Accompanied by photos of the pair grinning wildly, WWD’s profile of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Buckley Jr. in August 1969 painted a quirky, giddy picture of two of New York society’s most high-profile figures. The story noted, “What impresses you most when you meet Bill and Pat Buckley are not the obvious things.” Not the “elegant duplex” or “good looks.” Rather, “What does impress you is that the William F. Buckley Jrs., really like and enjoy each other.”
The Buckleys were sailing their yacht to Nova Scotia that summer with their then-16-year-old son, Christopher, and planned a skiing trip for the winter; for the interview, Bill introduced the reporter to their Cavalier King Charles spaniel. “His name is Rowley,” Bill told WWD. “He was named by the people who gave him to us. Rowley was the nickname of Charles I.”
There was no shortage of opinions chez Buckley. On fashion: “I love pants but not in restaurants,” says Pat, who noted she liked Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass and Halston. “I think the Midi is one of the ugliest creations.” On Vietnam: “It seems plain that if we were to pull out without achieving our objective, it would reduce the meaning of all our existing commitments to nothing…,” Bill said. And on the recent moon launch, which the Buckleys traveled to Cape Kennedy for? “‘I love the moon,’ said Pat…and she adds a bit sadly, ‘But now I don’t look at it in a romantic light at all. Now it’s scientific.”