Scourge of liberalism and godfather of US conservatism

By Jurek Martin
Published: February 28 2008 02:00

From my earliest years, I have been an ardent admirer and avid reader of the late William F. Buckley Jr. It seems that in all ways he represented character, dignity, and respect, every bit as much as he represented soaring talent and intellectual prowess.

I have read a good many of obituary and testimonial articles (including that of his own National Review) in search of words and a tone by which I would like to have his memory consecrated on Leaves.

For this I have settled upon the this report in the Financial Times.

Please click through to read of this great man in its entirety.

clipped from www.ft.com

William F. Buckley Jr, who died yesterday at the age of 82, was the witty patrician godfather of the modern American conservative movement, a man of many parts whose often self-deprecating erudition was admired by friend and foe alike.

He was a formidable television personality, hosting the programme Firing Line , which ran for 33 years. He founded the National Review, the pre-eminent conservative magazine, wrote nearly 50 books, including spy novels, and was a syndicated newspaper columnist. According to his son, the author Christopher Buckley, he was probably working on an article when found dead at his desk. He had been suffering from diabetes and emphysema.

The beginning of his career as a conservative provocateur, is manifested in his famous first book, God and Man at Yale , published in 1951, a sharp critique of what he saw as the university's atheistic and collectivist tendencies.