William F. Buckley, Jr., 1925-2008

From this obituary: "For people of my generation, Bill Buckley was pretty much the first intelligent, witty, well-educated conservative one saw on television," fellow conservative William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said at the time [Firing Line] ended. "He legitimized conservatism as an intellectual movement and therefore as a political movement."

Visit National Review for more discussion about its founder.

Here is the bastion of liberalism's obituary on the "scourge of liberalism."