SR0729 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0729 LRB095 21539 GRL 51339 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, During this session of the 95th General Assembly of Illinois, the nation lost one of its most principled, fearless, creative, humane, witty, literate, and influential political and cultural leaders with the death of William F. Buckley, Jr.; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., was born on November 24, 1925 in New York, New York, the sixth of ten gifted children in a family noted for its staunch American patriotism and its profound devotion to the Roman Catholic faith; and

WHEREAS, By dint of his parent's business obligations, William F. Buckley, Jr., was reared in Mexico, spoke Spanish as his first language, studied at the University of Mexico, and began a lifelong love affair with the people and civilization of Hispanoamerica; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., soon became proficient in the English language, which he mastered and commanded with power and grace, and which he placed in the service of the worldwide cause of human liberty; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., served our country in the enlisted ranks of the United States Army; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., went on to a stellar career as an undergraduate and alumnus of Yale University, where he made his mark as editor of The Yale Daily News and as one of the most memorable debaters in that university's history; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., returned to the service of our country for a brief tour of duty at the Central Intelligence Agency; and

WHEREAS, In the finest tradition of thoughtful and constructive criticism of a beloved institution, William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1951 wrote his first book, God and Man at Yale, a groundbreaking critique of educational practices at his alma mater, in which he opined "I believe that the duel between Christianity and atheism is the most important in the world. I further believe that the struggle between individualism and collectivism is the same struggle reproduced on another level", and which was published by Henry Regnery of Illinois and the Chicago-based Regnery Publishing Company; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., went on to write and edit more than 60 books, including highly influential works of political controversy, among them Up from Liberalism (1959), Rumbles Left and Right (1963), The Jeweler's Eye (1968), Four Reforms: A Guide for the Seventies (1973), United Nations Journal: A Delegate's Odyssey (1974), Right Reason (1985), Gratitude: Reflections on What We Owe our Country (1990), In Search of Anti-Semitism (1992), and The Fall of the Berlin Wall

(2004); several compelling works of biography and autobiography, among them McCarthy and His Enemies (1954), The Unmaking of a Mayor (1965), Cruising Speed: A Documentary

(1971), Overdrive (1983), On the Firing Line: The Public Life of Our Public Figures (1989), Happy Days Were Here Again: Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist (1993), Nearer My God: An Autobiography of Faith (1997), Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography (2004), and Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater (2008); a number of light and serious novels, among them The Temptation of Wilfred Malachy (1985) and The Rake

(2007); and his even dozen of "Blackford Oakes" espionage novels, which began with Saving the Queen (1976) and ended with Last Call for Blackford Oakes (2005); and

WHEREAS, In 1955, William F. Buckley, Jr., founded National Review magazine, a highly-respected journal of conservative thought and opinion, in whose inaugural edition he defined the magazine's mission with the challenging words that it "stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it"; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., served National Review as Editor-in-Chief for 35 years and as Editor-at-Large for another 18 years until his death; the magazine survives to this day in both print and on-line editions and is one of the most widely-read and influential journals of opinion and criticism in history; and

WHEREAS, In his early writings in National Review, William F. Buckley, Jr., defined the essence of libertarian convictions in modern America in these words: "It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens' lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress. The growth of government (the dominant social feature of this century) must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations, on the libertarian side"; and

WHEREAS, In his early writings in National Review, William F. Buckley, Jr., similarly defined the essence of conservative convictions in these words: "The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to conform with scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side"; and

WHEREAS, In fusing libertarian ideals with conservative precepts, William F. Buckley, Jr., more than any other individual, brought into being the modern American conservative movement which he defined as a very American approach to life, knowing that the government is not your master, that God endows the individual, that America is good, that freedom is good and must be defended, and communism is very, very bad; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., declared in 1959, "I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth"; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., went on to write more than 4,500,000 words in more than 5,600 editions of his semi-weekly newspaper column, "On the Right", through which he taught a bright and inspiring vision of a free and decent society to his fellow Americans, and urged them to act to realize that vision; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., helped to found the lasting institutions of the modern conservative movement, including Young Americans for Freedom, which was born at his family's home in Sharon, Connecticut in 1960; the American Conservative Union; and the movement's premier debating forum, The Philadelphia Society, which was founded in Chicago in 1965; and

