The End of an Era
 |
| William F. Buckley Jr. |
William F. Buckley Jr. dead at 82.
Former President Reagan, a longtime reader of the National Review, paid tribute to Buckley’s contribution to the conservative movement during an event celebrating the magazine’s 30th anniversary in 1985.
“If any of you doubt the impact of National Review’s verve and attractiveness, take a look around you this evening. The man standing before you now was a Democrat when he picked up his first issue in a plain brown wrapper; and even now, as an occupant of public housing, he awaits as anxiously as ever his biweekly edition — without the wrapper.”
After the announcement of Buckley’s death, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, the No. 1 Republican in the House, called Buckley “the architect of the modern conservative movement.”
“America has lost a giant,” Boehner said in a written statement.
He lauded Buckley for taking a stance against socialism in his first issue of the National Review.
“As long as America honors the ideals of our founding fathers — free speech, freedom of religion and limited, constitutional government — his legacy will be cherished,” he said.
The editors of National Review Online have released a tribute to their founder. He was the last of the original three great mentors of Modern Conservatism (Goldwater, Reagan and Buckley) to pass away. He will be missed.
gurusteve
E the Wise
Andre the Defiant
pg - your humble messenger
hairybeast
thompaine
Drowning Creek
Mo K.
In 1956, Buckley quipped, “I’d sooner be governed by the first two thousand people in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand members of the faculty of Harvard University.” Amen
God Bless WFB. Rest in peace.
E the Wise
27 Feb 08 at 1:04 pm
My dad had a subscription to the National Review and as a kid I read it. Firing Line was always entertaining even though it came in on the PBS channel with that terrible reception (long before cable and it was in black and white). I remember always moving those rabbit ears around.
My father suggested that I read God and Man at Yale when I was in high school. That book simply changed my life.
His debates with Gore Vidal were classics. Some of these radio talk show hosts think they are WFB Jr., take my word for it they are not.
He did more in a year than most of us will do in our lifetimes. He came up with more ideas by the time he was twenty five than most humans would have even if they lived for a thousand years.
I have his Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography on my iPod. I plan on listening to it next. Unfortunately I can no longer hold a book, but in this case it is okay as I love to listen to him talk.
This good Catholic man quite simply shaped my thinking more than anyone outside of my father. In a real way I loved WFB.
I really hope there are sail boats and favorable winds in heaven. Life will not be the same now that it is not possible to look forward to his next column. I will miss him profoundly
pg - your humble messenger
27 Feb 08 at 6:14 pm
A great man. I get this one from Faux News, no less:
Buckley so loved a good argument — especially when he won — that he compiled a book of bickering in “Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription,” published in 2007 and featuring correspondence with the famous (Nixon, Reagan) and the merely annoyed.
“Mr. Buckley,” one non-fan wrote in 1967, “you are the mouthpiece of that evil rabble that depends on fraud, perjury, dirty tricks, anything at all that suits their purposes. I would trust a snake before I would trust you or anybody you support.”
Responded Buckley: “What would you do if I supported the snake?”
His death leaves a hole that will never be filled in the Great Debate.
Andre the Defiant
27 Feb 08 at 10:00 pm