William F. Buckley, Jr.

                                                             Requiescat in Pace

                                                       William F. Buckley, Jr.

How does one appropriately say “goodbye” for the last time to an old and valued friend?

My heart was filled with sadness today when I learned of Bill Buckley’s passing at the age of 82.

I will not try here to catalogue his unique, historic and impressive accomplishments. The news media today rightfully has been filled with accounts of his life and tributes to this great man.

When I learned that Bill’s trenchant, dramatic words were forever silenced, my mind flooded with memories of our friendship and our many public and private times together. I wistfully recalled the gentle, prodding advice and skillful guidance I and other conservatives so gratefully received at so many junctures.

I first met Bill over half a century ago.   

I had not seen Bill in recent years, but it was 1955 when he was putting together the team of conservatives and apostate ex-communists and repenting liberals that would produce National Review magazine, the weekly rallying point for young Americans thirsting for an end to suffocating liberalism and appeasement of Communism.

Those were the formative days of the American conservative movement, and before Goldwater, before Reagan -- there was “WFB” (as he signed his memos).

This great man and his associates at NR were instrumental in the creation of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) which became the driving force in turning college campuses from left to right and in spearheading the successful 1963 Draft Goldwater for President campaign.
In the fall of 1964, when the defeat of Barry Goldwater was clearly inevitable, Bill spoke publicly about Goldwater “impending defeat.” The late U.S. Congressman John Ashbrook of Ohio and I flew to New York to meet with Bill. Out of that meeting came the American Conservative Union (ACU), which is still going strong 40 years later.

I can still recall the thrill of accompanying Bill and the late James Burnham in the 1960s in a private train compartment from Washington to New York City, discussing plans for the inevitable conservative triumph, not only in American, but against global Communism. We never doubted, and we were right.

There was an overnight stay at Bill and Pat’s Stamford waterfront estate. After serving drinks Bill played the harpsichord for my wife, Carol, and I -- then insisted we take a midnight swim in his pool. The next day we spent at Great Elm, the Buckley family estate in Sharon, with members of his mother and family members who had become our friends. Indeed, Bill’s sister, Trish and her late husband, Brent Bozell, were godparents for our oldest daughter.

But these are the fond memories of friends.

The world at large knows Bill Buckley as the single individual who provided the intellectual power to turn the leftward tide. Called a "national institution" by the Chicago Tribune, Bill had an established and a well-deserved reputation as one of America's most accomplished political analysts, critics and debaters.

It was he who rescued old style American conservatism from the fever swamps of isolation and anti-Semitism, launching a new national movement that captured the Republican Party and the nation’s imagination. His wit, erudition, style and innate kindness – not to mention his melodic command of the English language, were hallmarks of his daily life.

In the dark days of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was approached by his Illinois colleagues who were raising funds for a monument to Rep. Owen Lovejoy, a friend who had died while in office.

Lincoln accompanied his contribution with this: “Let him have his marble monument. But the true monument for this great man is the memory of his greatness in the hearts of all who knew him.”

We, and America, will miss you WFB. Sadly, the world is unlikely to see your like again.