I remember watching the Al Smith Dinner on television in 2000. Al Gore and George W. Bush were both in attendance. Bush thanked WFB for the invitation and remarked: "When he [Buckley] attended Yale he wrote a book. When I was there ... I read one."

I never met WFB and I am the poorer for that. But his thoughts and works were so — everywhere — that I feel like I knew him a bit. I found an old copy of "God and Man at Yale" through Amazon a couple of years ago (price marked $3.50 on the tattered dust jacket) and I hoped that maybe somehow, some day I could get his autograph on it. It never happened of course but I still treasure the book for its content. From what I was able to learn about WFB through television, National Review, his newspaper columns (syndicated in the Chicago Daily News when I was in high school in the 60s), and his books he was just about everything good a person could be - smart, influential, religious, generous, deeply concerned about his country... I marvel at how blessed the good old USA is by the size of the Buckley family - a testament to his unselfishness nature among other things. A little of Bill lives on in his many children, grandchildren and siblings. We should surely thank God for that.
Edward J. Murphy, Chicago, Illinois