1921, 1985 right reason, through his entire series through his latest collection of speeches, let us talk of many things throughout the end of this month. The next three hours mr. Buckley joins to take your calls and questions as we explore his life and writing and politics. Welcome. Thank you very much. This is old and musty. This is what, 49 years old. Yes came out in 1951. He had supposed i calculated to come out on the 250th anniversary and i was coincidental. The picture on the back you remember that . No. What is in the book. The book was an examination from yale was given to the impulses and the closest to which he was exposed having to do with government. It was enthusiasm for government or enthusiasm for lesser government. And also in respect to religion. And what was encouraged with religion that has touched. Faith or skepticism. I concluded in the collective this of impulses and retrospect to the other, should i rattle on or do you want to . I was going to say and became part of a minister. In the section on christianity was christian minded young men and i wanted to tell you that everything you said was prove correct. As which he met the disappearance of the strong Christian Faith was accurately predicted in his knowledge of what one and subsequently happen. You ever figure how many of those books you sold over the last 49 years . It was not an enormous selling, it got a lot of attention. Three reviews which was in deciding which ones to buy. This has been taken back to 100,000. This is mccarthy and his friends, what you did that come out. Exactly. That came out in 1954. And the mccarthy movement and me. In the last year of law school and put out from the cia and you look at 1954, the country was enormous in those parts of the countries that were mobilized on mccarthy on the communist issue. We close the book in september 1953 and as a record in a novel most of his really crazy mistakes wouldve been later in one important exception the book is a very good resour resource. And in fact the publisher, that is why want the book. I want Solid Research on these hearings. They were the great question during that period and when he disappeared in the homage came along. That proved to be the battlefield of which mccarthy. We are going to be talking to the bottom of the hour which is 24 minutes away and then it will be open phones to you for two and half hours as we try to work through the books that you published, here is one called up from liberalism, its a paperback here but what was the purpose of this book when you read it. That was written in 1958 or 59 and what it attempted to do was to distill in the postulates and to hold him up to the scrutiny of events and ask do we move up the reverse in the realism in the infection of our policies which are most successful. Who was he and why the forward . John was a spectacular leftist during the 30s, he is a socialist and a utopian, he came around on that and shock of a huge constituency by becoming conservative, when i suggested it, rather than enthusiastically do so, that was that. You call it jewelers all right and then youre on a scooter. I used to go around on a scooter in this particular photographer shop that and a few others in magazines and the publisher liked it. That book came out as the first of my collections and it was very successful. It happened to come out at a moment when there was a lot of publicity with my exchanges on the political conventions but we had to do with the success. Is a collection of material put in 1958 with a market blend. 41 books, when we went to try to find them we learned you do not even have all 41, or do you . I try to keep a copy that maybe i messed up on one or two. Some of these are yours and some belong to nick who have collected books over the years and some we had. Left and right. Thats a rare book, the second on my collections, that had a long essay that i wrote for the chambers when he died incorporating material which he sent me into a book of his own and it was published in the magazine in a got a fair amount of attention and beyonce, one of many had many reasons of the perfect title for mr. Buckleys book, thats all he engaged in. Would you have written most of your books . Almost all in switzerland except for two or three i have a routine. How long do you stay there . Six or seven weeks. The time that we are talking, you have been back for how long . Ive been back over a year. This time, when did you get back from switzerland. Ten days ago. You rested. Im not rested. I try to get rested. I rode in the New York Times you talk about testosterone and he says that hes using that. That was a good reason. But ever since he used his energy level is completely back to normal, and i said that might be a good thing to investigate. Born in 1925, 74 years old, any time over the 41 books that you enjoy the most . I find writing hard by which i mean im not in the company of those whose look forward to writing, he told me that he had a hard time sleeping, about 3 0e woke up and he got up and went to his desk and got on his typewriter and wrote an essay or something and went back to sleep. I know a few people like that whose need to write can be compared to some people need to eat or take exercise. I dont have that. I do terribly hard sweaty work in irate quickly. And to contract the pain. What you write with. I write on a computer. How long have you done that. Since they existed. What did you do before that. Typewriter i was the editor of my schools paper i had to write an editorial every day and for the first week or two i would write by hand but them back to typewriter which most people do. What typ kind of data you ri. My routine is to start writing at 430 in the afternoon. Can you do your regular work in the morning. Was your wife in switzerland this time around . She broke her leg and 65 so she has not skied since then so i have to do the on my own. Did you ski this time. I had a flu i had a cranky flu that did not immobilize me but made it almost impossible to ski, it withered the limbs, i grew out of it by the time i came back. Its a wonderful book. I was asked by nixon to be a public member of the united nations, 1973 so i did, about two and half months in in order to justify, i wrote about it. So for bibliography, nothing had ever been written about it except the book by my photographer and the brazilian delegation, the reasoning it was such a bore, i wrote the book and i sent