American writer, chief editor of “National Review,” publisher, syndicated newspaper columnist and host of TV talk-show “Firing Line,” called the “scourge of American liberalism.” In the decades that followed WW II he fashioned almost single-handedly the contemporary American conservative political movement. A laissez-faire capitalist, an anti-Communist, an elitist, and a traditionalist in matters of private and social morality, Buckley defines conservatism simply as “tacit acknowledgment that all that is finally important in human experience is behind us.”
The sixth of ten kids, Buckley was the son of an oil millionaire who died in 1958 and the grandson of an Irish immigrant who was a rancher and sheriff in Texas. He spent his early childhood in France and England attending exclusive Catholic private schools. A precocious child, he inherited his dad’s fierce independence and self-confidence. Sent to boarding school at 15, he waited two days before advising the schoolmaster of the deficiencies of the institution.
Returning to the U.S., he attended the Millbrook School in New York for two years, graduating in 1943. From 1944 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of second lieutenant in the infantry.
At Yale, Buckley studied economics, political science and history, soon establishing himself as a fearsome debater and chairman of the Yale Daily News. In 1950 he obtained his BA degree with honors. Contentious and erudite, Buckley’s first book was “God and Man at Yale.” An assault on what he saw as anti-religious and collectivist teachings in Yale’s curriculum, the book set off a storm of controversy. In the early ’50s, Buckley worked for the CIA as an operative for a year in Mexico, after which he became a free-lance writer and lecturer. He once more outraged liberals with his book “McCarthy and His Enemies,” 1954, when he claimed that McCarthyism, despite its excesses, “is a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks.”
In November 1955 he launched his biweekly magazine “National Review,” a journal of politics and letters that in time became regarded as the most important publication on the American right. It was called “highbrow without being too heavy.” A circulation of 16,000 in 1957 increased to 100,000 by 1980. More than a vehicle for conservative opinion, “National Review” has also been a showcase for young writers.
Buckley’s books include “Up From Liberalism,” 1959, “Quotations from Chairman Bill,” 1970, and “A Guide for the Seventies,” 1973. His syndicated newspaper column “On The Right,” which began in 1962, was praised for mordant wit as well as erudition. He ventured into electronic journalism in 1966, broadcasting his weekly interview program, “Firing Line.” His wit and lively exchanges made him a national media celebrity. In 1969, the show won an Emmy for outstanding program achievement.
During the ’70s, Buckley turned to fiction with a series of highly successful spy thrillers published by Doubleday. His cosmopolitan intellect has brought friendships with outstanding world figures, and also a notorious enmity, a feud for years with liberal writer Gore Vidal. The conflict culminated in a libel suit after Vidal had compared his views to “those of the founders of the Third Reich” in a 1969 Esquire article, a suit won by Buckley in 1972,
On 6/06/1950, Buckley married Patricia Aldyn Austin Taylor of Vancouver. Their son, Christopher Taylor Buckley, became a speechwriter. Tall, trim and athletic, Buckley enjoys skiing, painting, gliding, swimming, riding and playing the piano and harpsichord. He has many honorary degrees and holds a number of distinctions.
At age 78, Buckley is stepping down from his post as owner and chairman of the National Review. On the evening of June 29, 2004 in New York City, the influential conservative relinquished all his shares in the publication, thus passing control to a board of trustees that he had selected. The board includes his son Christopher. Buckley will continue to write his syndicated column for the magazine.
Buckley’s wife died on April 15, 2007 in Stamford, CT after a long illness. She was 80 years old. Not even a year later, he died on February 27, 2008 at his home in Stamford, CT. The 82-year old had been suffering from diabetes and emphysema.
Link to Wikipedia biography