William F. Buckley, Jr.

    A hero in my life has passed, and with him an era. William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I never met but saw speak while a student at Cornell, is (present tense intended) an intellectual influence without peer. His work, relentless pursuit of logic and principle, and humble gratitude and love for our country are at once exemplary and difficult to emulate. A renaissance man, he was not only captivating author, he was an accomplished organist, an expert sailor, and dreamed to be teacher of Shakespeare.
    Above all he was a gentle and civil man who relied on argument and thought to win over his opponents and inspire his followers.
    I remember a guest on Firing Line declaring with haughty air 'nothing is perfect', to which Buckley calmly and politely retorted without hesitation, "How would you improve the Moonlight Sonata?"
    Even when the occasional slip from respectful discussion found its way into the dialog, his guests rarely found reason to deviate from the tone of civility he tacitly established. When he called communists "barbarians" during an interview with Malcolm Muggeridge, Muggeridge--who flirted with communism and later in life converted to Christianity, gently ventured "I wouldn't call them 'barbarians' ..." [even though it was clear they were acting barbarically]. This spawned an educated, cool-headed discussion of what to do about the problem in Europe.
    With patience, yet with a sense of constant urgency, with respect, yet unabashedly, with impeccable analysis, yet with creative wit Buckley nurtured American conservative thought in a way that disarmed his opponents by attracting them to the message rather than repelling them by its tone.
    Compare that to what we hear today on the radio and one only hopes that from the peaceful perch to which he aspired in Nearer My God he will inspire the hiers to his earthly profession to perpetuate honorable pursuit of ideas and truth.