement.  In 1988, he bypassed the candidacies of George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, and Jack Kemp, supporting, instead, Delaware Gov. Pierre DuPont.

Above all, Jim was a loyal Buchananite.  In both 1992 and 1996, he traveled to New Hampshire to do volunteer work for the Buchanan campaign, sleeping in dormitories and manning the phones in that state and, later on, several others.  Also with many paleos, Jim thought that Buchanan should have made a third-party run in 1996, when he still had considerable nationwide momentum.  Either way, Pat Buchanan was Jim’s political hero.  He also valued his friendships with Chronicles staff members and was thrilled to have his byline in this publication.

At the time of his death, Jim worked for the City of New York’s Finance Department, having served under both the Bloomberg and Giuliani administrations.  While he was happy to write for Chronicles and other Old Right publications, he also worried that a byline in such reactionary journals might get him in trouble with his superiors.  That’s the nature of being a traditionalist in New York, where Republicans are generally to the left of Bill Clinton.

Jim Moses was a Christian gentleman of the first order, a man of the West who did the Lord’s work in the Devil’s city.