June 2, 2025 Issue

Louis Menand, in his absorbing “Strong Opinions,” in this week’s issue, gets a lot of things right about William F. Buckley, Jr. He calls him an “overgrown preppie.” I’d go further – he was a snob. He says, “Debate was his preferred medium of exposition, and he would take on anyone who could talk back to him.” This is true; it’s what drew me to his writing back when I was in my early twenties. Menand’s description of Buckley – “And the rumpled, rubber-faced manner, the popping eyes, the languorous drawl, the charmingly wicked grin he flashed when he thought he had scored a kill—Buckley was a show unto himself” – is bang on; it made me smile in recognition. But Menand seems to underestimate Buckley as a writer. Granted, he says of Overdrive (published in The New Yorker, in 1983), “Still, Buckley knew how to turn a phrase, and Overdrive is written with panache.” But overall, he appears to view Buckley more as an entertainer than a writer – “a show unto himself.” 

My view is that Buckley was an excellent writer. My best evidence is his brilliant essay “On Experiencing Gore Vidal,” which originally appeared in the August, 1969, Esquire, and was later included in his 1970 collection The Governor Listeth. It’s a fascinating account of what Menand calls “the Buckley-Vidal fiasco” that occurred live on ABC TV during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Menand describes what happened:

The 1968 Convention was, of course, the scene of the Chicago police clash with antiwar protesters, and the riots became a subject for Vidal and Buckley’s debate. At one point, Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-Nazi,” and got the reaction he hoped for. “Now listen, you queer,” Buckley shouted. “Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddam face and you’ll stay plastered.” Vidal stared at Buckley during this outburst with the expression of a cat that has just swallowed a very large canary. He could barely believe his luck. They were contracted to do one more night on the air; ABC separated them with a curtain.

I didn’t see this broadcast. But, as a result of reading Buckley’s riveting piece, I feel as if I have. Buckley details the history leading up to the confrontation. Near the beginning, he says,

At this point my mind moved to Gore Vidal, and the dismal events of the summer of 1968, when he and I confronted each other a dozen times on network television, leading to an emotional explosion which, it is said, rocked television. Certainly it rocked me, and I am impelled to write about it; to discover its general implications, which are undeniable and profound; to probe the question whether what was said – under the circumstances in which it was said – has any meaning at all beyond that which is most generally ascribed to it, namely, excessive bitchery can get out of hand. But first the narrative.

I am impelled to write about it – right there, I think, is the sign of a true writer. The piece is extraordinary – piquant, detailed, analytical. The use of “faggot” and “faggotry” is offensive and unforgiveable. But in the end, the piece surprises. Buckley apologizes.

But now I’m having second thoughts. Having just finished re-reading “On Experiencing Gore Vidal,” I’m appalled by Buckley’s prejudice against gays. He had a distinctive style – provocative, needling, venomous. Too bad he used it to express such rotten views.