William F. Buckley’s secrets revealed in Oct. 9 talk

In the space of a single generation, journalist and author William F. Buckley led a small band of little-known conservatives to the peaks of political power and cultural influence.

On Oct. 9, historian and journalist Sam Tanenhaus will share the secrets he discovered during his 20 years of investigation into Buckley's life in "The Man Who Built a Movement: How William F. Buckley Invented Modern Conservatism," a conversation with Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of government.

The event will take place in Hollis Auditorium, GS132 Goldwin Smith Hall at 5 p.m., and is free and open to the public.

A decade before he died, Buckley chose Tanenhaus, the fall 2025 Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist in the College of Arts and Sciences, to tell the full story of his life, granting him extensive uncensored interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. The result was Tanenhaus' latest book, "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution that Changed America," published in June.

"I'm looking forward to hearing Sam's insights into Buckley and the people and forces that shaped the conservative movement, and their relevance for today," Loewen said. "At a time when so much has changed in our political landscape, taking a deep dive into our history can shed a much-needed light on the present."

Tanenhaus is the former editor-in-chief of both the New York Times' Book Review and the Week in Review, and was a Times writer at large. He has also been a contributing editor and writer at Vanity Fair, and the U.S. writer at large for the British monthly Prospect. He is currently a contributing writer to the Washington Post.

His other books include "Whittaker Chambers: A Biography," which received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, and "The Death of Conservatism."

His feature articles and essays have appeared in publications including the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times' Magazine, the Atlantic, Esquire, Newsweek, Time, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Loewen's research centers on the future of democratic societies and the politics of technological change. He has edited four books and published in leading journals of political science and other disciplines.

Before coming to Cornell, Loewen spent 14 years at the University of Toronto in numerous roles, most recently as director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and as the Robert Vipond Distinguished Professor in Democracy in the Department of Political Science. Loewen was also the director of the Policy, Elections and Representation Lab (PEARL); associate director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society; a senior fellow at Massey College; and a fellow with the Public Policy Forum, a Canadian think tank.

Linda B. Glaser is news and media relations manager for the College of Arts and Sciences.