'Best of Enemies': The Buckley-Vidal debates of 1968

In many ways, these outspoken opponents were remarkably alike. Both were sons of prominent, privileged families. Both cultivated upper-class, prep school accents. Both had run for office in New York State. Both were tireless writers, opinionated talkers, intellectual celebrities, and flamboyant personalities.

On the other hand, they represented polar opposites of political thought and made no attempt to mask their mutual disdain. Buckley — author, commentator, editor of the rightist National Review, and advocate of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan — can be considered the founder of the modern American conservative moment. In contrast, Vidal — essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, and cultural icon — was a sleek, urbane liberal who preached cultural and sexual freedom. He rejected the notion of “heterosexual” and “homosexual,” promoting the notion of “pansexuality.” His satirical novel Myra Breckinridge, featuring a transgender heroine, caused a great stir in the late ’60s. As his biographer Fred Kaplan put it to Buckley, “Vidal was the devil.”

The crypto-Nazi and the queer

The debate, which raged over 10 nights against the backdrop of the Republican and Democratic conventions, made for great television. The opponents traded barbs and insults with unabashed relish, eyes flashing and lips snarling in the close-ups. Then the name-calling got out of hand. Vidal provoked Buckley by calling him a “crypto-Nazi,” where upon Buckley lost his cool. “Now listen, you queer,” he lashed back in front of millions of viewers. “Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”

Documentarians Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville have assembled this fascinating footage, which builds in tension like a duel unto death.

The epilogue is especially revealing. Vidal wrote a lengthy aftermath piece in Esquire about the lethal exchange, whereupon Buckley sued Vidal and the magazine. Vidal countersued. The legal battle lasted three years. Although the suits were ultimately dropped, both continued to carry their mutual hatred into the 1980s, attacking each other with unrelieved venom. When Buckley died, Vidal remarked: “Hell will be a livelier place.”

A bloody sea change

The Buckley-Vidal exchanges changed television, ushering in decades of lively debates among sparring public figures that continue to capture the viewers’ interest.

But in retrospect, the celebrity status and blood sport that both these men craved had tragic consequences. Vidal lived into his 80s, poisoned by his venom, forgotten and overlooked as a writer and thinker. Meanwhile, Buckley never overcame his shame in calling Vidal a “queer.” In one of his last interviews on television, when Charlie Rose asked Buckley if he had any regrets, Buckley replied: “If I do, I’m not saying.” It’s clear what he meant.

This penetrating documentary, in the final analysis, left me sad. That which divides us may provide temporary entertainment, but in the end it leaves a bitter aftertaste. Buckley and Vidal, two brilliant American minds, battled unto death, like Oedipus’s sons Polynices and Eteocles. And to what avail?