Yale Daily News

You left out Buckley's support for Jim Crow and apartheid.

Not only was Mr. Buckley the premier conservative public intellectual of our age, he was also passionately loyal to Yale and interested in the generations of students who followed him.

I remember him taking the time out of his busy schedule on no less than three occasions to meet with myself and other small groups of Yale Political Union members during my four years here in the early 1990s.

Not only were his intellectual contributions enormous, but he had an unfailing personal grace and a great love (albeit a critical love) for this institution.

He will be greatly missed.

I almost never agreed with him politically, but he was an intellectual giant with great wit and grace. He will be missed indeed.

The NYT said he decried Yale as being "atheistic". What do you atheists at Yale think about that? Did he really support Jim Crow and Apartheid? May he ... if he did.

This piece about Bill is well done. I am sure his family will appreciate how quickly you got it out to your readers.

To set the record straight so that this can hopefully be put to rest by the likes of #1 and #4, I quote from an interview of William F. Buckley by the Time:

"OVER THE PAST HALF-CENTURY, YOU HAVE ENGAGED IN VIRTUALLY ALL THE GREAT DEBATES IN AMERICAN POLITICS AND CULTURE. HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY POSITIONS YOU NOW REGRET? Yes. I once believed we could evolve our way up from Jim Crow. I was wrong: federal intervention was necessary."

Even liberals have to respect him. He was undeniably smart, witty, and everyone who encountered him seemed to like him. A true Yale guy, I'm proud to share alma matters with him, even though I disagree with 90% of what he stands for. He put on a good show with Big Bird at the Tercentennial...

So when he wrote, "the white community ... for the time being, it is the advanced race," that was with the underlying assumption that the African-American community would simply "evolve" or adapt to racist legislation?

Mr. Buckley's view on Jim Crow in the 50s was not that it was a desirable policy from a state perspective, but that the federal government should not get involved. In later years, he came to change his view and believed that federal intervension to end segregation was correct. But importantly, even his initial position in the 50s was entirely defensible, since he did not actively support segregation as a policy matter even back then.

The position described by #9 might or might not be defensible; in any event, it isn't accurate. From 1957 (a time when Buckley was indisputably responsible for the editorial output of National Review):

"The central question that emerges—and it is not a parliamentary question or a question that is answered by merely consulting a catalog of the rights of American citizens, born Equal—is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes—the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. …

National Review believes that the South's premises are correct. If the majority wills what is socially atavistic, then to thwart the majority may be, though undemocratic, enlightened. It is more important for any community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority. Sometimes it becomes impossible to assert the will of a minority, in which case it must give way; and the society will regress; sometimes the numerical minority cannot prevail except by violence: then it must determine whether the prevalence of its will is worth the terrible price of violence."

Back as we entered the war in Iraq in the spring of 2003, I heard Buckley in an interview voicing his opposition: good for him!

And, he asked if we can find throughout history any multicultural nation that actually succeeded. Obviously not.

And, let's be honest: what did school busing accomplish? Buckley had it right the first time. Too bad he sold out to the Zionist interlopers.

Obviously, having Whites in the classroom doesn't help Blacks; but being targets of Black violence severely harms the innocent Whites who aren't wealthy enough to escape from mixed-race public schools.

The time has come to ask if the Liberal policies of the past four decades have done anything but drag America to its knees.

I respect Buckley. He did what he could do. We needed more, and he understood this fact; but unfortunately our nation was still caught up in the rampaging fury of the New Left which made effective leadership impossible.

Some people disparage Buckley for his eagerness to compromise; yet his writing and his work, as well as his image as a charming intellectual, did protect the right, and blocked the ilk of Norman Lear from smearing us all as "Archie Bunker" and "trailer-park trash."

Buckley's influence will inspire our future leaders. And I am sure that in his heart he hated Israel as much as I do.