How William F. Buckley shaped conservatism
May 8, 2007| By Nathaniel Ward
At the end of the Second World War, liberalism appeared triumphant. Much of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal remained in place, and Harry Truman’s Fair Deal reinforced these policies. In Western Europe, left-wing parties were winning elections even as Communist armies marched into Eastern Europe and the Far East.
Many Americans were quite rightly appalled, but they had no leadership and no plan to undo the damage done or prevent future setbacks. Then there emerged in 1955 a new journal dedicated to “stand[ing] athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” But this magazine, National Review, was just the beginning of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s many contributions to the conservative movement.
As detailed in Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement, Buckley was at the center of the campaign to make conservative ideas ascendant and demonstrate the intellectual bankruptcy of the Left.
While conservatives today disagree on many things, coauthor Linda Bridges said at The Heritage Foundation last week, they remain in accord about Buckley’s numerous contributions to the conservative movement.
- Listen to a recording of this event online (MP3 format).
- Purchase a copy of Strictly Right online from Amazon.com.
One anecdote she recounted involved Ed Feulner, who would later go on to found The Heritage Foundation (he recently celebrated 30 years at Heritage’s helm). In 1964, she said, Buckley, Feulner and other conservative intellectuals met in New York City to establish the Philadelphia Society. As Buckley tells the story, he and Feulner each put forward $50 in seed money for the organization. But, Bridges explained, “Ed assures me that the hundred bucks was all Bill’s and that Ed’s task was to take it to the bank and open a bank acct for the Philadelphia Society.”
Buckley’s magazine and his personal connections were central to Barry Goldwater’s groundbreaking 1964 presidential campaign—and, as Bridges and coauthor John Coyne relate, to urging an actor named Ronald Reagan to seek not only the governorship of California but the highest office in the land. He also established in New York state a new Conservative Party to help draw politics in that state to the right, and he drew national attention (and a number of votes) in his 1965 campaign for mayor of New York City.
Outside the realm of electoral politics, his column—which has run at least once a week since 1962—brought conservative ideas to millions of Americans, and his television program Firing Line took the conservative message to living rooms across the nation. On his annual lecture circuit, he explained conservative thought to new audiences, and he was involved in organizing Young Americans for Freedom, the Philadelphia Society and other conservative institutions.
This first biography of the conservative guiding light to be written by conservatives, though, is not merely a history of his achievements in the world of ideas. It’s a deeply personal account of his entire life, from his childhood to the present. From anecdotes about his trans-Atlantic sailing trips, to amusing stories about pranks at the National Review office, to an account of his verbal sparring with Gore Vidal in 1968, the book presents a complete and at times intimate picture of Buckley’s life.
At last week’s book event, Heritage scholar Lee Edwards praised Strictly Right as “a superb biography of the man and the movement.” Buckley, he said, is “the founding father of the American conservative political movement” and his magazine serves as “the flagship of American conservatism.”
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
