Episode Details

William F. Buckley Jr. turned conservative politics into must-watch TV long before cable news, and his influence is still shaping the right today. In this episode of New York Times Close Up, Sam Roberts sits down with Sam Tanenhaus, former editor of The New York Times Book Review and author of the acclaimed biography “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America,” to unpack Buckley’s rise from National Review founder to Firing Line host, his battles with James Baldwin and Gore Vidal, and the evolution of his views on civil rights. They also explore how Buckley’s media-savvy conservatism paved the way, if imperfectly, for figures like Donald Trump, and what his legacy means in an era of populism, polarization, and democratic-socialist politics in New York City. If you care about how ideas, media, and personality can reshape a party and a country, this conversation offers a sharp, deeply reported look at the man who helped build the modern American right.

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