it to the new yorker and it was accepted right away, i wish they wouldve published it but they said they would have to delayed by six months. So i pulled it out and published it in the middle of the way. Its a really Interesting Program because it was at the height of the cold war plus the moment where he took over in chile. In the threeday war, it was a pretty exciting time september 1973. I wrote about at the time that it was the most extraordinary deposit about president s of hypocrisy in the history of civilization. Everyone knew that the spokesman from east germany is what he was told to say in the spokesman from saudi arabia would challenge the credentials of israel and how it was used in last 25 years. Everybody refer to each other with the exaggerated difference. And it pretty ugly site. At the same time i recognize that it was expedited in your right to transmit a radio being and stuff like that im not making the suggestion at the time that the United States ought to do, this is much less important now was never ever to vote which i must argue threatened, all of those things it will never help, you lose the vote, you subscribe to the superstition that the democratic process should be listened to even when it is completely far from the truth. Immorality i suggested was taken and people ignored it. Gradually the power accumulated in the council and pretty much rested there. He will be with us for another two hour and 45 minutes. This is called in depth. We dont have a collar, per se, because someone has taken it. Voting on the conservative party ticket. 1965. The republican candidate was full of ideas indistinguishable. So, it was a dramatic location, in part, because there was a newspaper strike. That way, john was equal time. That gave exposure. Routine newspaper accounts were given to them. The opportunity to try to express conservative views on problems. In a sense, i kept insisting he was really a democrat. He became a democrat five years later. The nomination on the republican party. November 1, 1965 from a grateful and devoted soninlaw. New york city, may 1, 1966. What is your philosophy of dedication . I tried to acknowledge people that are important to me personally or professionally. There is a wide variety of this. The business of, you have to mean somebody elses depressing. You find out your forgotten your own mother. It sounds impulsive to who sort of comes to mind when it comes to the dedication. Your mother in law and your wife. Her daughter. When did you meet her . When she was a freshman and i was a sophomore. Then we sort of renewed our courtship i guess it began in vancouver. That was 50 years ago. My collection. Oh, yeah. The first one in my collection in which i asked somebody else to edit. To Read Everything in the last seven years. And so i asked, a junior associate, a biographer to do me the favor of singling out the material. The completed him. I have something with the National Review. Team 55. What is your relationship to it now . I am an editor at large. Never made any money . No. Did that bother you . Only the sense of making money on a school. We are educational primarily. Absorbing an enterprise. You dedicate it. Oh, yeah. The support of the magazine. We differ now. The great thing is notwithstanding the difference. Here it is in the latest issue. Everybody patronize as him. Where does he live . North carolina. Supporters dont like what you are saying . Yes. One company in the society, this may interest you. When the idea of the magazine came up, each was a vietnamese intellectual that would come to him america. Became very close to henry. He became one of the three editors which was the conservative. It had seven teen trustees. There were always disagreeing on such issues. It was his idea. If you have extra people voting, prosper or it may not prosper. It will be on account of people trying to decide the votes. It is extraordinary how tranquil life can be if it is known who makes these decisions. Going out and saying this together or editors. Obviously, quite a bit about that. Five minutes we will go to carls buckley. I notice a comment here between buckley and junior. I just did not proofread that carefully. Why dont you like it. Always a little late. You know, you can do that. Lets say your name is not william buckley. It has an introduction. Does that make him a conservative . No. They can introduce that. It happens with one of my books in the washington post. It was very nice. We have lunch every three months for the last 30 years. All traces of that. Very conservative on certain issues. Ninetyseven. What kind of life does he lead now . He is exactly the same age. He still plays golf. I expect to see him in a couple of weeks. What was firing line, how long did it last. 966. It had been scheduled 1965 with the fact that i was running for mayor disqualified it. It was thought that it would last 15 weeks. The idea was confrontational. It was quite successful. I killed it at the end. 1999. Why did you want to kill him . Because things have to and. Did not die on stage. Letting it and. Also, it was a strain to get it financed. Because the broadcasting stations, they brought everything with a fine line. It had to be provided by us. What is this . I am a catholic, a believing catholic and creeping around. Something that i should realize. Expressing gratitude for it. And to pass along certain points over the years. I wish she would have known it. Sort of a beauty. Had sort of a way, plenty of steel. On the other hand, everybody knew as she dictated as a total southerner. We were brought up in europe and in connecticut. Along 1936, a place in south carolina. That is where they are both buried. He was a texan. If youre watching this program live on april 2, 2000, the noontime hour, the lines are open. If you live in the eastern time zone 202 6241115. If you live west of the mississippi and another book here yes. A page from the old testament. Listing as the lord desires. There is some stuff in that book a book that hasnt quite been published yet. 150,000 words out of a half million. We dont have the actual book everything you have to say is there. Beginning with the speech i gave at yale. Through the speech that i gave in washington. Celebrating the 20th anniversary people find it interesting and amusing. That book was sent by the company for people. It is a wonderful book. Unsurpassed with in the sharpest mind of contemplative conservatism. We made a mistake. A confirmed liberal recommend this collection of speeches and commentary. The conservatives and liberals alike. A national treasurer. Gee whiz. Now, you have a bunch of novels. That book is about general mccarthy. Forty years after writing the first one, it really needs to be extricated. Just got left out in the cross antagonisms in the approach back then. I think it is an effective novel general mccarthy also postwar. It is very important. Im going to go to our audience now. Trying to focus in on books. We have stacked here a whole bunch of novels. On the scale of what you like and not like the best, how many novels have you written . 