The U.S. Senate Class of 1980; 10; Senator James L. Buckley

Why you boys want to do well with a. Guy. And a boy rather a senator never held elected office for him and I think rightly to find out that it worked for him and he has generally been voting in a negative fashion. I think a great human being. He's very sensitive to the other person. He's a highly intelligent person. He always wants to Larry's very conscientious wants to do his homework. Kind of a perfectionist. Easygoing. The United States Senate. Class of 1971. This year 11 freshmen Republicans five Democrats and one

conservative. Joined the ranks of the 100 and America's upper house of the legislative branch of government. Here for the national educational radio network with a profile of one of these new United States senators. Is your host Bill Moroney. Anyone. Yeah and across the country. People live in New York. They want to. And I. And a white point of view that is the voice of James L. Buckley accepting the accolades of victory from a New York Conservative Party gone mad

with ecstatic political satisfaction and joyous personal fulfillment. It was election night November 1970. James Buckley was the first United States senator elected by a third party in 16 years. Jim Buckley won in a tough three way battle for the Senate he was the beneficiary of liberal divisions a Republican split and administration purge. James Buckley is a conservative with a small C. politically he is a Republican with a capital R.. He was barred from running for the Senate as a Republican because the incumbent liberal Charles Goodell held that honor Goodell had been appointed by Governor Rockefeller to serve out the unexpired term of Senator Robert Kennedy after his assassination. The Democratic candidate was liberal congressman Richard Hutton jare at first expected to win. With two liberal opponents Buckley immediately attracted the conservative vote. Goodell's only support came from traditional Republicans. Liberals jumped two out unsure and conservatives over to Buckley threw out the 1970

campaign the administration conducted a tough fight on two fronts led by President Nixon a direct assault on the Senate was launched. I must have a working majority said the chief executive. Everywhere he stopped during that late summer Mr. Nixon would drum home to his audiences the sad story of how every constructive move he had proposed had been forwarded by the Democratically controlled Senate. He would then plead for the election of the local Republican candidate for the Senate telling the voters he desperately needed that man's vote. Mr Nixon never made such an appeal in New York. Meanwhile a flanking action was underway led by the vice president Mr Agnew's objective was to knock out the liberals principal thorns in the side of the president. Senator Goodell had been a very thorny liberal. Unlike the president the vice president did make a Senate stop in New York. It was a secret meeting with the leaders of the Conservative Party. He never publicly endorsed Buckley but his presence was enough to spread the word that the administration backed the conservative candidate. Thus Charlie

Goodell became an example to his fellow liberals in the GOP. He was purged in 1970 again election night. We are a great country. It has many problems sometimes for great causes. There have been sacrifice and I'm very proud to stand with you tonight. It's a sacrifice but more than that I'm a man of optimism. I do believe that I have come to try. They're running in this country that are wrong. But we can change life. We will. But we may we will. I know they've been in the next administration and have been somewhat influenced by the movement by Republicans who

have been. Vocal both in and out of Congress on this subject. The president has reversed his economic policies almost completely and I don't care if I would like to see him do it. He certainly has changed rather than actually recognizing. I think that real nature of the economic policies in the first two years Goodell now heads a group of disgruntled liberal Republicans who hope to change the president's mind and policies and failing that turn him out of office in 1972. As for the administration purging which cost him his seat in the Senate and elected James Buckley Goodell thinks it's over for the time being and I think that period of purging within their Public Integrity and at least temporarily over Mr. Nixon if he chooses to run will be on the ballot in November 1972. But we are with attempted purge and will not be in its own interest. The top of the ticket. So I don't end the day in 72 there would be that kind of effort for it to occur in

like 70. Mr. Goodell offered a modest assessment of his successor. Well I don't want to prematurely join him as then rather a violent senator never held elective office before and he chose and I think rightly too. Find out how they were before he comes back. I was very disappointed in his hold on the campaign last year. And voted for it when he got it and he has generally been voting in a negative fashion. But it's a little early to tell. Unlike all the other programs in this series the senator about whom the profile was being produced would not consent to an interview for the program. The series is designed to introduce you the audience to each of the 11 United States senators elected in November 1978. Senators Chiles Brock Humphrey Taft Tony Bell Benson Stevenson Weicker and Roth have all found time between January and June Senator Buckley could not

in an effort to uncover something about the junior senator from New York. I question press secretary Leonard Safir about the busy life led by James Buckley. He just celebrated a couple of months ago his 40th birthday. He's a graduate of Yale. It is an old attorney also a graduate of Yale Law School. He practiced law for only about a year after law school and he joined a family of companies like atomic operation. Which is in the oil and. Mineral. Mining exploration business. He was with the company for 17 years and in his job as a senior officer for most of the business of the company was conducted outside of this country and he'd traveled 30 40 percent or more each year abroad he spent

