Heritage Mourns the Loss of William Rusher

Ed Feulner / April 18, 2011

William Rusher, longtime publisher of National Review and a leader of the conservative movement, passed away this weekend. Bill Rusher was much more than “Bill Buckley’s Publisher.” Yes, he was that, and yes, he did bring business sense, circulation growth, national attention and management continuity to the conservative movement’s leading publication for so many years.

But, in addition, Bill Rusher was an independent voice for solid, grassroots conservatism. Most of us don’t identify the grass roots with either Yale (Buckley) or Princeton (Rusher), yet Bill Rusher talked the language of the common man.

Buckley elevated our intellectual level and had us constantly referring to our Webster’s (for this generation, that’s a printed book called a “dictionary”). Rusher, on the other hand, gave voice to our frustrations with the overweening liberal welfare state —  whether it was being pushed by a Democrat (LBJ) or a Republican (Nixon).  His column was the forerunner for many strong conservative writers who flourish today. (more…)