Debate:Was William F. Knowland a conservative

This is a Debate page. Feel free to add your own spin on the story. Please keep it civil! This debate was created by some dumbass sharing right wing links.

I'm not entirely sure as to whether William Knowland can be labeled as a conservative. While he was strongly anti-Communist and voted against censuring Joseph McCarthy, some sources say he was quite liberal on some other issues. However, he did support Barry Goldwater in 1964 unlike his Moderate Republican colleague Thomas Kuchel (pron. KEY KULL). RW reader (talk) 22:10, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

IDK man, I don't think people should entertain a user that has signed up just to unironically link Daily Caller and Washington Times in the Saloon Bar. --It's-a me, 🎄LeftyGreenMario!🎄 22:16, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Man, it's great to see such a nice debate page here. So here are the important points to take into account:

• most sources appear to agree that Knowland was a conservative, including the WP bio linked above as well as this article on JSTOR
• Knowland was very staunchly anti-Communist [1], evident in supporting Chiang Kai-Shek and voting against censuring McCarthy
• Knowland cooperated well with both Eisenhower and Taft [2]
• he supported Goldwater in '64 [3][4]
• the sources which say he was liberal issues seem to be this Britannica article and this NY Times obituary - the latter interestingly says:

Despite the label of “right‐winger” he was given primarily through his positions on the China issue, Mr. Knowland's voting record was considered more liberal than those of many nominal liberals who opposed him.

Hope this helps. I unfortunately haven't analyzed enough of Knowland's record yet. UShistoryanalyzer (talk) 23:31, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Imagine conflating liberals with Leftists... ☭Comrade GC☭^{Ministry of Praise} 01:22, 9 June 2021 (UTC)