Old World Conservative

In 1972, I was serving as chairman of the LSU Union Speakers Committee; we hosted William F. Buckley. After driving Mr. Buckley from the airport, I was watching him, in a hotel room, as he prepared for the event. Many years later, I utilized that memory in a fictional scene of my 2017 novel, King of Soul

"American students have a responsibility to acquire a knowledge of history, Mr. Buckley said. Donnie was watching the lightning-rod editor of the National Review put on his skinny necktie. ". . . and the responsibility of the well-tempered University," he continued, "is to educate students in such a way that you are able to comprehend the world, not only as it is now, but as it has been in earlier days." "Dont you think," asked Donnie, that the world as it is now is more dangerous than it has ever been in earlier times?" "Oh, no question about it." An impish smile crept across Buckley's face. The look in his eye afforded Donnie a momentary glimpse into the workings of a classic mind. "When you consider that a bellicose exchange between President Kennedy, the leader of the free world, and Nikita Khruschev, the leader of the communist world, brought us, in one moment of time, within a hare's breath of nuclear disaster, you see the fragility of our situation, and yet the world as it turns every hour, every day, in the streets of our cities, in the fields of our countrysides, is the same as its ever been. It plods along as it always has. Babies are born; they cry. People die and are buried. And we see to preserve the peace and safety and freedom of all. But one foolish exchange between leaders who are too fixated upon their own arrogance can inflict damage that is irreparable for many generations. Our greatest implement is reason." "So we must reason with the Russians?" "Oh, we have no choice, but we need to remember that they speak a different language. And I refer not only to the Russian language as compared to our English language. Here in the United States, we have a language of civility. We conservatives take upon ourselves the responsibility to sustain and extend that language - it is a type of covenant, far back into history, as far back as Abraham."

King of Soul