[William McKinley]

That does not follow. The people doing the blacklisting would supposedly be the same people, the 'elites', to whom he would have been talking in code.

[A. Pole]

That does not follow. The people doing the blacklisting would supposedly be the same people, the 'elites', to whom he would have been talking in code.

Not really. There are different types of "elites". Publishers and university administrators are not necesarily elites by Strauss definition. At least no more that Athenian judges who sentenced Socrates.

[arthurus]

The elites he would have been writing to are the like minded philosophers within academe. The "Liberal Elite" he would not have regarded as any elite at all, the term having intelligence and philosophical connotations for Mr. Strauss.