William F. Buckley Jr. & Standing Athwart History: A Noble Cause

Sixty-six years ago, an upstart public intellectual founded this publication with a rallying cry. National Review, William F. Buckley wrote in 1955, “stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” This was, and still is, a noble calling, especially at a time when so few are willing to stand athwart an ascendant progressivism that seems intent on erasing all social mores and extinguishing our nation’s rich cultural heritage and dynamism.

But Buckley’s conception of conservatism was far from the caricature described by The American Conservative associate editor, self-proclaimed “Catholic-integralist,” and former National Review intern Declan Leary. Buckley was waging a direct challenge to the preeminent ideologies of his day, domestic liberalism and international communism, which saw their success as the inevitable culmination of the historical process. National Review was founded to derail these seemingly ineluctable dogmas.

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Bobby Miller

Bobby Miller is an ISI Fellow at National Review and a graduate student at Georgetown University.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Sixty-six years ago, an upstart public intellectual founded this publication with a rallying cry. National Review, William F. Buckley wrote in 1955, “stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” This was, and still is, a noble calling, especially at a time when so few are willing to stand athwart an ascendant progressivism that seems intent on erasing all social mores and extinguishing our nation’s rich cultural heritage and dynamism.

But Buckley’s conception of conservatism was far from the caricature described by The American Conservative associate editor, self-proclaimed “Catholic-integralist,” and former National Review intern Declan Leary. Buckley was waging a direct challenge to the preeminent ideologies of his day, domestic liberalism and international communism, which saw their success as the inevitable culmination of the historical process. National Review was founded to derail these seemingly ineluctable dogmas.