William Buckley, the founder of modern day conservatism, died today. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on.
William F. Buckley Jr. dies at 82
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- National Review founder and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. was found dead Wednesday in the study of his Stamford, Connecticut, home, officials at the magazine said.
William F. Buckley Jr. founded the National Review in 1955.
"Buckley died while at work," said Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of the National Review Online, in a written statement. "If he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas."
Buckley's assistant, Linda Bridges, said he had suffered from emphysema for a few years, but the exact cause of death is unknown. She said Buckley was found dead by his cook at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
"Even though he had been ailing, this took us completely by surprise," said Bridges, who worked with Buckley for nearly 40 years.
"He was a great hero of American conservatism -- a brilliant and exciting writer and public performer," she added. "And he was somebody I was very proud and glad to call a friend."
Buckley's writings are widely credited for supporting the growth of the U.S. conservative movement in the latter half of the 20th century. See photos from Buckley's life »
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He achieved national attention in 1955, when he founded the National Review at age 29, and gained a following with "Firing Line," his Emmy-winning syndicated public television show, according to Contemporary Authors Online.
"I am profoundly saddened to hear of the passing of William F. Buckley Jr., and offer my deepest condolences to the Buckley family," Sen. John McCain said in a statement Wednesday. "With Bill's passing, freedom has lost one of its greatest defenders ... an American giant who shall be missed."
President Bush also offered his condolences in a statement Wednesday.
"America has lost one of its finest writers and thinkers," President Bush said in a statement issued Wednesday. Watch Bush react to Buckley's death »
"Bill Buckley was one of the great founders of the modern conservative movement. He brought conservative thought into the political mainstream, and helped lay the intellectual foundation for America's victory in the Cold War and for the conservative movement that continues to this day."
President Ronald Reagan, a longtime reader of the National Review, paid tribute to Buckley's conservative reputation in 1985.
Speaking at the magazine's 30th anniversary celebration -- attended by such notables as Charlton Heston, Tom Selleck, Jack Kemp and Tom Wolfe -- Reagan remarked: "If any of you doubt the impact of National Review's verve and attractiveness, take a look around you this evening. The man standing before you now was a Democrat when he picked up his first issue in a plain brown wrapper; and even now, as an occupant of public housing, he awaits as anxiously as ever his biweekly edition -- without the wrapper."
News of Buckley's death was "deeply saddening to everyone in the conservative community," said Republican National Committee Chairman Robert Duncan.
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio called Buckley "the architect of the modern conservative movement."
"America has lost a giant," Boehner said in a written statement. He lauded Buckley for taking a stance against socialism in his first issue of the National Review.
"As long as America honors the ideals of our Founding Fathers -- free speech, freedom of religion and limited, constitutional government -- his legacy will be cherished," he said.
The sixth of 11 children, Buckley was born in New York City in 1926. He gained public attention early in his career with a scathing attack against his alma mater, titled "God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of Academic Freedom."
The book, published a year after Buckley graduated, accused his alma mater of fostering secular and leftist beliefs, according to the National Review.
He served as the magazine's editor for 35 years, before stepping down in 1990 to become a contributing editor.
Buckley began a syndicated column, "On the Right," in 1962, covering subjects as diverse as political campaigns, changes in the tax code and celebrities.
He made an unsuccessful run for New York City mayor in 1965, describing it as a "paradigmatic campaign," according to the National Review.
A year later, he launched "Firing Line," drawing a wide array of guests, including Margaret Thatcher, Gerald Ford, Allen Ginsberg and Groucho Marx. The show ran until December 1999.
He wrote more than 50 books over his lifetime, managed to visit every continent and played harpsichord concertos, according to the magazine.
"Bill Buckley is indescribable. He's irreplaceable," conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said on his Wednesday show. "There will not be another one like him."
Buckley is survived by his son, novelist Christopher Taylor Buckley. His wife of 56 years, Patricia Taylor, died in April 2007 |
