>> guest: edinburg was an irish born english politician, statesman, critical thinker and writer in the late 18th century. he was born in 1729. he lived until 1797. his political career is really from the late 1760s until his death, and it was an unusual political career in that it was also very much an intellectual career. from the very beginning he was as much a think as a politician, and the thinking he did was about how to help his country through a period of intense change and tension and crisis from the american war through a regency crisis through the french revolution and the european war that followed. burke was a force for sustaining continuity through change. and so was an enemy of the radicalism of the french revolution but was a reformer a british institution, always endeavor to save them to fix them. he has come to be known as one of the fathers of modern conservatism for this effort to try to sustain continuity in times of change. >> host: russell kirk is famous for establishing him. was he known as the father of modern conservatism? >> guest: burke himself at the end of