It was sadly poignant that only a day before the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, a commemorative stamp honoring William F. Buckley, Jr. was unveiled in New Haven, Connecticut, at the late author and commentator’s alma mater, Yale University.
“All [at the ceremony] praised Buckley as a champion of dialogue who cheerfully plunged into the field to elevate the national dialogue and, yes, to change the nation,” historian David Pietrusza, author of six critically-acclaimed books on presidential elections, told Newsmax. “Less than 24 hours later, we heard from Utah regarding Charlie Kirk. And I was struck by the similarity between those who spoke of Buckley and the many friends and allies of Kirk who employed virtually [the] same phrases and ideas to both praise and mourn their compatriot.”
At 31, a conservative Republican and unabashed Donald Trump enthusiast, Kirk had been taking his brand of politics to campuses nationwide for years. Young people on all sides of the spectrum seemed to know him, even if they did not agree with the Arizonan — who had no college degree but was largely self-taught.
At the time of his death, left-wing Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker was scheduled to debate Kirk on Sept. 25.
“Prove Me Wrong!” was the motto that often emblazoned a sign behind Kirk, as he addressed overflow crowds at college after college. While he certainly had strong opinions and wore his friendship with Trump as if it were an Olympic gold medal, Kirk and his Turning Point USA welcomed and encouraged students on the left to speak out and challenge him if they truly felt strongly about their views.
It was Buckley, considered the patron saint of the postwar conservative movement, who pioneered and advocated the policy of “Love Thy Enemy” in politics. Three generations of reporters for Buckley’s National Review were admonished by “Chairman Bill” never to use pejorative terms for or personal jabs at their political opposite numbers.
A devout Roman Catholic and abortion opponent, Buckley used the term “pro-choice,” the label favored by those who disagreed with him, rather than the harsh sounding “pro-abortion.”
Buckley also practiced what he preached on his television program “Firing Line,” which ran from 1966-99 and still holds the record as the longest-running continuous public affairs program. Holding his signature yellow pad and clipboard and toying with a pen, Buckley engaged in rich and civil discourse with those who diametrically opposed him. Among them were 2004 Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry, heavyweight boxing champion (and Muslim convert) Muhammad Ali, pediatrician and leftist activist Benjamin Spock, liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith (Buckley’s Yale classmate), and novelist and self-styled radical Norman Mailer.
One memorable liberal who declined to debate him was Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y. Buckley’s response was to wonder why a sausage would reject the meat grinder.
Buckley did break his own rule once — famously. Appearing on ABC as a nightly commentator during the 1968 national conventions, Buckley lost his cool on national TV when co-pundit Gore Vidal said “the only crypto Nazi I can think of is yourself.” Buckley hit back hard: “Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto Nazi or I’ll sock you in your g—–n face and you’ll stay plastered.” Buckley was later angrier at himself than Vidal, and concluded a lengthy article in Esquire a year later: “I herewith apologize to Gore Vidal.”
“There is a dialogue possible between the conservative like Mr. Buckley and the radical like myself which could prove vastly more interesting than any confrontation between liberal and conservative, or radical and liberal,” wrote Norman Mailer, with whom Buckley maintained a personal friendship from their first meeting in 1962 until the novelist’s death in 2007. Buckley died a year later.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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