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[[Image:6436rtdhgf.jpg|right|thumb|William F. Buckley, Jr., on his long-running television show [[Firing Line]].]]

[[Image:6436rtdhgf.jpg|right|thumb|William F. Buckley, Jr., on his long-running television show [[Firing Line]].]]

'''William Frank Buckley Jr.''' ([[New York City]], November 24, 1925 – Stamford, February 27, 2008) was a prominent [[conservative]] – but [[globalist]] – author and commentator during the second half of the 20th century.  He is best known for founding the [[National Review]].  He also hosted [[Firing Line]], a talk show featured for years on the otherwise [[liberal]] public television channel [[PBS]].  Buckley was admired on both sides of the political spectrum for his seemingly limitless vocabulary and his intellectual wit.  But he was not a [[grassroots]] activist and had no outstanding political achievements.

'''William Frank Buckley Jr.''' ([[New York City]], November 24, 1925 – Stamford, February 27, 2008) was a prominent [[conservative]] – but [[globalist]] – author and commentator during the second half of the 20th century.  He is best known for founding the [[National Review]].  He also hosted [[Firing Line]], a talk show featured for years on the otherwise [[liberal]] public television channel [[PBS]].  Buckley was admired on both sides of the political spectrum for his seemingly limitless vocabulary and his intellectual wit.  But he was not a [[grassroots]] activist and had no outstanding political achievements.  Buckley also led the intense [[liberal]] smear of the [[John Birch Society]], which was his more conservative competitor in the 1960s.

Buckley's political views did not represent the future of the conservative movement as much as its past, and he did not speak out enough about the big social issues that would dominate the future of politics.  For example, he was mostly silent about [[ERA]], the defining issue for the modern conservative movement.  Buckley was initially unwilling to take the [[pro-life]] side of the [[abortion]] issue, in the 1960s, for which he was sharply criticized by other conservatives at the time.  Also, Buckley was a [[globalist]], contrary to modern conservatives.  For example, Buckley supported [[NAFTA]] and giving away the [[Panama Canal]], despite its strategic significance and how the [[United States]] had built and paid for it.  Buckley also favored legalizing [[marijuana]].

Buckley's political views did not represent the future of the conservative movement as much as its past, and he did not speak out enough about the big social issues that would dominate the future of politics.  For example, he was mostly silent about [[ERA]], the defining issue for the modern conservative movement.  Buckley was initially unwilling to take the [[pro-life]] side of the [[abortion]] issue, in the 1960s, for which he was sharply criticized by other conservatives at the time.  Also, Buckley was a [[globalist]], contrary to modern conservatives.  For example, Buckley supported [[NAFTA]] and giving away the [[Panama Canal]], despite its strategic significance and how the [[United States]] had built and paid for it.  Buckley also favored legalizing [[marijuana]].

Buckley liked to go yachting, twice crossing the Atlantic himself, and playing the harpsichord. He married Patricia Alden Austin Taylor in 1950.

Buckley liked to go yachting, twice crossing the Atlantic himself, and playing the harpsichord. He married Patricia Alden Austin Taylor in 1950.

===Opposition to the John Birch Society===

===Smear of the John Birch Society===

In apparent appeasement of the [[liberal media]], beginning in the mid-1960s Buckley embarked on a smear campaign against the [[John Birch Society]].  Buckley hosted a show on public television called ''Firing Line'' and used that to try to discredit JBS, as he did at 30 and again at 31 minutes after the hour in his December 1, 1966 interview of an unrelated guest.<ref>http://scottlazarowitz.org/blog/2013/11/1966-william-f-buckley-jr-interview-of-mark-lane-warren-commission-critic/</ref>

In apparent appeasement of the [[liberal media]], beginning in the mid-1960s Buckley embarked on a smear campaign against the [[John Birch Society]].  Buckley hosted a show on public television called ''Firing Line'' and used that to try to discredit JBS, as he did at 30 and again at 31 minutes after the hour in his December 1, 1966 interview of an unrelated guest.<ref>http://scottlazarowitz.org/blog/2013/11/1966-william-f-buckley-jr-interview-of-mark-lane-warren-commission-critic/</ref>