William F. Buckley dies at 82
Conservative commentator gained acclaim for intellectual political writings
Susan Walsh / AP
NEW YORK – William F. Buckley Jr., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right’s post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82.
His assistant Linda Bridges said Buckley was found dead by his cook at his home in Stamford, Conn. The cause of death was unknown, but he had been ill with emphysema, she said.
Editor, columnist, novelist, debater, TV talk show star of “Firing Line,†harpsichordist, trans-oceanic sailor and even a good-natured loser in a New York mayor’s race, Buckley worked at a daunting pace, taking as little as 20 minutes to write a column for his magazine, the National Review.
There are some special people whose presence is taken for granted but we are all mortal.
When John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died almost simultaneously, both had final comments about the republic being safe with the other still alive.
When a sycophant told Charles deGaulle that he was ‘indispensable’ the retort was ‘the graveyard is full of indespensible men’.
My introduction to the man came when I picked up a copy of “McCarthy and His Enemies”. His appeal grew and his style was aesthetically deligtful. Who could forget his verbal assault on Gore Vidal and his continued goading with terms such as ‘Crisco Disco’?
Buckley’s association with Whittaker Chambers created a sort of reference point in a struggle that continues.
His words will endure and the Republic is somewhat protected if people choose to read them.
I noticed that I had made a serious mistake, and placed Mr Buckley’s picture to the left of the article; it has since been corrected, and Mr Buckley is where he will always remain, on the right.
Just to put this in some perspective: Buckley made his name with eloquent opposition to the 1960s civil rights movement. I vividly remember his defense of the South’s “right of the minority to prevail politically” (i.e., the right of white people to prevent blacks from voting). He even defended the “law enforcement” personnel who busted heads at Birmingham, Ala.
Yet another example of how conservatives can be wrong about pretty much everything and yet still endure.
Kathryn Lopez of National Review noted that Mr Buckley died in his study, in his home:
Hat tip to Sister Toldjah.
Mr Buckley’s wife Pat died last April; they had been married for 57 years. THey are together again, as it should be.
I grew up watching Firing Line and will never forget the debate he had with Ronald Reagan about the Panama Canal.
What can you say about a guy that wrote 55 books, over 5,000 articles and had a TV program that was on longer than Johnny Carson?
I had to “laugh” when I read Dana’s hyperlink — part of which said — that William F. Buckley, Jr., could write a commentary-sized piece (750 words) in 20 minutes! For those of you who have read: “Ken Vermillion’s Journal: Nuclear Terrorism: America’s Worst Nuclear Nightmare,” I am ashamed to admit that I spent “8 HOURS researching and writing that 1,200-word piece.” Clearly, I am not on the “same playing field” as William F. Buckley.
I remember back in the 1980′s when Dana would drive over to my apartment in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday afternoons at 5:00pm and watch “Firing Line” with me. Neither of us had a VCR back in those days so we “recorded on cassette tapes” the “Firing Line” episodes. When the episodes were “especially good,” we’d go so far as to “type them out” on my old Smith-Corona Sears typewriter.
One reason I adored William F. Buckley Jr., — especially during the “Cold War,” was his anti-communist stance. He was once asked — on a “Firing Line” episode — just how much he’d be willing to spend on “Defense” in order to see that we would prevail over the Soviet Union. Buckley said something to the effect of: “I am reminded of the guy who said he was going to leave his entire fortune for the purchase of 11-foot-poles — for people who couldn’t reach things with 10-foot-poles. The point being, “IF IT TAKES 11 FEET, IT TAKES 11 FEET!”
Perhaps the “primary reason” that Dana and I have been “best friends” for 3 decades is that we “believe that if it takes 11 feet, it takes 11 feet!” We do not believe in “wasteful” defense spending or “unnecessary” defense or intelligence spending. But we “DO BELIEVE” that we must do “WHATEVER IT TAKES” to preserve our national security. That “unshakable” belief forms the “nucleus” of our “core relationship.”
I’ll sign-off here with some examples of Buckley’s marvelous ability at humor. Once, when he appeared on “Laugh-In,” he said that the only reason he agreed to fly from New York to California to do the show was that he was told by the producer that they would fly him in on a plane that had “TWO RIGHT WINGS!”
And, on one of those “transcripts” that I just dug out of my filing cabinet — (circa 1983 or ’84), Buckley begins the “Firing Line” program by saying: “As viewers of this program are aware, once or twice every year we have thought it fair to RELINQUISH the investigative or prosecutorial function of this chair to the guests. The idea is that they will seek to explore the views of one American conservative — and hold him accountable for those views — and themselves accountable — for their cultural lag.”
I LOVED William F. Buckley, Jr.
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