A Man and His Mag

On the morning of October 6, the White House held an event in honor of William F. Buckley Jr. and the magazine he founded 50 years ago. Here is a sampling of the remarks made on that occasion, culminating in those of the president.

FORTUNATELY for Bill I have no anecdotal memory, so he will be spared the embarrassment of my reciting a litany of his youthful indiscretions. But what I can say is that being related to Bill is not an unmixed blessing. For example, shortly after I was elected to the Senate, Bill chose to appear on the television program Laugh-In, on which he asserted, among other things, that he would only fly on planes that had two right wings. Two days later, I received an angry letter from a lawyer in Buffalo who described himself as a former admirer. He went on to say that he was appalled to see my disgusting performance on Laugh-In in which I disgraced my office and embarrassed my constituents by acting the clown on that nauseating program. He acknowledged that some people might enjoy its indecencies, but trusted that they were in the minority.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

On the morning of October 6, the White House held an event in honor of William F. Buckley Jr. and the magazine he founded 50 years ago. Here is a sampling of the remarks made on that occasion, culminating in those of the president.

FORTUNATELY for Bill I have no anecdotal memory, so he will be spared the embarrassment of my reciting a litany of his youthful indiscretions. But what I can say is that being related to Bill is not an unmixed blessing. For example, shortly after I was elected to the Senate, Bill chose to appear on the television program Laugh-In, on which he asserted, among other things, that he would only fly on planes that had two right wings. Two days later, I received an angry letter from a lawyer in Buffalo who described himself as a former admirer. He went on to say that he was appalled to see my disgusting performance on Laugh-In in which I disgraced my office and embarrassed my constituents by acting the clown on that nauseating program. He acknowledged that some people might enjoy its indecencies, but trusted that they were in the minority.