12. Actually, third teen. Nonfiction, what do you like best . Generally, it is easier to write a novel because there is marginal bully less research. If you decide you are going to write the book in six weeks, you get the research. The temptation to improvise. The killer is coming in the other way. And youve got to, youve got to make it a surprise. If you have a threshold of boredom, which i do, you bore your self. I love him for it. I cannot do that. Any intent to do so cripples me. That means that i like to think we have two hours and 25 minutes to go with mr. Buckley junior. You are our first caller. What can we do for you. It reminds me that i do not think you have written any books of music. I am wondering why you have not done that. Why given your versatility you have not recorded. Could you please answer the questions and also tell us about your relationship. Thank you. I guess, something is wrong. We will try to figure it out. We want to know why you have not written about music. Why you have never recorded. The answer to that is easy. I am not good enough. In fact, i gave the union for five years ago. The anyway, it was recorded. I made so many mistakes. A matter of it was very special terms. A music critic from the journal. At age 15. Going to music concerts. Calling it music mountain. I published every week for a couple of years. Number one, i realize the knowledge of the music was very superficial. Did not have the authority to write about it structurally. Secondly, the problem is some people simply transcend. The beauty of music to writing. Under the circumstances, kind of a barrenness in the ability of self. I think rather depressing. Little rock, arkansas, your next. Good morning. How are you. I am well. Something of an urban legend. You came to town one time to speak. You had stopped at a payphone at the airport and on the way out they had given you the key to the city on the way out. The same person that sell you off came back to the same phone to use it as the key of the city. I just thought that that was wonderful. You had been given the key to the city and you are on the payphone and you left. The seller came back i missed that. That implies the lack of gratitude for whoever gave you the key. Assuming over the years you have been given lots of things, do you make any effort to save them all . No. You are next. Good afternoon. I feel as though you have been a part of my story for the last 35 or 40 years. Back in the late 60s i got a hold of your home address and we corresponded. A real intellectual touchstone for me for years. Writing the various ways for the various places that you have done that. I appreciate what you did. I did have one question. A few moments ago you identified yourself as a believer. Somewhere in the midpoint during my time of connecting with you, i became a christian myself. You use the word believing catholic in a way that you could explain. There are a lot of references to the catholic vote. By that, that is most often meant irish or italians or whatever. In that sense, the word is used without the severity. I attempt to live in the government body by the code. I heard that 18 of catholic, it was a mortal sin. That kind of blessed day sickle attention to the sabbath suggests and informality which i find saddening. We are talking about the 41 books as a minimum. A time. He has not read at the book, obviously. Hi, mr. Buckley. How are you doing. You turned my head around back in 1962 when i was in the service. You probably remember. In any case, i wanted to ask you where the conservatives gain the justification for a certain measure of Public Authority over our conduct but the liberals or the left failed to gain that justification. I think that that is because of the constituency to which the conservatives appeal. By which i mean that conservatives as attempting to revive and accelerate the criteria that merely justifies that are not really as described by a democratic act. It was referred to as the democracy of the dead. The reason that we feel a number of decisions were made even before we were born that, because of the constitution of the United States, the bill of rights. Followup. I wanted to ask, for example, the flagburning constitutional amendment effort, which is a conservative populist type of effort has very little to do with history and yet it seems to be that those that are conservatives have no problem applying the state, but minimum wage upsets them. I am just trying to find out the consistency here. Alleging consistency. Something in the minimum wage. I did not hear it. Having a little bit of trouble with the earpieces here. Did you hear the last of it . Yes. We will move on and take another call. Memphis, tennessee. Go ahead. First time caller. Very long time viewer. Thank you. The mid 1970s. Following your writings, in your book you discussed quite a long time about malcolm. I was just wondering what your relationship with him taught you about your faith and maybe what it could teach the rest of us. Malcolm as you may recall, was brought up a christian and then left the faith. And then rediscovered it. He was reborn. He did so with the most marvelous enthusiasm. He spoke about christianity as one is one may speak about the first time seeing it on broadway that enthusiasm plus its marvelous powers of expressing himself as done in many in a couple of books, we became very close friends. He asked to be, this was the sixth time, a fine line called why i am not a catholic. I said okay. So we did. He had another final period kind of a way in which he had a faith that looked like the face of a clown in a drama. His passion for the relevance of christianity showed through it. It is, by the way, a program that a producer ran every year at christmas time. People seeing it a