James L. Buckley

Buckley was born in New York City. He is the son of Aloise Josephine Antonia (née Steiner) and lawyer and businessman William Frank Buckley, Sr.[2] He is the older brother of the late conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr. and the uncle of Christopher Taylor Buckley. He is also the uncle of Brent Bozell III and political consultant William F. B. O'Reilly. His mother, from New Orleans, was of Swiss-German, German, and Irish descent, while his paternal grandparents, from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, were of Irish ancestry.[3] Buckley attended Millbrook School, graduating in 1941.[4] Graduating from Yale University in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where he was a member of Skull and Bones,[5][6][7] Buckley enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942 and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant in 1946. After receiving his Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1949, he was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1950 and practiced law until 1953, when he joined Catawba as vice president and director.[8]

Buckley was married to Ann Cooley Buckley (died December 30, 2011), a former CIA desk officer, for 58 years; they had a daughter and five sons.

In 1968, Buckley challenged liberal Republican U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits for re-election. Buckley ran on the Conservative Party line.[9] Javits won easily,[9] but Buckley received a large number of votes from disaffected conservative Republicans. The New York Times called Buckley's 1968 senatorial campaign "lonely and unsuccessful."[10]

In 1970, Buckley ran for U.S. Senate on the Conservative Party line once again. This time, he faced Republican incumbent Charles Goodell and Democratic nominee Richard Ottinger. Goodell, who had been appointed to the Senate by Governor Nelson Rockefeller following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, had moved left, especially as an opponent of the Vietnam War. Buckley's campaign slogan, plastered on billboards statewide, was: "Isn't it time we had a Senator?" With Goodell and Ottinger splitting the liberal vote, Buckley received 39% of the vote, won the election,[11] and entered the U.S. Senate in January 1971. According to scholar Gerald Russello, Buckley "performed well in New York City itself, at a time when the city still had a beating conservative heart in the middle-class neighborhoods of the outer boroughs."[12]

In his 1976 re-election bid, with Rockefeller's liberal faction falling apart, Buckley received the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate along with the Conservative Party nomination. He was initially favored for re-election because the frontrunner in the crowded Democratic field was Manhattan Congresswoman Bella Abzug, a liberal feminist reviled by the right. But when Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, made a late entrance into the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Abzug, Buckley could no longer count on getting the votes of moderate Democrats. Moynihan went on to defeat Buckley 54% to 45%.[13]

After his loss, Buckley moved to Connecticut, and in 1980 received the Republican nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Abraham Ribicoff. He lost the general election to Christopher Dodd.[14]

In the first Reagan administration, Buckley served as an undersecretary of State, and then as President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from 1982 to 1985.[20]

On October 16, 1985, Buckley was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The seat had previously been held by Judge Edward Allen Tamm. Buckley was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1985 and received commission on December 17, 1985. He assumed senior status on August 31, 1996.[8] Buckley resides in Sharon, Connecticut.[21]

Upon the death of Ernest F. Hollings in April 2019, Buckley became the oldest living person to have served as an elected member of the U.S. Senate.[22]

Buckley is the author of the following books:

• If Men Were Angels: A View from the Senate (1975)[23]
• Gleanings from an Unplanned Life (2006)[24]
• Freedom at Risk: Reflections on Politics, Liberty, and the State (2010)[25]
• Saving Congress from Itself: Emancipating the States & Empowering Their People (2014)[26]

Buckley discussed Freedom at Risk on C-SPAN on January 12, 2011.[27] Buckley’s last book, “Saving Congress From Itself”, was sent to every member of the U.S. Senate by Dallas businessman and Buckley family devotee Chris M. Lantrip.

• Buckley, James Lane (1975). If Men Were Angels: A View From the Senate. New York: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11589-7.
• Buckley, James Lane (2006). Gleanings from an Unplanned Life: An Annotated Oral History. Wilmington: Intercollegiate Studies institute. ISBN 978-1-933859-11-8.
• Buckley, James Lane (2010). Freedom at Risk: Reflections on Politics, Liberty, and the State. New York: Encounter Books. ISBN 1-59403-478-8.
• Buckley, James Lane (2014). Saving Congress from Itself: Emancipating the States and Empowering Their People. New York: Encounter Books.

• United States Congress. "James L. Buckley (id: B001026)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• James Lane Buckley at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Official website of James L. Buckley [incorrect link]
• Appearances on C-SPAN