# Buckley Family The **Buckleys** are the intellectual dynasty at the center of postwar American conservatism. The fortune came from oil — **William F. Buckley Sr.** (1881–1958) built it through the Catawba and Pantepec oil companies — and funded a large, devoutly Catholic, politically engaged family of ten children. The defining figure is **[[William F. Buckley Jr.]]** (1925–2008), who founded *[[National Review]]* in 1955 and, more than any other individual, fused the postwar conservative coalition and policed its boundaries. His brother **[[James L. Buckley]]** (1923–2023) won a U.S. Senate seat from New York (1971) on the Conservative Party line and later served as a federal judge. The Buckley line interlocks directly with the **[[Bozell Family]]**: Buckley Jr.'s sister **[[Patricia Buckley Bozell]]** married his Yale debate partner **[[L. Brent Bozell Jr.]]**, and their children — including the founder of the [[Media Research Center]] — are Buckley grandchildren. The Bozells became the activist, militant branch of the combined clan. > Status: **stub** — expand the oil fortune, the full sibling generation, *National Review*'s institutional role, and the Buckley–Bozell interlock.