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S38E3: The Incomparable Mr. Buckley | Clip

Buckley’s Yale criticism fueled the conservative movement

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William F. Buckley, Jr. was tapped to speak at the Alumni Day Speech at Yale University in 1950. However, Yale administration feared his outspoken criticism of the university and asked Buckley to pare back his speech. Buckley refused and later wrote a book about his experiences at the school.

TRANSCRIPT

(whimsical music) - [Narrator] He knew he was gonna get under the skin of faculty and administration and most students.

That didn't bother him.

Au contraire, he delighted in it.

(lively marching band music) There is an annual tradition at Yale called the Alumni Day Speech.

And because of Buckley's eloquence and brilliance, the Yale administration invites him to give the speech.

(dramatic music) Then they have second thoughts.

"Wait a minute.

"We have just invited a critic of Yale "and of the Yale administration to give a speech.

"What is he gonna tell the alumni?"

(tense music) Buckley sends them the draft.

They call him in.

They want lots of changes.

He realizes what's happening here, which is they wish to clip his wings.

So he says, "Well, I'll tell you what, "I can give my speech the way I wrote it or not.

"You decide."

(tense music continues) They say, "Okay, thanks.

"We'll find somebody else."

(typewriter clacking) (tense music continues) There's an old saying that revenge is a dish best served cold.

You didn't like the speech.

You're gonna like the book even less.

(tense music ends)