Encyclopedia · Biography

William F. Buckley Jr.

Writer, editor, and conservative political commentator

Personal details

Full name: William Frank Buckley Jr.
Born: November 24, 1925 · New York City
Died: February 27, 2008 · Stamford, Connecticut
Parents: William Frank Buckley Sr.; Aloise Josephine Antonia Steiner Buckley
Siblings: One of ten children; included James, Patricia, and Priscilla Buckley
Education: Schools in England, France and the United States; Millbrook School; Yale University, B.A. (1950)
Religion: Roman Catholic
Political affiliation: Conservative; Republican-affiliated political activity
Spouse: Patricia Aldyen Austin Taylor (married 1950; died 2007)
Children: Christopher Buckley
Military: U.S. Army, World War II; second lieutenant
Professional roles: Author; National Review founder/editor (1955); Firing Line host (1966–1999); syndicated columnist

William Frank Buckley Jr. (1925–2008) was an American author, editor, and television host. He founded National Review in 1955, hosted the public-affairs program Firing Line, and helped shape the postwar American conservative movement.

Early life and education

Buckley was born in New York City to lawyer and oil executive William F. Buckley Sr. and Aloise Steiner Buckley. Raised in a large Catholic family, he spent part of his childhood in Mexico and Europe, studied at schools in Britain and the United States, and attended Millbrook School in New York. He briefly attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico before wartime service.

After serving as a U.S. Army second lieutenant, Buckley enrolled at Yale, where he edited the Yale Daily News and graduated in 1950. His 1951 book God and Man at Yale criticized university teaching on religion and economics.

Family and employment

He married Patricia Taylor in 1950. Their only child, Christopher Buckley, became a novelist and essayist. After Yale, Buckley worked briefly for the Central Intelligence Agency in Mexico; published accounts identify E. Howard Hunt as his supervisor. His subsequent paid work included publishing, political commentary, books, and long-running television programs.

Publishing and political activity

Buckley founded National Review in 1955. Its editors debated Cold War policy, conservatism, civil rights, and the boundaries of the right. Buckley published a nationally syndicated column beginning in 1962 and hosted Firing Line from 1966 until 1999. He was the Conservative Party candidate for mayor of New York City in 1965.

He supported Republican conservative candidates, including Barry Goldwater, while his public positions changed on several questions over his career. The magazine’s criticism of Robert Welch and the John Birch Society became part of a dispute over the direction of conservative politics.

Organizational relationships

Buckley hosted the September 1960 founding conference of Young Americans for Freedom at his family estate in Sharon, Connecticut. The gathering adopted the Sharon Statement written by M. Stanton Evans. In 1964 Buckley and Edwin Feulner were among the founders of the Philadelphia Society, a conservative intellectual association. Hosting YAF’s founding conference did not make Buckley its continuous executive head.

References

Research compiled through November 12, 2026. Sources and historical roles are dated where known.