Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater

by William F. Buckley Jr.

If any two people can be called indispensable in launching the conservative movement in American politics, they are William F. Buckley Jr. and Barry Goldwater. Buckley's National Review was at the center of conservative political analysis from the mid-fifties onward. But the policy intellectuals knew that to actually change the way the country was run, they needed a presidential candidate, and the man they turned to was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was in many ways the perfect self-reliant, unpretentious, unshakably honest and dashingly handsome, with a devoted following that grew throughout the fifties and early sixties. He possessed deep integrity and a sense of decency that made him a natural spokesman for conservative ideals. But his flaws were a product of his virtues. He wouldn't bend his opinions to make himself more popular, he insisted on using his own inexperienced advisors to run his presidential campaign, and in the end he electrified a large portion of the electorate but lost the great majority. Flying High is Buckley's partly fictional tribute to the man who was in many ways his alter ego in the conservative movement. It is the story of two men who looked as if they were on the losing side of political events, but were kept aloft by the conviction that in fact they were making history.

Genres: Biography, Politics, History, Nonfiction, American History, Memoir

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2008

About the author

William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.

Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.

Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buckley’s book, Flying High, is much more a memoir of the conservative movement in the early 1960s than it is a biography of Goldwater. As with almost everything Buckley wrote, the book becomes autobiographical on page one. Buckley has a number of great stories about various individuals in his circle: Charles Manion, a law professor at Notre Dame, Suzanne Lafollette, a former editor for Albert Jay Nock; James Burnham and Frank Meyer, former communists turned conservatives.

Buckley discuss Ronald Reagan’s famous television defense of Goldwater, “A Time for Choosing”. He says William Baroody the leader of the American Enterprise Institute wanted to ignore or condemn Reagan as he feared Reagan’s influence on the movement, directing monetary resources away from Baroody’s control.

Buckley never states it explicitly, but it becomes clear that the Goldwater movement suffered from the same ills as all anti-statist movements: a division between and with traditionalist, libertarians, and the militarist camps.

Reading Buckley always has me scrambling for the dictionary. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Brent Barry narrated the book.

[Josh Tenenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Buckley at his finest. If you're looking for a full-length biography of Goldwater, there are some of those out there, but this book is not one of them. This book is about the movement behind Barry Goldwater 1964 run for president. What I liked about this book was Buckley's honesty in admitting that while he was a participant in the Draft Goldwater movement, his involvement in the Goldwater campaign was minimal to none. Buckley using his famous dry wit and sense of humor is able to go into detail about the personalities of many of the key leaders of the conservative movement. My only complaint about this book was its brevity. To do justice to a subject like this would require a book at least 2x bigger. This book was one of Buckley's last before he died leaving me wondering whether he rushed this book to print. I guess we'll never no.

[Jon]

Flying High is a memoir of the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign by noted conservative columnist and pundit, William F. Buckley, Jr. I really had high hopes for this book, but I found it a little opaque.
One bit of interest, on a trip to Antarctica, Goldwater mentions that the continent is the "principal generator of the energy that governs the metabolism of the earth...There is everything there, potentially: the control of the weather; the answer to the fresh-water problem. A vat of energy greater than the known supply of the world's oil. If I had been elected president, you'd have seen it all come to life." Makes you wonder about the road not taken, eh?
There are also a number of good quotes taken from The Conscience of a Conservative. On the question of federal aid to education, Goldwater wrote, "The truth, of course, is that the federal government has no funds except those it extracts from the taxpayers which reside in the various States. The money that the federal government pays to State X for education has been taken from the citizens of State X in federal taxes, and comes back to them, minus the usual Washington brokerage fee." I think that's one of the best descriptions of the fallacy of thinking that the federal government can perform any function cheaper than the private sector, or the local government, that I've ever heard. "Brokerage fee", indeed.
Buckley likes to demonstrate his superior vocabulary, which I found a bit irritating. One sentence begins, "William Scranton...felt an afflatus on the question of Goldwater..." Huh? Who uses words like that to convey anything but a perceived superiority to the reader? Later on, Buckley writes, "There had been cheers of joy to greet those words. But the diapasonal opposition drowned out the good moments..." Go ahead, look up diapasonal, I'm waiting.
While there are some good anecdotes about times spent with Goldwater, the book really isn't so much about him at all, but more of an exposition that if Goldwater had only listened to WFB and his buddies, rather than trusting his campaign staff, he would have won the presidency.
If you're a true political junkie, go ahead and read this one, but don't say I didn't warn you.