WHEREAS, Throughout his career, in public and in private, William F. Buckley, Jr., invested his intellectual powers, moral fervor, and personal prestige in fierce opposition to all forms of bigotry, including religious and racial prejudice, in American life; and

WHEREAS, In 1965, William F. Buckley, Jr., ran for Mayor of New York City in a campaign so focused on principle, so rich in innovative ideas about modern urban governance, and so devoted to reform and transparency in politics, that, when asked what he would do first if elected, he memorably quipped, "Demand a recount!"; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., created and hosted a long-running, Emmy Award-winning, weekly television debate program, "Firing Line", which elevated the medium and forever changed, for the better, the standards of broadcast discourse; and

WHEREAS, To Mr. Buckley's enormous delight, the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., termed him "the scourge of liberalism" and President Ronald Reagan declared, "You didn't just part the Red Sea-you rolled it back, dried it up and left exposed, for all the world to see, the naked desert that is statism"; and

WHEREAS, In 1991, the nation's highest civilian honor was conferred upon William F. Buckley, Jr., when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., was a frequent and memorable visitor to Illinois, where, among countless other contributions to the political and cultural life of the Land of Lincoln, on May 11, 1954, at the Union League Club in Chicago, he debated John Nuveen on the life and work of Senator Joseph McCarthy; on September 14, 1962, at the Medinah Temple in Chicago, in a debate moderated by Irv Kupcinet, he took on Norman Mailer on "The Real Nature of the Right Wing in America"; on November 2, 1962, at the Palmer House in Chicago, he addressed the Executives Club of Chicago on the Cuban Missile Crisis; on December 15, 1965, at Sinai Temple in Chicago, he debated John P. Roche on the Vietnam War; on December 1, 1967, he addressed the Conservative Club of Chicago on "The Breakdown in Urban Law"; in August of 1968, during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, he debated Gore Vidal in a series of dramatic daily confrontations on national television; on October 3, 1971, under the sponsorship of The University of Chicago at the downtown studios of WTTW, he debated the Reverend Jesse Jackson in a nationally-broadcast episode of "Firing Line"; and, year after year, he attended and spoke at meetings of The Philadelphia Society which, named for the place of the American Founding, was established, and has often met, in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Some of the closest friends, colleagues, companions, and collaborators of William F. Buckley, Jr., were natives, citizens, and residents of Illinois, including James Burnham, Jameson G. Campaigne, Jr., Mircea Eliade, James R. Evans, Edwin J. Feulner, Jr., Milton Friedman, John A. Howard, Henry J. Hyde, David A. Keene, Willmoore Kendall, Joseph A. Morris, Revilo P. Oliver, Ronald Reagan, Henry Regnery, William A. Rusher, Richard M. Weaver, George F. Will, and Eliseo Vivas, many of whom survive him; and

WHEREAS, For more than 56 years, William F. Buckley, Jr., was married to the former Patricia Alden Austin Taylor, a devoted wife, mother, homemaker, philanthropist, and notable social figure, before her death in April of 2007; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., died on February 27, 2008, in Stamford, Connecticut; he is survived by his son, Christopher, of Washington, D.C., his sisters Priscilla L. Buckley, of Sharon, Connecticut, Patricia Buckley Bozell, of Washington, D.C., and Carol Buckley, of Columbia, South Carolina, his brothers James L. Buckley, of Sharon, Connecticut, and F. Reid Buckley, of Camden, South Carolina; and his granddaughter and grandson; and

WHEREAS, William F. Buckley, Jr., is rightly remembered as a gentleman and intellectual who helped shape the modern culture of America with his rigorous mind, systematic principles, magnetic charm, mastery of language, singular personal style, vast private kindness and generosity, and ever-present good humor; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Senate recalls and honors the life of William F. Buckley, Jr., for his lifelong devotion to principles of liberty and justice, his love of America and the American people, his felicitous command of language, his commitment to serious debate and the free exchange of information and ideas, his elevating contributions to journalism, broadcasting, and public discourse, and his remarkable impact on modern history; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Senate mourns the death of William F. Buckley, Jr., and expresses its profound condolences to his family and his friends; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this Resolution be presented to the family of William F. Buckley, Jr., and to his colleagues at National Review magazine and at The Philadelphia Society.