How William F. Buckley, Jr., Changed My Life

Last week, the U.S. Post Office released the William F. Buckley Jr. stamp, honoring the founder of National Review magazine and a major influence in the modern conservative movement. I knew Bill Buckley, and I don’t think this image does him justice. He had a warm, friendly personality whose eyes sparkled.

He passed away February 27, 2008, at the age of 82. We dedicated a room to him at the 2009 FreedomFest.

To me, Bill Buckley was a hero. As a teenager, I frequently read his “National Review” magazine. I had met him several times, starting with his appearance at Jim Blanchard’s Gold Conference in the late 1970s when he ably debated John Kenneth Galbraith. He was also the emcee at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)’s 50th anniversary party at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1996, where I witnessed Margaret Thatcher upstage him — a first!

Despite his fame and fortune, Buckley was always friendly and helpful. He never put on airs. He never insisted on being called “William.” He was always “Bill.” His interests were ubiquitous. He loved to pontificate, travel, sail, ski (especially with Milton Friedman), play chess, drink fine wines, smoke, entertain, listen to classical music, write, debate (“Firing Line”), appear in public (the Johnny Carson Show), defend the undefendable (Joe McCarthy) and worship (as a practicing Catholic who was no prude — he wrote frequently for Playboy magazine), and he even befriended enemies (John Kenneth Galbraith, but not Norman Mailer). He was married only once, to his sweetheart Patricia, with whom he had one son, Christopher (also an entertaining writer). His only weakness was his passion for wine and cigars.

How Buckley Helped Me Land a Position at Columbia Business School!

I became his friend when I was president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York in 2001-02. And, through a miraculous unpredictable series of events, he landed me a position at Columbia Business School! Here’s the story:

When I moved to New York to became president of FEE, the oldest free-market think tank, I contacted Bill Buckley about getting together, since I knew he was friends with the founder, Leonard Read.

He graciously invited my wife Jo Ann and me over to his ocean-front home in Stamford, Connecticut, for lunch. It was a beautiful, warm spring day in 2002, and we spent a delightful two hours together reminiscing about the conservative movement. After drinking a couple of glasses of red wine, he smoked a couple of cigarettes, which surprised me. (I found out later that he died of emphysema.)

I brought with me my first edition of “God and Man at Yale” for him to sign. It is a classic that will, in my judgment, become his most famous book (although I have a fondness for his sailing books).

After touring his house and study where he writes his books and columns (located in his garage!), he pointed to multiple copies of all his novels and political books and offered to give me and my wife any book we wished. I picked up the third in his trilogy of sailing books, which he promptly autographed.

First edition of ‘The Making of Modern Economics’ (2001)

As we were leaving, I thought at the last minute to give him a copy of my book, “The Making of Modern Economics,” which had just been published. I had no idea if he had more than a passing interest in the history of the great economic thinkers such as Adam Smith, Karl Marx or John Maynard Keynes, but I gave it to him anyway. We said our good-byes and drove away.

A Surprise Invitation

I didn’t think any more about it, until a month later I got a surprise call from John Whitney, a professor of management at Columbia Business School, who said he had read a highly favorable review of my book in National Review, written by Bill Buckley himself. Buckley praised my history and ended his review with the statement, “What an absolutely ideal gift for college students.”

Professor Whitney read my book and invited me to give a guest lecture at Columbia… and a few months later, Whitney said he was retiring and would like to recommend me to the dean to take over his course at Columbia Business School. I immediately accepted.

Buckley’s long-time friend, Milton Friedman, also helped by sending a letter of endorsement to the dean. As a result, I taught for two years at Columbia.

I will be eternally grateful to William F. Buckley, Jr., for opening this door to my career.

A few years later, I met up with him for the last time on the National Review cruise around Great Britain. Although he was no longer making public appearances, he still had a sparkle in his eye, and he said, unexpectedly, “I keep your economics book at my bedside and tell all my friends to read it!”

Praise does wonders for the sense of hearing! William F. Buckley will always be #1 in my book.

Why My Book is so Unique

What attracted Buckley, Friedman and other celebrities in the freedom movement to my book?

It became an instant bestseller because it is both educational and entertaining. As one reviewer wrote, “I picked up your book at Princeton University’s bookstore and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I took the history of economics at UCLA, the textbook was dreadfully dull. Not yours!”

“The Making of Modern Economics” is now in its 4^th edition, published by Routledge. It has sold thousands of copies, and is used in many college classrooms.

Unlike other histories, mine is a “tell-all” biography, full of anecdotes and bizarre stories about economists, with lots of pictures, to make them come alive as real people. Like the time Adam Smith burned his clothes… and then burned his papers!

There are music selections for each chapter… and stimulating titles such as “It All Started with Adam” (Adam Smith, that is)… “Marx Madness”… “Out of the Blue Danube” (about the Austrian economists)… “The Keynes Mutiny”… and “Milton’s Paradise” (about Milton Friedman).

