Photo courtesy of External Affairs
After more than a year of work, the Buckley Online Web site has been launched from the Hillsdale College Web site.
Doug Jeffrey, Vice President of External Affairs, said that William F. Buckley, Jr. came to the school hoping that the site could be linked to the institution he has supported for many years.
"Bill Buckley is an old friend of the college, he's been here a lot of times and he's one of the leading journalists and political thinkers of our time; he actually approached us, to see if we might be interested in putting all of his writings online," Jeffrey said.
He added, "We were happy to do it; we're honored that he asked us to do it."
"His work has more value than any political journalist of the last 50 years. That's going to sound awful partisan coming from a friend and former employee," said Tracy Simmons, director of the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism, "but I would like to see who else they could put in that category."
Simmons worked at National Review , the political magazine founded by Buckley as an Associate Editor through the nineties.
"I consider it a gesture of goodwill and support for Hillsdale," Simmons said. "He has a 30-year investment in the place, that is, he's been coming here and saying good things about the place for that long, and in a way, he has as long an investment as just about anyone here."
The site is an online resource that will allow the Buckley's readers to find all his works, with the exception of his 33-year running "Firing Line" television program. Transcripts from the PBS show are available via the Hoover Institution Web site at Stanford University.
Jeffrey said the site is a useful and informative tool for those looking into Buckley's work.
"It's a searchable resource; if you're looking for a column that was written in 1958 on Civil Rights movement, you could call it up," Jeffrey said.
"It's magazine articles, books, syndicated columns, obituaries and speeches."
The completion of the archive was originally intended to coincide with a speech by Buckley, to have been delivered during a luncheon last Saturday as a part of the school's fundraising Gala. Buckley was unable to attend due to medical reasons, however, and his speech was delivered pre-recorded instead.
"Buckley was going to speak at the lunch tomorrow, and he had some heart problems this week, and because of his heart problems he broke a rib, so he's not going to be able to make it." Jeffrey said. "Some people went out to his home, and he sat at his desk and gave his speech and his speech will be given tomorrow on the screen."