George Nash wrote a book on the history of conservatism. John J. Miller | Collegian
Historian George Nash said American politics changed under the work of William F. Buckley, a man many consider to be the “patron saint of American conservatism,” April 8 in Plaster Auditorium.
“He changed minds, he changed lives, and he labored successfully to change the direction of American politics,” Nash said.
Nash is a scholar, historian and lecturer specializing in the history of Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and the history of American conservatism. He has published multiple books, including “Conservative Intellectual Movement in American Since 1945,” and served on the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science for three years after presidential appointment.
The National Review Institute partnered with Hillsdale’s history department to host Nash’s talk as part of a lecture series NRI is hosting across the country in honor of Buckley’s centenary.
Buckley wrote more than 6,000 articles, essays, and columns during his 60 years in the public eye, according to Nash. Perhaps most importantly, Nash said, Buckley gave conservatism a new face.
“He was a character, in addition to everything else. A character who was worthy of caricature, of imitation,” Professor of History Wilfred McClay said in his opening remarks. “He made conservatism interesting. He gave it a sort of glamour.”
Buckley was born in 1925 to a wealthy conservative, Catholic family. He went on to attend Yale University, where he graduated in 1950. Though he succeeded at Yale, Nash said, Buckley had serious concerns about the state of the university.
“He was appalled by the rampant secularism and collectivist economic teachings that he discerned inside and outside the classroom,” Nash said. “He was also offended by the Yale administration’s apparent indifference to these trends in the hallowed name of academic freedom.”
Nash said Buckley’s dissatisfaction with the Yale administration prompted him to write an exposé entitled “God and Man at Yale.” The book attracted national attention, Nash said, and more than 70 years after its initial publication, is still in print.
“With an unintended assist from what’s called Yale’s apparatus, a star was born. A conservative star who was both young and debonair,” Nash said.
According to Nash, the American right was divided in the 1950s between more intellectual conservatives and their strictly libertarian counterparts. This was due in part to the lack of a serious weekly conservative journal or newspaper. Nash said Burkley sought to remedy this with the founding of National Review magazine.
After Buckley publicly criticized the leaders of the John Birch Society, a popular right-wing group, in 1962, National Review lost a significant number of subscribers, Nash said.
“But with conspicuous support of rising conservative luminaries like the Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, Buckley and his journal survived the storm and emerged as the principal gatekeeper of the conservative movement,” Nash said.
Buckley’s influence extends beyond the foundation of National Review, Nash said. It was at Buckley’s home in Sharon, Connecticut, that 100 students formed Young Americans for Freedom in 1960. Buckley also hosted a popular talk show called “Firing Line” that ran from 1966 to 1999.
Nash said Buckley was also a trusted friend and key advisor to President Ronald Reagan.
“On more than one occasion, Reagan acknowledged his intellectual debt to the man he called the conservative Galahad, ready to take on any challenges in the critical battle of point and counterpoint,” Nash said.
Despite his busy professional life, Nash said, Buckley maintained an active social life. He was an avid sailor and piloted yachts across the Atlantic several times. He was also fond of classical music and could play the harpsichord at a near-professional level.
“He was by and large a cheerful controversialist, and in the process, a collector of an incredible gallery of friends,” Nash said.
Though he led such an influential life, Nash said, many young conservatives may not know about Buckley.
Freshman Pierce Leaman said he was familiar with Buckley because he grew up reading National Review. He did not know, however, what Buckley had done other than start the magazine.
“I’d always suspected that Buckley wrote a lot besides political history, but I did not know what specifically,” Leaman said.
Nash said he hoped his talk would help students rediscover the relevance of Buckley’s life and legacy.
“His life was a reminder to his generation, and now to ours, that the conservative cause requires minds as well as voices to be successful,” Nash said. “To his enduring credit, William F. Buckley Jr. had both, and I suspect that for those conservatives who now discover or rediscover him, he will prove to be a maestro for years to come.”