The Only History of Economics Told Like a Real Story

Plus, it is the only history with a real engaging plot, where Adam Smith is the hero who comes under attack and is left for dead by the Marxists, socialists and Keynesians, only to be resuscitated by the Austrians, the Chicago school and the supply siders… and triumphs in the end with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet central planning model.

Milton Friedman wrote, “All histories of economics are B.S. — Before Skousen!”

And Jeffrey Tucker writes, “When people ask for a history of economic thought, there is no contest: Mark Skousen’s ‘Making of Modern Economics’ is hands-down the best. From there, you can dig into original resources and so on. But for sheer intellectual adventure, this book is unmatched.”

Douglas Irwin (Dartmouth College) says my book “is the most lively book on the history of economic thought ever written.”

And Roger Garrison (Auburn University) says, “My students love it. Skousen makes the history of economics come alive like no other textbook.”

New 4^th ed. of “The Making of Modern Economics,” with Adam Smith on the cover.

Most textbooks cost an arm and a leg, but I have arranged with my publisher, Routledge, to buy copies in bulk and sell them at a huge discount to you the reader. The retail prices $59.95, but you pay only $37, and I pay the postage. To get this deal, go to www.skousenbooks.com. I autograph all copies and will mail them with a William F. Buckley stamp! Order yours today.

If you wish to read the Kindle edition or listen to the book on audible, it’s available here (read beautifully by Robertson Dean): https://www.amazon.com/Making-Modern-Economics-Mark-Skousen/dp/103202321X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0.

This Cool Interview

Last week, I had a chance to sit down with Roger Ream, the president of the Fund for American Studies, on his Liberty + Leadership Podcast in Washington, D.C., to talk about my various books on economics and finance, and also to discuss my new book, “The Greatest American,” about Benjamin Franklin’s enduring wisdom and what it means for today’s debates on liberty, economics and civic life. It’s a wide-ranging interview, 29 minutes long, available on Apple, Spotify and this Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJRt08uln54&t=122s. Enjoy!

You Blew It!

Where Was Security When Charlie Kirk Was Assassinated?

In today’s world, there are a lot of crazy people out there who want to settle their differences with violence rather than dialogue. Charlie Kirk, the controversial spokesman for TurningPoint USA, was in the forefront of engaging in peaceful and civil debate with his critics with his “Prove Me Wrong” campus visits. Yet, he received thousands of threats to his life every year.

He had several security guards with him when he came to Utah Valley University in Utah, and the University provided a handful of police. Security was lax. No one went through a metal detector, and apparently none of the security guards bothered to survey the tops of the buildings surrounding the event.

You would think they would learn from Butler, Pennsylvania, where Secret Service failed to identify the shooter on top of one of the buildings there, and President Donald Trump was lucky that he escaped a fatal bullet.

At UVU, someone videotaped a man on top of one of the buildings crouching down but didn’t bother to alert security.

The whole tragedy could have been avoided if alert police had focused on the buildings around the event instead of watching the crowd.

‘Won By One’: Charlie Kirk’s Letter to Tom Woods

The tragic assassination of the brilliant and irreplaceable Charlie Kirk still haunts me. Today more than ever, we as a country need to settle our differences through civil dialogue not violence.

Several people have suggested it’s time to re-read “Persuasion vs Force,” the essay my wife Jo Ann and I wrote years ago. You can read it here:  Persuasion vs. Force – MSKOUSEN.COM

Charlie Kirk was a friend who spoke three times at FreedomFest. He made great progress in bringing back some sanity in the academic world. His funeral will be held at the Arizona Stadium on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.

I wrote the following tribute in Skousen CAFÉ: Honoring Art Laffer… and Paying Tribute to Charlie Kirk, Martyr in a Good Cause – Mark Skousen.

Last week, libertarian writer Tom Woods sent me a copy of a letter Charlie sent him in 2012, where he says Woods’s videos convinced him to start TurningPoint USA. You can read theis remarkable letter by an 18-year-old here.

This reminds me of a column Leonard Read (founder of the Foundation for Economic Education) wrote in 1977 called “Won by One.” Quoting Edmund Burke, Read asks, “Is it possible that the ‘seasonable man’ might be an individual who is without office, without situation, without public functions of any kind? Yes, if his mind be adequately vigorous; if righteousness be his first aim in life (confiding in the aid of God), and if he be ‘full of just reliance in his own fortitude, vigor, enterprise and perseverance.’”

If anyone fit the bill, it was Charlie Kirk. Who can fill the empty shoes of this young, vigorous defender of liberty, good values and civil debate?

We were planning to invite Charlie Kirk to return to speak again at FreedomFest and give us a report on his many appearances on campuses. Instead, we will dedicate the general session room at Caesars Forum to Charlie Kirk at next year’s www.freedomfest.com and plan a session on the future of America in these trying times. Hope to see you there.

Good investing, AEIOU,

Mark Skousen