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WFB is an all time classic.

There's a decent documentary on Netflix about the WF Buckley vs. Gore Vidal debates during the 1968 Rep and Dem Party Conventions.

It's fascinating from an historical perspective. I think that it gives Gore Vidal too much credit. He comes across as a spoiled brat. However, he certainly did get under Buckley's skin and caused Buckley to come unglued at one point.

I recommend it.

Discovering William F. Buckley's greatness for the first time is such a joy. I'd never actually watched or read much from him until a couple years ago and I've become a YUGE admirer ever since. He's a true national treasure.

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It's fascinating from an historical perspective. I think that it gives Gore Vidal too much credit. He comes across as a spoiled brat. However, he certainly did get under Buckley's skin and caused Buckley to come unglued at one point.

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This is an understatement. Had Buckley actually socked him it would have been deserved. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed.

My favorite WFB story (told by his son Chris). They went sailing off the coast for an overnight trip. When it was time for dinner all the kitchen pantry had was canned beans. WFB said "How about some lobster?"

He went up to a floating marker and pulled a cage up loaded with lobsters. "I'm not stealing...I'm making a trade." He removed some lobsters and placed several bottles of very expensive Champagne into the cages.

I'll bet the fishermen were shocked the next morning when they pulled it up.

Buckley and Thurston Howell III sound exactly alike.

The Buckley v. Chomsky debate was fantastic.

The WFB/GV doc was surprisingly fair to WFB -- w/ one big exception. The last act presented his reaction to GV as a great failure on his part, one that he spent the rest of his life regretting. Indeed the film presented his post-debate life as one long disappointment.

This is completely false. WFB was a cult figure beforehand. The debate made him a star. His PBS TV show got a lot more stations, his books sold better -- he even became a bestselling mystery novelist. Even Vidal admitted this: He said one of the great regrets of his life was that he made WFB a star.

Another interesting documentary:

Gore Vidal - The American Presidency (1999)

Made for the History Channel back when it didn't suck, this is an iconoclastic look at the office of the Presidency: how it was created, and how it has affected the world.

Vidal dwells on his "American Empire" theme that he promoted in several novels and essays. Conservatives will likely be outraged by some of his claims, though in my own case it wasn't until the post-WWII era that I got really annoyed.

Still it's interesting if sometimes inaccurate, giving Vidal the perfect vehicle for his talents. Although he was a good novelist, his true genius was for playing the curmudgeonly Man of Letters.

Curiously enough I like Vidal as a historical novelist, at least when he keeps the propaganda to a minimum. For anyone who enjoys historical fiction I would recommend Julian and Creation, as well as some entries in the "American Chronicles" series such as Burr, 1876, and Lincoln (once listed by David Duke as his favorite novel!)

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail." -- Gore Vidal