Pioneering Conservative Editor Steps Down
by Bill Fancher
July 6, 2004
(AgapePress) - One of the people credited with bringing the modern conservative movement forward is phasing himself off the scene. William F. Buckley has relinquished his ownership of The National Review magazine, a Bible of sorts for conservatives.Current National Review editor Rich Lowry says Buckley created a new conservatism that was built on what he referred to as the three legs: "One was anti-communism and a strong national interest-based foreign policy," Lowry says, while another leg was "economic freedom and free-market capitalism. And the final one was the sense of traditional values."
Buckley's successor notes that the political pioneer, who was known for his intellectual wit and his fierce defense of traditional moral values, was truly a giant when it comes to conservative thought.
"He was the foremost TV interviewer of his time, the foremost conservative columnist, the foremost conservative editor, the foremost conservative popularizer -- he was all of that in one person," Lowry says.
The National Review editor credits Buckley's persona with having changed the perception of conservatism, not only spreading its ideology among the general populace but making it acceptable in the most important of political circles.
