Global Sixties: William F. Buckley Jr. and an Introduction to the 1960s

William F. Buckley Jr. and an Introduction to the 1960s

The cover of a Firing Line manuscript

When one thinks of the 1960s, many things at first come to mind: The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, hippies and even abortion. Conservatism does not come to mind readily, if at all, but in truth the 1960s was the time in the United States when the conservative movement was re-invigorated and energised like it hadn't been since the 1920s. This owed much to William F. Buckey Jr.

First, let us go to 1965, to the famous Cambridge Union debate "the American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro". Herein William Buckley debated James Baldwin, noted African-American writer and activist. Baldwin, for his part, eloquently described the very present effects of segregation and "Jim Crow" by using the first person ('I picked cotton, I carried it to market'), lamented the effects of racism on victim and perpetrator and denounced the patronising attitudes of liberal America. Buckley's counter-argument is a useful illustration of conservative thought: Among other arguments, he maintains the crucial distinction that America has high ideals, even if America hasn’t lived up to them. This was and remains a cornerstone of conservative thought, that America is not intrinsically flawed, but that Americans - as human beings - are, and must strive to improve society without overthrowing it.

Whilst this is but one debate, in the year afterwards began Firing Line. This television programme ran from 1966 until 1999 and showcased intellectual discussion and debate to a massive audience. It is hard to understate just how many subjects crucial to the late 1960s merited their own episode, all of which are freely available on YouTube. To give an example, the 1968 series had a particular focus on issues of race, with “Was the Civil-Rights Crusade a Mistake”, “The Wallace Crusade”, “The Wallace Movement”, “The Black Panthers”, “The Republic of New Africa”, and “Muhammad Ali and the Negro Movement” among its episodes.

To give a brief selection of the topics discussed, in his episode with Barry Goldwater, the two speculated on the future of the conservative movement in the United States, with a particular emphasis in the latter part of the broadcast to newly-elected California Governor Ronald Reagan. In an episode with Theodore Bikel, Buckley raises his concern of Communist infiltration of the student movement, and an episode featuring Noam Chomsky delves into his deep-seated concerns towards the war in Vietnam.

Mention can be made of his appearance for ABC alongside Gore Vidal, discussing the presidential primaries of 1968. During the notorious confrontations of the Democratic Convention, they mirrored this; Vidal, ¡charming as ever!, elected to call Buckley a ‘pro-crypto-Nazi’, to which Buckley responded ‘Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.’ As Michael Lind notes, Buckley was defending the Democrats, presaging the rightward shift of the "Reagan Democrats" as part of the conservative revival. A better segué into the subject of the 1968 convention one surely cannot find.

Finally, a word on National Review, the influential magazine he founded which helped weld together conservative elements from across the spectrum into one organised movement. Founded in 1955, it aptly demonstrates the necessary evolution of the conservative movement in Buckley's own evolution: His notorious editorial 'Why the South Must Prevail' justified illegally preventing blacks from voting. But over time Buckley's views moderated, as he challenged George Wallace's racism on Firing Line and - according to Alvin Felzenberg - wrote his mother in 1963, inquiring how she could 'reconcile Christian fraternity with the separation of the races.' National Review came to be a magazine that denounced racism and anti-Semitism within the conservative movement, helping moderate it away from fringe elements. - DANIEL A. RUSSELL

Sources (Primary):

· Firing Line (Barry Goldwater):

§ Transcript: https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/internal/media/dispatcher/82613/full

§ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHl5WW_sNSs&list=PLEAA8FCF32838CD68&index=13

· Firing Line (Theodore Bikel):

§ Transcript: https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/internal/media/dispatcher/82679/full

§ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLjzRrMAMsw&list=PLEAA8FCF32838CD68&index=15

· Firing Line (Noam Chomsky):

§ Transcript: https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/internal/media/dispatcher/83034/full

§ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DvmLMUfGss&list=PL8AE5E22DE1BBE273&index=4

· Why the South Must Prevail: https://adamgomez.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/whythesouthmustprevail-1957.pdf

· Cambridge Union Debate: