WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY Jr. is an award-winning author, editor, columnist, television host, lecturer, and adventurer. A father of modern conservative thought in America, he founded National Review in 1955, started writing his syndicated "On the Right" newspaper column in 1962, and began hosting the Emmy Award—winning Firing Line in 1966. His many best-selling books include God and Man at Yale, Atlantic High, Airborne, and ten Blackford Oakes spy novels. Buckley has been awarded 35 honorary degrees and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.