a considerable amount of time throughout the Far East and Middle East South American cities. He knows business and finance and the world situation. During the war years he was on a number of I think the three invasions in the Pacific as a lieutenant junior grade. In the Navy he left. He is not a politician the first first century really into politics was handling his brother's campaign his brother the Countess Bill Buckley's campaigning 1065 when Bill ran for mayor of the Jim Buckley was his campaign manager. The senators describe that a little bit as the blind leading the blind. But in 68 he he did what he described as some jury duty and ran for the Senate at that time. Not

really expecting to win and I don't. I believe his Sophie if he thought he could win he probably wouldn't have run in 68. He did get a million more votes. And then in 1970 when he decided to run and to and to run because he wanted to win thought he couldn't win. So how would you describe Senator Buckley's campaign style as opposed to the other two candidates he ran against. He was a hardworking campaigner who started early in the morning until late at night who stayed directly on the issues. I think his opponents kind of evaded some of the key issues in the state. I think initially the only difficulty was it was to let the these voters in the state know that he was a viable candidate. But once that was established in the minds of the voters that he was a viable candidate that took the difficulty. Do you think Senator Bradley would have

won if he had been facing only one of his opponents. I think Charles Goodell summed that up in our own post-election analysis showed the same results also that Goodell's strength came from traditional loyalist Republican votes in the upstate New York area. And as Goodell himself said after the election in a post-mortem that had he not run and it would have been it was a two way race between the Democrat and Buckley and Buckley's vote would have been something like 54 55 percent getting this traditional loyalist Republican vote that did go to get down. What about injury hadn't run. Well that's because the Democrats. There would have been another Democrat running in his case and probably would have been the same result showing that over 50 percent

of the voters in the awkward or Republican either on a moderate or conservative flowing pattern being a member of the Conservative Party. What what is the relationship that he now holds with the Republican Party in the Senate. I think most understand that the senator has always in his lifetime been and rolled a Republican in the campaign the OC. He tried to get the Republican nomination but because of the fact that. The. Registration block by the State Committee he could not so he ran on the conservative block he's not a member of the Conservative Party is not part of a body part of the party apparatus nationally he's a quasi is a member here and in Washington of the Republican conference. He he is in tune with republicanism around the country and most of his Republican

colleagues. What's the senator's workday like is his day usually starts off and with a working breakfast at eight o'clock or earlier with a constituent or a colleague. He's has meetings right through the course of the day either committee meeting sub committee meetings he is on three committees and a number of subcommittees. Air air and water as pollution takes up a lot of his time it's a subcommittee part of the public works committee and subcommittee they put in floor and is very interested in the environment. But his day is taken up with with meetings with constituents the committee hearings and also of course whatever work he's called on the sad flaw in his day ends with a usually a working reception or a dinner or taking work home to 10:00 o'clock and so

at night so his day is usually a long day. And he's been putting in a number of weekend works plus a lot of travel and he's he's managed to get around New York state a number of times already various cities and intends to continue to do this. What's it like to work with. I think he's I've been with him you know a year now and he is I think a great human being. He's very sensitive to other persons. He's a highly intelligent person. He always wants to learn he's very conscientious wants to do his homework. Kind of a perfectionist but. Easygoing. Whether it's the girls in the office or his aides or campaign workers or friends they all have a just a great feeling for it. For this man what are his pet issues. He is interested. Very much in the environment

ecology. He's been a lifelong conservationist. And as I pointed out this is a reason why he lied for the air and water pollution subcommittee. He is interested in the Foreign Relations and the defense of this country. He's interested in the has a case study going on. Minority opportunities research in that. Minority opportunities he says. It's it's kind of a challenge for him. He feels as has rightly so that most people think that because a man is called conservatives and he's and he's not interested in the youth and the problems of the N.S.A. and this is a challenge to him to show that conservatives certainly are interested and this is a

project at its very highest priority in my studies working out the conservative label won by Senator Buckley is greatly misunderstood to most the term conservative conjures up visions of the Ku Klux Klan the John Birch Society isolationism inequality and plain old old fashioned US Senate about Lee's brand of conservatism appears to be right in tune with today. It may be just a synonym for good old common sense. He defined conservatism in those terms on February 4th at the second annual conservative awards dinner in Washington D.C. Senator Buckley said the most important factor is the enduring common sense of the American people a common sense which has restored sanity to our public affairs in the past and which can save us again if we will deal honestly with the public. The American people understand that we live in a predatory world and that we must look to our own defenses if we are to remain secure and independent. They understand that in a world of nucular missiles we can no longer retreat to a policy of isolationism. They understand the need for firmness

in law enforcement if we are to cope with crime and because they know human nature they know that a free society cannot co-exist with chaos. They can sense what is faults and political cant. And increasingly they resent being patronized or deceived. They are ready in short for a politics which will make a serious and sustained effort to bring political assumptions political expectations and political language into the closest possible intimacy with reality. The New Testament has taught us that the man who loves the world to excess will lose it. But there surely is a corollary. He who fails to see the world will most certainly lose it to the words of conservative senator James Buckley freshman senator from New York. I want to. Point out this is Bill Maher of. The United States Senate class of 1971. It was produced in Washington

D.C. for the national educational radio network. With funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.