Charismatic Conservatism

William F. Buckley, Jr (AP Photos)

Christopher Buckley’s cover piece, “Mum and Pup and Me,” for last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, explores the writer’s complicated relationship with his legendary father, conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr.

Bill Buckley, even to his own son, was larger-than-life, making him a first rate political leader and writer but an emotionally elusive father. Indeed, William Buckley’s intellectual charisma and personal charm energized conservatism from the mid-1950′s until the mid-2000′s.

Today’s conservative movement misses Buckley’s charisma dearly. Under Buckley’s stewardship, conservatism was intellectually dynamic – bookish, even – and socially acceptable in elite Eastern circles. (With his help, for example, William’s older brother, James L. Buckley, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970 as a member of the Conservative Party of New York. Imagine that happening today!)

For an interesting -albeit rather negative – discussion of Buckley’s place in our modern imagination, check out William Hogeland’s Boston Review article from last year. A book based on the article is here.

Also, be on the lookout for a biography of Buckley within the next year from New York Times Book Review Editor and author of controversial essay “Conservatism is Dead,” Sam Tanenhaus.