William F. Buckley -- Words Never Failed Him

William F. Buckley struggled with the pain and inconvenience of emphysema for years, but it was only when he broke a bone in his right hand -- the hand he wrote with -- earlier this month that the decline of a man who very much lived by words accelerated. He sent out a note to a few close friends essentially saying that he knew the end was near.

It came at the desk in his study yesterday morning, perhaps as Buckley was struggling to put the finishing touches on his latest project -- a book on the president he helped bring to office that he planned to call The Reagan I Knew. That project was far enough along it will no doubt be published posthumously. Here's hoping he finished enough of another book on Barry Goldwater that we will be rewarded with that as well.

It is ironic that Buckley's last works should hearken back to his fellow giants in the conservative movement. In an interview with Buckley in 2005, conservative columnist George Will told him: "Without Bill Buckley, no National Review. Without National Review, no [Barry] Goldwater nomination. Without the Goldwater nomination, no conservative takeover of the Republican Party. Without that, no Reagan. Without Reagan, no victory in the Cold War. Therefore, Bill Buckley won the Cold War."

Buckley, of course, demurred at that compliment, but there was a real kernel of truth to it. He was that rarest of revolutionaries -- someone who unfailingly set about to change the world, largely succeeded and yet retained a zest for the non-political, a gentleness of spirit and a boyish charm into his 80s. He set a standard we all should emulate for having friendships across the political divide.

In the end, he left untold riches behind. He inspired three generations of conservatives, including me. I first met him at a taping of his TV show Firing Line at a public television station in California back in high school. He was unfailingly polite and helpful and I can genuinely say he helped inspire me to become the writer I am.

He seemingly had time for everyone who sought him out, despite a work schedule whose partial output included 55 books (both fiction and nonfiction); 1,429 separate Firing Line shows and 5,600 newspaper columns. Now it is incumbent on all of us to take the time to appreciate a great man and mourn his loss.

Comments

[dgrffy]

WFB, and Icon. And a relic of a time when prejudice was what one felt toward someone of a different race, or possibly nationality or religion. Today, it is how we tend to feel about others who disagree with us on a host of political and social ideals. So there is no end to who we are prepared to hate and spit upon. Had this existed in Buckley's day, who knows? But there was a time when the sheep dog and the coyote could fight each other over the fate of the sheep, only to shake hands at the end of the day and drive home together. Buckley was of that generation. The same that allowed Tip to call Ron on the eve of Reagan's economic revolution and say: well done old buddy, you got me this time. Those days are gone, as more and more we attribute evil and sub-human labels to those who dare to suggest we could be - horror of all horrors - wrong. So William, and all those from a more civil age: RIP.

[AuntSally]

Perhaps those days are gone because more of us view the fate of the sheep more than an intellectual question.

[dgrffy]

I think you could be correct. Unfortunately, there is no end to the things we apparently view as more than intellectual questions (not that those folks of the bygone era believed it was mere intellectual dialogue. They, too, believed it was about the sheep). Maybe, therefore, the problem is too many today think they - and they alone - are the ones truly caring about the sheep. Ya never know.

[HDR]

"Words Never Failed Him", huh? Maybe except when the genius of Gore Vidal provoked him to losing it on live TV. The look of "gotcha" on Vidal's face is the essence of civilized victory.

It must've eaten Bucky in his last moments of clarity that we are all equal, especially in the end.

[clevelandchick]

Yeah, I loved that moment when Vidal punked Buckley.

I cried when Molly Ivins died, that was a lady that epitomized wit, wisdom and hutzpah. One of my favorite stories is when she and a group of protestors decided to moon Bush. So immature and silly yet such a brave and appropos thing to do.

But when I heard about Buckley I just thought - eh. If the man was so influential then how did his party become such a circus of fasicist, perverts, criminals and clowns?

[ThePhantom]

VIdal punked nobody. Look at that clip--Vidal is the epitome of arrogant conceit, with little to back it up.

Cheering for those who were killing US Marines, and calling his adversary a crypto-Nazi, Vidal truly would have deserved the wallop that Buckley quite nearly gave him.

Even in his decrepitude, Vidal today insulted the newly deceased Buckley. Vidal will soon join him, but without the body of intellectual work that Buckley has left us. Neither man's novels will last, but Buckley created an excellent magazine, the best talk show of its time, and a major political movement. And a vast number of friends, including from ideological opponents.

[rroy]

If there is anything I can say about Bill Buckley,it is I have nothing good to say about him!He was and his living advocates still are epitomes of reactiony elitism with the profound ability to take two steps backward for every one they take forward!

To imply that Mr.Buckley had anything at all to do with the so called,winning of the cold war, is tantamount to endorsing idiocy.

There is and always will be an interesting puzzle about the Buckleys,Bob Novaks,M.S­tanton Evans,Ann Coulters,etal of this world,and that is,"what the hell is there about these irelavencies that makes them seem so relavent to so many people?"

[Alighieri]

"what the hell is there about these irelavencies that makes them seem so relavent to so many people?"

Their ability to shock

Al

[dgrffy]

Or perhaps that there are some folks with the gall to disagree with...you­.

[NotMyPrez]

It's a shame how the revolution eats it's own. NeoCons today looked at Buckley as being soft. Fact is the man was erudite and expressed his beliefs in a civil manner because, at heart he believed in the guiding principles of the country and understood that there was a place for every position- the NeoFascism that grew out of his NR is a result of entropic political evolution- a glorified telephone game where the message gets watered down/distorted.

[clevelandchick]

I read an interview with Barry Goldwater before he died and he said if he were in politics today, he'd be called a liberal. That shows you that he understood the biggest mistake of the conservative movement was incorporating the reactionary social conservatives into the party . It was a deal with the devil that will hurt their movement for a long long time.

