Forever stamp to honor conservative pundit William F. Buckley Jr.

The late William F. Buckley Jr., who imprinted a witty and urbane image of conservatism on decades of television audiences, will soon be plastered on a U.S. postal stamp.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced plans to launch a commemorative Forever stamp honoring the patrician pundit in a Sept. 9 dedication ceremony at Yale University, where he graduated in 1950.

The stamp features a black-and-white headshot of Mr. Buckley, who died at 82 in 2008.

He was best known as the founder of the influential National Review magazine and host of Firing Line, a public television show featuring spirited political debates that he used to popularize conservative ideas.

“Known for his eloquence, wit and ability to unite different conservative voices, his influence ranged from mid-20th-century politics to the White House,” the Postal Service said.

The federal agency said it based the charcoal-on-paper illustration on a 1960s photograph that Steve Shapiro took of Mr. Buckley during the prime of his career.

Forever stamps are permanently accepted for one-ounce letters, regardless of later postage rate hikes. They currently cost 78 cents per stamp.

Officials from the Buckley Institute, a nonprofit that promotes free speech and intellectual diversity at Yale, will participate in the ceremony on campus next month.

Lauren Noble, the institute’s founder and executive director, noted that Mr. Buckley first found fame with the 1951 publication of his bestselling memoir “God and Man at Yale” — the first of dozens of books he penned during his lifetime.

“Having launched his career on the national scene with the publication of ’God and Man at Yale,’ it’s fitting that this dedication will take place at Yale, where it all began,” Ms. Noble said Monday. “As the premier institution keeping Buckley’s legacy alive for a new generation, we are excited to help remind the country of his impact.”

Among Mr. Buckley’s former colleagues at National Review, the stamp has drawn mixed reactions.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, the magazine’s religion editor, called it a fitting birthday gift for Mr. Buckley, who would have turned 100 on Nov. 24.

“I pray the stamp reminds people of WFB’s enduring contributions to our civic life in America, and makes young people who didn’t know him curious,” Ms. Lopez said in an email.

But Jack Fowler, a National Review contributing editor who was its publisher at the time of Mr. Buckley’s death, said he wished the postal service had chosen a more iconic image.

Mr. Fowler, who first began advocating for a Buckley stamp over a decade ago, said his late boss’s smile, slouch and twinkling eyes would have been more familiar to fans.

“Not that his image should be of him in a cartoonish host pose, but I think the smile and eyes are more identifiable,” Mr. Fowler said Monday. “He was a truly happy warrior.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/aug/11/forever-stamp-honor-conservative-pundit-william-f-buckley-jr/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5761196&forum_id=2Elisa#49175572)