[Raymond Hwang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buckley provides us with a historical look back as well as a personal relationship. Knowing Goldwater as Barry puts him inside his circle and he gives details of an era of change where Conservatism show spark. Goldwater is that spark. This is a lovely book.

[Gabriella Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good look into the profile and presidential campaign of former AZ Senator Barry Goldwater.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a certain bittersweet aspect to reading Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater. It is the last book William F. Buckley wrote, or at least that was ready or publication - he was working on a book on Reagan when he passed, and at the same time to it looks back to what was in many ways the the political dawn of the conservative movement. Those seem like heady days compared the troubles of today.

The fact that it is a very personal account, and a sort of novelization, ads to this feeling. This isn't straight history but rather a remembrance: Buckley attempting to capture his friend not just the historical figure. As such it tells the reader about both Goldwater and Buckley and their relationship. That doesn't mean there isn't history involved just that it is a particular perspective and description of the history they both witnessed and participated in.

As such it is a quick and enjoyable read with the typical WFB style and wit. With a few flash forwards interspersed, Buckley basically tells the story of how Goldwater came to be seen as the candidate which would allow the conservative wing of the GOP to take control of the party and offer a full throated conservative as the party's candidate. He details how the conservatives centered around his magazine, National Review, played a critical role in bringing this about and how they were eventually cut out of the campaign by Goldwater's top advisers. Along the way Buckley attempts to give readers insight into the Goldwater he came to know and how their relationship developed and survived the stress and strains of the campaign and its aftermath.

This is not an ideal volume for students seeking to get the basic facts but rather an enjoyable look back for fans of either man; or those acquainted with the larger history of conservatism and American politics. And that is only appropriate as Buckley was not a historian but rather a unique combination of prose stylist, conservative polemicist (and populiser), and larger-than-life personality. All of these characteristics are present in Flying High.

This volume is an obvious must have for Buckley and Goldwater fans, but it is also an interesting look at the intersection of the conservative movement and American politics. Anyone with an interest in either topic will enjoy this short but unique read.

[Darrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While his 1964 bid for Presidency was unsuccessful Barry Goldwater's run planted the seed that eventually germinated in the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. His candor and his unwillingness to compromise his conservative views and positions made him a conservative icon.

Buckley's memorial of Goldwater paints an excellent picture of the political climate of the United States in both the 1960 and 1964 elections and Goldwater's behind the scenes involvement in the conservative politics of the 1960 election and his more overt and obvious involvement as the Republican nominee in the 1964 election.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going into the reading of this book, I knew I was in hostile territory: authored by William F. Buckley Jr., with blurbs of praise on the cover from George Will and Norman Podhoretz. The book is marginally interesting, but I found the structure to be rather erratic and the writing to be, for the most part, bland. Oddly, in my opinion, it was not to a great extent actually about Barry Goldwater. I read it with the expectation of finding something out about one of the last "respectable" Republicans, but came away knowing just about what I knew going in. The brief visit into hostile territory wasn't really worth the time.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buckley's self-approbation and sense of entitlement are tiresome throughout. I also happen to take issue with many of his "factual" statements and with most of his political tenets. But this book is indeed a useful far-right counterpoint to the excellent, left-leaning "Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus" by Rick Perlstein, which Buckley references in these pages.
Buckley's small volume can easily be read in a few hours; Perlstein's requires a much more serious investment of your time.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read about some of the behind the scenes play of the draft Goldwater movement in the early 60's. Written from Buckley's point of view and overall pretty favorable. Not full of facts or down and dirty details. It does repeat over and over that Conscience of a Conservative was ghost written and Buckley almost seems to fawn favorably whenever he can over the true author of Conscience, Brent Bozell. If you liked Conscience then this is a must read.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had higher hopes for this book. The beginning and many points onward it sounded more like a biography for William F Buckley rather than Barry Goldwater. The book mainly focuses on his run for president so if you want an in depth read about Goldwater then you will want to try another biography.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a man that I highly admire writes a book about one of my heroes...good things happen.

[David R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in typical late Buckley style this is merely a casual melange of reminiscences. It doesn't go anywhere.

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hideous. Should have been titled "How I and My Family Invented barry Goldwater, the Conservative Movement & Tried to Save America from "Liberals" Like Ike, Nixon, & Itself" Megalomania run amok!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

entertaining but short.

[Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really a book about Goldwater. It's a collection of anecdotes about William F. Buckley, most of them somehow involving Goldwater or his aides.

[Alex Kondrashin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A witty account of Goldwater and Buckley's encounters, which were not always as productive as they could be.