Recommendations for Buckley by Sam Tanenhaus, a biography. You will learn a lot about who the man was. The why of the man requires some extrapolation from the facts.
The most relevant facts are these: Bill Buckley, Jr. grew up in his father’s household. Bill Buckley Senior was staunchly anti-communist and libertarian, and his wife was adamantly religious.
Bill Buckley, Jr’s lifelong crusade against all things liberal began at Yale in 1936. He, himself, and many other conservatives fell in love with his high-culture, witty, and urbane writing and speaking style.
His strength lay in his patience and his even temper, punctuated by a ready smile and some of the best retorts ever seen on the page or heard from the stage.
But, on reading his story, one thing becomes painfully clear. His life was consumed by an amorphous constellation of ideologies and by his perceived need to be a champion of them.
Every hero needs an anti-hero, and, in the 50’s and 60’s, Bill Buckley matched wits with many rising stars on the left: James Baldwin, Adam Clayton Powell, and Gore Vidal for example.
As to the most divisive topic of his day and ours, race, he didn’t see the need to make an issue of it. From his privileged perspective, there was no need to agitate for any changes.
And the voice of William F. Buckley, Jr. can still be heard when current-day conservatives stand to be heard.
Proposed: Let’s stop trying to turn positives into negatives. Are we WOKE? Yes, we are awake and casting our visions ahead for the betterment of our futures. Do we believe in Diversity? Yes, the possibilities for hybrid vigor in this, our melting pot, have never been greater, and there are only two absolutely essential ingredients: Equity and Inclusion.
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