John Ford: the Perfect Populist

Joseph McBride has a tough time fitting Ford’s “convoluted politics” into the right or left ideological box (“ ‘Fellow Traveler’ or Redbaiter?” June 3). The explanation is quite simple: Ford was a populist. While economic populism leans to the left, viewing wealth and power as unequally distributed, cultural populism positions itself in the opposite direction, with its core support coming from the religious right. Populism neither commends the liberal solution of handing out welfare nor the compassion-challenged conservative solution that says, “I’ve got mine; now fend for yourself.” No wonder populism, to one degree or another, has always been with us.

Beverly Merrill Kelley

Port Hueneme