[RTIII]

I recall an incident when I was about ten years of age, in the early '70s, in which I remarked to my father about something Bill Buckley had written. My father's reaction was a furrowed brow and the gentle admonition I should think about the argument a little more and see if it wasn't really backwards.

I did, and he was right - I had been seduced by some pleasantries into taking a position that was antithetical to my actual beliefs and only a careful reading - with the motives of the author in mind - helped me grasp the serious gaping - inhuman - flaws in Buckley's argument. It was then that I realized he was a silver-tongued devil.

Now, with the fruits of Buckley's influence having despoiled the country, the Silver-Tongued Devil is Dead and I can only think this bodes well for 2008 being great year. After all, continuing along with the lines above: No Reagan, no GHW Bush, no GHW Bush, no DoubleU Bush. No DoubleU Bush... the results could go on for pages what would not have occurred. We can therefore say, No Buckley, No assault on the constitution the likes of which might result in a new constitional convention­... My God has Bush been a disaster for the entire world. And, according to this articles logic, Bill Buckley brought it to us. Thanks Bill.

What we should remember about Bill is that his purpose was do persuade to the dark side; he did not bring enlightenment.

[beerguy]

I think the only appropriate reply is in WFB's own words:

“I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligen­ce.”

[Giglawyer]

Amen to that.

[jhNY]

Nope. The appropriate reply is: "I'm sorry, but something about this lizard-like individual appeals to me."

[FOTH]

As an avowed liberal, I found myself arguing through the television set every time I watched Firing Line. I adamantly disagreed with Mr. Buckley on just about everything, but my god was he brilliant in his arguments and the way he conveyed them.

The Conservatism Buckley espoused (and yes, he went through some evolution on his beliefs such as civil rights, and the war in both Viet Nam and Iraq), is a shadow of its former self. Perhaps it was inevitable that we'd get to this point, but I don't think Mr. Buckley approved of the current batch of neo-cons and their single-mindedness of purpose.

Indeed, when Buckley became a force for conservatism in the late 50's and 60's, he and his colleagues stamped down the fringe elements of the movement like the John Birchers, isolationists, etc. and brought a free-market, libertarian point of view to conservatism. Goldwater exemplified this. Reagan as well although he pandered to the more social segment of the conservative spectrum than I think Buckley would have liked. Since then, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Grover Norquist, Pat Robertson, etc. etc. have effectively trashed the notion of libertarian republicanism. I don't believe this was Buckley's vision.

RIP to an honorable adversary

[jeffd]

Reading your comment a second time, it strikes me what the difference between then and now truly is: honor on both sides, and the presumption of same on the part of your adversary. Turning that adversary into an enemy, and denying him his just due, is what caused respectable, respectful intellectual rivalry to degenerate into unlimited, self-mandatedly existential warfare against an "unknowable" Other. I don't think we really hit that point until sometime shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when we lost an external enemy to motivate and unite us, and chose to create an internal one instead as a means of maintaining political and ideological control.

[Cay]

Go back and look and the blatant bigotry of the National Review in the early years. Glad he was a great guy - but his ideas were ugly and he spent his influential career spreading them.

[fpie]

Yes we have a lot to thank Buckley and the Cons for. Trillions of dollars of debt, a crumbling infrastructure, fulfilment of the Reagan promise of government that doesn't do any thing right but costs much more. There's the never ending failure of "Star Wars", the Clinton impeachment and of course the debacle of The War. And don't forget all the deregulation that gave us "The SNL Scandle", "The Sub-Prime Meltdown" and the list goes on and on and on.
I'm sure Mr. Buckley was a nice guy but his ideas are so full of crap, just a bunch of happy horse shit really.
And as for Ronald Reagan winning the cold war, the Soviet Union fell of it's own weight. The last time I looked China was still flying the red flag but I guess they don't count 'cause well just because that is kinda inconvenient.

[NotMyPrez]

Red Flag, Right next to McDonalds Flag...

[kaafir]

China still flying the red flag has nothing to do with communism, but the fact that it has embraced market capitalism.

[Giglawyer]

Amazing that Buckely had so much influence without holding office that all of these problems can be placed on his shoulders.

fpie - you must eagerly await the day that the government takes over ever function of your daily life.

[jhNY]

You mean like with eavesdropping on all phonecalls and reading all e-mails?

[Desiderata]

Vidal still lives!

[sbowerman]

As does Christopher Buckley!

[vbond]

William F. Buckley, Jr. became a part of my intellectual life during my "second tour" at Harvard, after taking four years to go and save the world in North and South Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.

Those four years as a student activist and community organizer had deeply taught me to extend myself, mentally and emotionally, to touch the lives - and to begin to understand the experiences, beliefs and feelings - of others.

This is the behavioural key to being an effective organizer, and we are watching this attribute play out in the person and the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. But my first radical exercise of this facility came after my organizing days, with my weekly interactions with Bill Buckley, on Firing Line, back in Cambridge.

It was radical because I instinctively disagreed with just about everything that Buckley seemed to believe. It was exercise because his erudition and his humanity engaged me when I might have been repelled.

It is one of my life's happier ironies that my weekly engagements with Buckley helped to prepare me, decades later, to better understand and appreciate what Barack Obama - and we - are doing now.

I actually think that Buckley would have enjoyed knowing the effect that he is having on this Democrat in 2008.

Thank you, Bill.

Rest in peace.

[NotMyPrez]

There is a difference between the art of fencing/bo­xing/inser­t sport of choice, and a dirty street fight. Politics is about "jumping in" gang-style these days and not about gamesmanship.

[bronceye]

Well said. I concur. RIP Mr. Buckley