WFB's Long Goodbye.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Conservatism: The clues began a few years ago, when he gave up "Firing Line," the long-running PBS debate and interview show that set standards for intelligence.

Then came word that William F. Buckley Jr. would retire from the speaking circuit. Proceeds from those speeches, delivered with inimitable eloquence, helped sustain National Review throughout its now-half-century run.

National Review! Buckley, of course, founded the magazine in 1954, when the "moderate" Republican presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower seemed to have issued a death certificate for American conservatism.

Its first editorial, to the consternation of self-satisfied liberalism, famously announced it would "stand athwart history, yelling "Stop.' " It would become a favored periodical of Barry Goldwater. And of Ronald Reagan. So much for lost causes.

This week, in a moment of qualified triumph, the 78-year-old Buckley "divested" himself of his financial interests in National Review. The philosophical foundation remains, and the brainy brashness is guaranteed. But the magazine now competes with several other outlets of zesty conservative thought that ...