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| Buckley. Vidal. Let's get it on. |
He enjoyed being hated by liberals. They served to validate
his beliefs. “There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state
and self-reliance,” he suggested.
William F. Buckley Jr.
was often the smartest guy in the room, but he usually chose the room.
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| Entertainer/Entrepreneur |
Bill was the go-to telegenic conservative public
intellectual for much of the 60s. He was everywhere. Even ran for mayor
of New York City – likely for the platform, not the position.
They called his accent ‘mid-Atlantic’. It gave him a
natural, privileged aura. He often appeared strategically disheveled.
Of the Vietnam
War he said, “The pity is that we
are saving our tactical nuclear weapons for melodramatic use.” Near the end of
his life, looking back, he surmised Vietnam was a mistake. Also reversed himself on Civil Rights. Flip-flops…but he had the guts to flop.
His TV show, Firing Line, was on the air for thirty-three years. He met his match with guest Noam Chomsky and
purposely avoided him from thereon.
The writer Gore Vidal believed
“[Buckley] was a very stupid guy, who never read any of those books he referred
to, and Americans, being such hicks, thought he was a great nobleman and a real
gentleman.”
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| Bardot. Buckley. Let's get it on. |
He wrote a series of spy novels.
Buckley wasn’t really an intellectual, academic, capitalist or provocateur. He was an entertainer/entrepreneur. He once said it was a tough way to make a buck.
Buckley wasn’t really an intellectual, academic, capitalist or provocateur. He was an entertainer/entrepreneur. He once said it was a tough way to make a buck.
Someone with his learning, brains, and vocabulary wouldn’t last thirty minutes on today’s airwaves.
His career? ...Commenting on his convictions.
Love him or leave him, William Buckley had a very
rare talent for a TV host. He made people... think.