William F. Buckley, Jr.: The Necessary Nucleus of Modern Conservatism

The death of William F. Buckley, Jr., this morning at his home in Connecticut--in his study, we're told--throws into sharp relief a remarkable life, well-lived.

In a day of professional pundits who pursue headlines and cable TV spots instead of knowledge and wisdom, or nonprofit leaders who amass fortunes but will be remembered chiefly for their avarice, he stood out as a household name who disdained mere popularity. His reputation was made not from mastering the ability to read the zeitgeist and then ride it, principles be damned, but from his genuine joy of learning, writing, debating, meeting others, and fighting the good fight.

Bill Buckley was the irreplaceable man for our struggles. He will be seen, I think, as the most important conservative since Edmund Burke. Not, of course, because he ever got around to writing that "big book" that everyone encouraged him to some day pound out, but because of his ubiquitous presence in every medium over so many decades, his unique and immensely likable personality and remarkable facility with language, and his ability to draw talent to his magazine and, more broadly, conservatism. He was the necessary nucleus without which the conservative movement would not have coalesced.

I met him only one time, at the Old Executive Office Building at a July, 2001 event to mark the fortieth anniversary of the death of Whittaker Chambers. I told him I'd edited and written a good bit of a college guide that I was certain he knew of, and he beamed, said of course he loved the book, that it was a pleasure to meet me. He made me feel not so much important, which I knew I wasn't, as grateful to have been there on that day, and to have met such a man.

I'm sure he had no idea who I was, yet even in meeting a very minor player, he made me feel that it was his great delight to know me. Given that so many say this about him, one can see a foundational element of his personality, and his success: an extraordinary generosity of spirit. At this event, at the end of his recollection of his long friendship with Chambers, he got all choked up. It was very moving then, as it is to recall it now.

William F. Buckley, Jr. Requiescat in pace.