I used to assign this book by William F. Buckley, together with John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Good Society and The Best of Abbie Hoffman, in my first-year writing class. No outside observer could complain that the students were not getting exposed to the full spectrum of political ideology of our country. Though most of the speeches were older than my students, and some even older than me, they made a significant impact on all of us.

Buckley was truly a renaissance man, though one could see him as more medieval in his attitude and approach to life. He was a scholar, writer, spy, publisher, sailor, an accomplished harpsichordist and true wordsmith. One assignment for my students was to look up any word Buckley used that they didn’t know. Over six or seven speeches, most students would have to look up at least ten words. Amazingly, English was Buckley’s third language having grown up with the Spanish of his nannies and the French of his Swiss mother. Buckley not only made my students more fluent but also more erudite in general.

The speeches from this book are a joy to read. None are very long, all are amazing in their clarity and each is a masterpiece of the English language. The speeches cover a breadth of subjects: “Should Liberalism Be Repudiated?”; “The Aimlessness of American Education”; “The Republic’s Duty to Repress”; “Without Marx or Jesus?”; “The Terrible Sadness of Spiro Agnew”; “The High Cost of Mr. Nixon’s Deceptions”; “The Courage of Friedrick Hayek”; “Moral Distinctions and Modern Warfare”; “Who Cares if Homer Nodded?”; and “The Personal Grace of J.K. Galbraith”. If you think Barack Obama is a wonderful orator, you should read this collection.

Probably what I will miss most about Buckley is how he used the power of his intellect to disarm his opponents and yet was always graceful. Buckley was not one to personally attack anyone for disagreeing with him. He had a long-term friendship with Galbraith that included ski vacations together in Switzerland despite the fact that Buckley felt that Galbraith was completely wrong in every aspect of political economy. It wasn’t personal; it was intellectual. They were both still human beings at the end of the day.

The conservative movement in America has been cast adrift without William F. Buckley to hoist its sail into the breeze. Today’s so-called conservative commentators, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, need to yell and insult people in order to respond when challenged. Buckley never yelled or insulted; he didn’t have to resort to such base histrionics. Buckley’s grace, elegance and pure intellectual strength were all that was needed in an ideological joust. These side-side show hucksters, who call themselves conservatives yet are merely charlatans looking to make a quick buck, are a sad commentary on the level of political discourse in America today.

Anyone who does not understand the impact of William F. Buckley on America should consider the following: Before Goldwater, before Reagan there was Buckley; without Buckley, there would be no Goldwater or Reagan.

(This was the most difficult essay for me to write. I felt Buckley standing over my shoulder questioning every word, punctuation mark and phrase I typed. I hope he is not too disappointed in the result.)

Go Yotes.

Dr. Jasper M. LiCalzi
Professor and Chair
Department of Political Economy
The College of Idaho