Blackford Oakes R.I.P.
The Original "Architect"William F. Buckley, Jr.
1925-2008
The tributes to William F. Buckley Jr have been numerous and well deserved. With his smarts, wit and style, he personified the type of man I have always been attracted to. He had a libertarian streak that showed he was a thinking man and his love for the English language was truly a sight to behold. When I lived in NY during the 80's I followed the exploits of he and his glamourous wife, Pat, on the pages of W and the NY papers. In addition, Mr. Buckley had made my "10 people I would most like to sit next to on a cross country flight" short list. (in first class, of course)
Most people knew him as the Architect of Modern Conservatism, but being young, stupid and liberal, I had no clue about all that at the time. No, I met WFB through his Blackford Oakes novels.
Blackford Oakes is the suave protagonist of a series of spy novels set during the Cold War. I remember them as being cracking good reads with a pro Western bent. It was refreshing to read a pro-western spy novel where the good guys REALLY are the good guys. If you're interested in spy thrillers with excellent dialogue and a clever political and historical backstory you might just want to give him a read.
So here we are. In my mind's eye, I am seeing him standing with his arm around Pat at a fabulous cocktail party in the sky, cigarettes and cocktails at the ready, his head is thrown back and he is laughing his marvelous laugh. So long, Blackie. May the Lord bless and keep you William F. Buckley, Jr.
(More on his life, an archive of his articles posted at the National Review, and a list of the Blackford Oakes novels can be found beneath the fold.)
The announcement of his death by the editors of the The National Review ,"William F. Buckley, Jr. RIP", can be foundhere and an interesting obit from the SF Chronicle can be found here.
Salon takes a look at his public life, career as an author, editor and his year spent as a CIA spy here. Find the archive of his National Review articleshere.
The Blackford Oakes Novels from Wikipedia:
Saving the Queen - Set in 1952. Oakes' first mission. He goes to England looking for a British double agent.
Stained Glass - Oakes is sent to keep tabs on a German politician who is trying to unify East and West Berlin against the wishes of both American and Soviet intelligence agencies.
Whos On First - Set in 1956 during the space race and uprising in Hungary.
Marco Polo, if You Can - Set in 1958. Oakes is captured while flying a U2 aircraft over Soviet airspace.
The Story of Henri Tod - Set in 1961. Oakes is in Germany during the Berlin Wall crisis.
See You Later, Alligator - Set in Cuba in the early 1960s, Oakes meets Che Guevara and tries to ease tensions between Cuba and America after the Bay of Pigs incident.
High Jinx - Set in 1954. Oakes works behind the scenes to avoid an internal Soviet power struggle that could lead to a Stalin protégé gaining in power in Moscow.
Mongoose R.I.P. - Set in 1963. Oakes is in Cuba working to overthrow Castro after the Cuban missile crisis. Tucker's Last Stand – Set in 1964. Oakes is in Vietnam to cut off Viet Cong supply lines.
A Very Private Plot – Oakes in 1995 is called to testify about operations he conducted in the 1980s, especially one in particular involving a domestic Soviet plot to assassinate Mikhail Gorbachev.
Last Call for Blackford Oakes – Set in 1987, Oakes confronts the infamous Soviet defector, Kim Philby.
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