William F. Buckley

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William F. Buckley, 82, died at his desk Wednesday after a long and fruitful career as an author of conservative views.

I remember watching him on TV years ago as he would verbally wrestle with guests on “Firing Line” or when he was a guest on other shows. And while I admired his verbal dexterity, I must admit I never warmed to him.

People change. I know that. I’ve changed over the years. But I was never quite convinced that Buckley had fully abandoned his segregationist or elitist stances.

In 1955, he started “National Review,” a very intellectual magazine that was well-respected. When the first issue was published in November of that year, it unabashedly supported Southern segregationists, saying blacks should be denied the right to vote.

When other conservatives objected to that position, Buckley changed the magazine’s stance to denying both uneducated white people and black people the right to vote.

Forgive me, but I’m not seeing how that is any better.

Then, in 1957, he wrote, “The central question that emerges … is whether the white community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas where 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, August, 24, 1957)

Reportedly, Buckley came to believe that black people were O.K., although I could find nothing that said how he came to feel about the uneducated or poor among us. Some say he even supported a national holiday for The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I stopped following Buckley when other things commanded my attention. I never really looked him up or tried to research any of his more current writings after that. He might have changed. He may have come to realize that God created us all and that He loves us all equally.

I hope so.

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