Over the last 15 years, as two New York governors and one New York state attorney general have resigned in ignominy, the idea of heroes in the public sector has receded to the point it’s almost laughable.
Now imagine a New Yorker who got elected to the US Senate on a third-party ticket (as the Conservative nominee), and later served as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the second-most important court in the nation. Then picture that individual not as an ambitious back-slapper, but as one of the most humble public officials anywhere. That person is not a mythical “Mr. Smith” going to Washington, but one real James L. Buckley, who turns 99 on March 9.
Buckley is a World War II veteran, having served as a Naval officer in the Pacific theater from 1943-46. Even before Bob Dole died last year at 98, he was the oldest person alive who had served in the US Senate. And his 1970 election was historic, it being the first third-party victory to the Senate in 40 years.
Having worked as an undersecretary of state in the Reagan administration, Buckley is also the only person alive who has served in the uppermost ranks of our three branches of government — legislative, judicial and executive.
In the Senate, Jim Buckley was known for his personal cordiality and his steadfast adherence to conservative principles. He advocated for stronger national defense, restraint on runaway domestic spending, tax cuts, pro-life initiatives and — surprisingly to some — the environment.
Buckley helped to strengthen the Federal Clean Air and Clean Water laws, and co-sponsored the creation of the Gateway National Recreation Area, protecting the Atlantic beaches of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and nearby New Jersey. Tens of millions have enjoyed these national beaches and adjacent parklands because of him.
His bipartisan beliefs were also strong. In 1974, Buckley took the courageous step of being the second Republican senator, and the first conservative, to call upon President Richard Nixon to resign in the wake of the burgeoning Watergate scandal.
As Undersecretary and President of Munich-based Radio Free Europe, Buckley spearheaded Reagan’s ideological struggle with the USSR, which resulted in Soviet communism’s collapse and the end of the Cold War. In 1986, President Reagan nominated Buckley for a judgeship on the influential US Court of Appeals, where he served until 2003, when he entered “senior judge” (retired but available) status.
At his retirement ceremony from the Court of Appeals, one of his top aides said that “the judge’s most notable idiosyncrasy is that he has none.” At that same ceremony, Judge Patricia Wald noted that Washingtonian magazine had surveyed all the judges on that appeals court, and reported that: “Judge James Buckley has emerged by a consensus of liberals and conservatives alike as the finest appellate judge.” As the author of written appeals decisions, Buckley was described by Presiding Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg as “unexcelled as a stylist and a craftsman.”
His “sainted junior senator” nickname came from his own brother, National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr., who paid tribute to his sibling’s unimpeachable honesty, gentility and ethical standards in his columns, TV appearances and speeches. No hint of impropriety has ever attached to Buckley’s decades-long service in any branch of government. And he has remained committed to his principles long after retirement. At the age of 92, he wrote a book about how to stop excessive federal spending called “Saving Congress from Itself.”
“I swore to uphold the US Constitution,” Buckley told me. “And I took that very seriously. That includes the notion of Federalism, which is often ignored in today’s Washington.” As has been his hallmark for nearly 99 years, Buckley talks about ideas and principles, not himself.
Yet, shockingly, there has been no permanent recognition of this great American. Previous US Senators from New York, such as Moynihan, Javits, D’Amato, Kennedy, Keating and Goodell, have had substantial public works named in their honor. Surely, a man who enshrined so much natural beauty for Americans deserves to have his own name enshrined as well?
A previous effort to give Buckley’s name to a federal building within the Gateway parklands passed the House on a voice vote, but when Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand ignored the bill, it died in 2012.
But the fight isn’t over. On Buckley’s birthday, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis will fittingly file a bill to rename the Staten Island stretches of federal beachfront for the former US senator and judge who helped to protect them. This time, let’s hope our US senators and House Democrats finally suspend their partisan impulses to honor an outstanding American who never let politics get in the way of doing what was right.
Herbert W. Stupp served as a regional administrator in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and as a commissioner in Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration. As an undergraduate student, he was the state chairman of Youth for Buckley in 1970.
