A conservative icon steps down

Adam Daifallah

National Post

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Some 50 years ago, a man named William F. Buckley Jr. started a magazine. The son of a wealthy oilman, the Yale-educated Buckley represented the vanguard of the fledgling political movement we now recognize as modern conservatism. Buckley had first made a mark in 1951 with his controversial book God and Man at Yale. But the founding of National Review in 1955 earned him his standing as one of the most important public intellectuals of the 20th century.

That journey began to wind down last night, when Buckley relinquished control of the magazine to a board of trustees. While National Review will continue to run Buckley's columns, the ageing master's role will be significantly reduced.

It is hard to imagine National Review without Buckley. The smooth-talking New Englander built the polemical fortnightly into the most important and consequential journal of conservative opinion in the United States. No other non-elected person has done more to popularize right-wing ideas.

Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential candidacy, acknowledged to be a springboard for the modern conservative movement, would not have been possible without Buckley's behind-the-scenes organization and his championing of the Arizona Republican's candidacy in the pages of his magazine. Neither would the ascension of Ronald Reagan. Nor the mainstreaming of ideas like increased military spending, smaller government, tax cuts and total victory over the Soviet Union. It is hard to imagine that a small-circulation magazine could have such a profound impact on the Zeitgeist. But it did.

Of course, Buckley's achievements go beyond establishing National Review and keeping it financially solvent. (Like most opinion magazines, it has never turned a profit.) He hosted the popular TV program Firing Line for decades. And he helped bring Catholics into the Republican Party. But perhaps his two greatest legacies are ones that Canadian conservatives could learn much from. First was his constant attention to cultivating the next generation of conservative leaders: Buckley always scoped for new talent, bringing in young contributors to the magazine. Rich Lowry, the National Review's feisty editor, is only 33, and many of his writers were recruited in their 20s.

Second was his remarkable feat in mainstreaming conservative views. Rather than remaining within a right-wing clique, Buckley openly embraced establishment figures -- charming John Kenneth Galbraith, George McGovern and the Manhattan social circuit, even as he stuck to his convictions. This in turn sped up acceptance of an ideology that was at one time considered scary and extreme by America's bien pensants.

Buckley launched his magazine with a famous article in which he declared his mission to be standing athwart history, yelling Stop. History has rolled on, of course. Fortunately, so will National Review.