March 14, 2008 | By David Talbot

Preserving Buckley’s legacy

William F. Buckley, Jr. at The Heritage Foundation.

As students at Hillsdale College, my friends and I met the writings of William F. Buckley, Jr. His name, illuminating conversation or wielded as an authority in class, allured us like pocket knives and matchbooks captivate small boys. The difference was that now we were fiddling with ideas, wits, quotations, words: the tools of clear thinking and civilization. He was compelling. He loaded our pockets with an assortment of blades and matches, gave us a talk about what things are not good to cut or burn, and scooted us off with a quickening wink.

Reading Buckley was, for us, a baptism in reverence for the right word, the glories of a fine argument, sensibility with humor, and a humility that helped to keep us from taking ourselves too seriously. And Buckley was our intellectual god-father – the sort who encourages mischief and tact.

We celebrate his life by raising our glasses and committing ourselves to honor his legacy well.

Our alma mater boasts a valuable contribution to the preservation of William F. Buckley’s legacy: a searchable database of his complete writings helps readers access his brilliant mind.

“Well, thanks to Hillsdale College, it is all here, a lifetime’s work,” Buckley said when the site was launched. “Necessarily, you will find infelicities here, and maybe a deviation or two, but it is all an earnest attempt to contribute to the patrimony, preserved here thanks to Hillsdale.”

David Talbot is an intern at The Heritage Foundation.