Newt Gingrich Statement on the Passing of William F. Buckley, Jr.

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before there was
 Goldwater or Reagan, there was Bill Buckley.
 
 
 
     From writing books, to creating, leading and sustaining National Review
 Magazine, to his 33-year run as the host of Firing Line on television, Bill
 Buckley became the indispensable intellectual advocate from whose energy,
 intelligence, wit, and enthusiasm the best of modern conservatism drew its
 inspiration and encouragement.
 
 
 
     It was not until William F. Buckley, Jr., founded National Review
 Magazine in 1955 that the tide began to slowly turn for conservatives.
 National Review was a lonely voice of conservatism in an overwhelmingly
 liberal establishment. Buckley began what led to Senator Barry Goldwater
 and his Conscience of a Conservative that led to the seizing of power by
 the conservatives from the moderate establishment within the Republican
 Party. From that emerged Ronald Reagan. Bill stood up to defend freedom as
 a positive value of greater moral worth than either the state and the
 elite, and over time his work had a transformational impact on the quality
 of American politics that continues even today.
 
 
 
     He was a wonderful friend, a great patriot, and a lively human being.
 Callista and I are praying for him and those who loved him. He will be
 missed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE Gingrich Communications