Know Your Enemy
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Buckley for Mayor (w/ Sam Tanenhaus)
🕑 Added 2021-08-23 18:20:45 +0000 UTCFinally, a deep-dive on William F. Buckley, Jr.! Matt and Sam are joined by Buckley's biographer, Sam Tanenhaus, to talk about WFB's 1965 campaign for mayor of New York City. Topics include: how Buckley's campaign made him the most famous conservative in America; the importance of his candidacy to the conservative movement's rise; the hardline positions he took on policing and his inflammatory views on race; and more. Along the way, Tanenhaus offers countless details that only Buckley's biographer would know, from WFB dropping LSD with James Burnham to the debate that changed Buckley forever.
(Note: this is a main episode: per various listeners' request, we will henceforth post main episodes here as well as on the Simplecast feed.)
Sources and Further Reading:
Sam Tanenhaus, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (Random House, 1997)
Sam Tanenhaus, "The Buckley Effect," New York Times Magazine, October 2, 2005
Carl T. Bogus, Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism (Bloomsbury, 2011)
Matthew Sitman, "There Will Be No Buckley Revival," Commonweal, July 28, 2015
Comments
Thomas Arnold
What complemented (undermined?) his Spanish aristocrat/South Carolinian patrician verve for cultivating elite friendships on a personal level was his love of rhetorical cruelty in print and public debate. His genial lizard eye-flicks came with lethal insinuations. The Jackie Robinson quote "or have read to him" is a perfect case-- a crude white hood sentiment ("they're too dumb to read themselves") folded into an oxford cloth aside.
David Cox
His elitist oil-fueled CIA-backed class had no reason to exist in the rapidly accelerating progressive USA of the 60s. The Dulles/Bush type TIme/Life/CIA world he came from had been supplanted by 1970.
pixlaw
thirded. Actually, both about Buckley, and to hear Josh address Wills' Why Priests?
Emily
Seconded
Ave
I wish as much attention was payed to Buckley's "I'm not racist if I say poor whites shouldn't have the vote either" argumentative strategy as to his whataboutisms. The attempts to drag accusers into endlessly minute litigation over whether or not a given salvo was motivated by racism was exhausting and dishonest but the effortlessness with which he slipped through the escape hatch of class prejudice (whether to evade Burnham or Baldwin or whoever) is what I find really scummy about Bill Buckley. Joe Lowndes wrote about it in a scholarly article published a few years back that is worth reading for its attempt to articulate how Buckley's foray into populist politics in his racist NYC campaign fits with his consistent anti-democratic elitism. Also, though you didn't really get into the longer arc of litigation over how racist Buckley was and whether he ever really renounced it, one thing Tanenhaus said reminded me of the debate. A while back Patrick Allitt trotted out the episode of Buckley's visits with the downtrodden (to make the case for Buckley's personal evolution), but for my money William Hogeland very ably cleared that thicket in his followup talk. Anyone who is interested may still be able to find the video of the symposium where both spoke online (the topic was Buckley and Baldwin).
Mark K
I appreciate the mention of Garry Wills, would love to see a discussion of his work sometime.
Mark K
+1 for Thomas Sowell, there is a new biography of him out (that I have not yet read)
David Cox
Steady on with the anti-Brit sentiment. I’m anti Blair but am UK born, moved to US. Most Brits oppose Blair & Imperialism
Jack Cook
Very pleased you are posting the free episodes here now as well
Ben Gialenios
Thank you for combining the feeds much appreciated
Colin McGuigan
I thought Sam was exaggerating when he said we'd be hitting the 15 sec back button. Tuned out for a few seconds on my drive, next thing I know WFB is dropping acid and going to a porno. Wtf
Alex
Outstanding. Arguably my second most anticipated deep dive (especially since you've been talking around WFB since the beginning of the show); most anticipated is Thomas Sowell and/or black conservatism more generally in the US. That seems particularly relevant with Larry Elder, whom I think I first learned of from KYE (though I don't remember the ep), pressuring Gavin Newsom in the gubernatorial CA recall.
David Cox
Buckley was such an onerous sleaze. I love watching Chomsky and Gore dismantle him on Firing line the way mantises do.
E J
YES! YES YES YES YES (Looking forward to this one)
