William F. Buckley - Alyssa D'Orazio

William Frank Buckley was born on November 24^th, 1925 in New York City.  Buckley started his career as conservative critic of liberal order. After graduating Yale, he published his first book God and Man at Yale, which accused Yale of trying to convert their students to ‘athletic socialists.’ In 1955, Buckley founded the National Review, which served as an outlet for conservative writers. Buckley funded the paper himself using his own family wealth. In 1961, Buckley co-founded the Conservative Party of New York. In 1962, Buckley founded a conservative news column, which turned into a weekly television program, “Firing Line” on PBS. Buckley gained fame from “Firing Line” for his humor and extensive vocabulary. Over his career, Buckley published over 50 books, and edited five books that were not his own. Most consider his biggest accomplishment as making conservative ideas respected in liberal post WWII-America. Buckley is considered “ the renaissance man” of modern American conservatism. He helped gain a following for Barry Goldwater in 1964, and helped with the Reagan campaign, and eventually, assisted with Reagan gaining the presidency. In 1965, Buckley was the mayoral candidate for the conservative party in New York, but lost to John V. Lindsay of the liberal party. Buckley served as a public delegate to the United Nations in 1973, and continued hosting the “Firing Line” until 1999. Buckley also continued his column until 2008, and on February 27^th 2008, Buckley died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. Buckley’s reputation lives on as one of the pillars in modern day conservatism. 

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/business/media/27cnd-buckley.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/william-f-buckley-jr-conservative-icon

Ritchie, Donald A. American Journalists: Getting the Story. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Print.