A Grand Centenarian

The remaining surviving member of the Buckley family

--- THE Buckley family, of which William F. Buckley Jr.

is one of its issue, celebrated his 100th birthday on March 9;

James Buckley, the fourth child of William F. Buckley Sr.

and Aloise Buckley and older brother to William Jr. in that 

remarkable, distinguished Buckley brood, was honored in 

William Jr.'s National Review this week. James Buckley

is one of our country's most distinguished and best-known

conservatives, with a resume that most can only envy:

a United States Senator from New York, a member of 

President Reagan's State Department Staff, and a long-

serving federal judge, having served on the D.C. Circuit

Court of Appeals. He also was a longtime advocate of

a conservative Republican Party, believing in small,

more efficient government, more reasonable levels of

taxation, proper funding for our armed forces, 

and a strong justice system to maintain the peace,

among other conservative nostrums, standing up 

to the moderate/liberal wing of the GOP and their 

apologists for a larger government with more functions.

James Buckley also opposed the New York City bailout

in the 1970s, a move consistent with his principles

but harmful to his political career. In an interview 

with his brother Bill on the latter's TV show Firing Line,

James stated that "the Watergate episode (James called for 

President Nixon's resignation), and others leading up

to it, illustrate the fundamental conservative principle, 

and that is if you concentrate enough power, especially 

discretionary power or arbitrary power, in any one place,

at some point or another it's going to be abused."

Damned if he wasn't proven right in the years since 

he spoke those words!

James' last public address was delivered in 2019 at the 

National Review Institute Ideas Summit. The following

year he was awarded the William F. Buckley Prize for 

Leadership in Political Thought. To honor James Buckley

on his milestone birthday the NRI is establishing the 

James L. Buckley Lecture on Principled Leadership, 

to be given by an individual who served in any of the 

three branches of the government.

Well done, sir! And may you have still more birthdays 

to enjoy! 

MEM