A sweeping new biography of William F. Buckley Jr. argues that the witty, patrician polemicist did more than popularize conservatism — he organized it into a durable political force that would reshape American life from the Cold War to the Reagan era.
In Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, journalist and biographer Sam Tanenhaus chronicles how Buckley fused libertarians, traditionalist Catholics and militant anti-Communists into what became the modern conservative movement, chiefly through the magazine he founded, National Review, in 1955.
Tanenhaus portrays Buckley as a master performer, a prolific writer and television debater whose humor, ornate vocabulary and relish for intellectual combat helped conservative ideas reach audiences well beyond the movement’s early donors and newsletters.
But the biography also emphasizes tensions and blind spots that accompanied Buckley’s rise, including his early defense of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade and his role in policing the movement’s boundaries by denouncing the John Birch Society’s conspiracism.
The most enduring controversy, Tanenhaus argues, was Buckley’s failure on racial issues and civil rights. Buckley’s National Review famously defended segregation in the 1950s, a position that culminated in his high-profile 1965 Cambridge debate with author James Baldwin.
Buckley underestimated Baldwin. Baldwin's emotional and historical argument won the debate overwhelmingly. The encounter remains a touchstone in arguments over conservatism’s moral record.
Despite Buckley’s robust record of being wrong on policy and the issues — including his support for the war in Vietnam — Buckley laid the groundwork for American conservatism that today could be said to have conquered American politics.
Guest:
Sam Tanenhaus is a prominent American journalist, biographer, and historian, known for editing The New York Times Book Review (2004-2013) and writing acclaimed biographies. He's a contributing writer for The Washington Post and has written for major publications like The New Yorker and The Atlantic, focusing on politics, culture, and media.
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This episode will be recorded on Monday, January 5, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
