He joined the staff of Esquire magazine in 1976 and seven months later was promoted at age 24 to managing editor. In 1980 he returned to sea aboard an American ship and made eight mid-winter transatlantic crossings between U.S. Gulf ports and North Sea ports in England and Germany. The experience was the basis for his first bestselling non-fiction book, Steaming to Bamboola: The World of a Tramp Freighter, published in 1982.
In 1981, he moved to Washington, D.C. to become chief speechwriter to Vice President George H.W. Bush. His first bestselling novel, The White House Mess, published in 1986, was a satire on White House office politics and political memoirs.
In 1989, Malcolm S. Forbes hired Buckley to start up a supplement to Forbes magazine. Buckley was editor-in-chief of Forbes FYI, later Forbes Life, from 1990 to 2007.
His 20 books have been published in 16 languages. His novel Thank You For Smoking was adapted to the screen and directed by Jason Reitman.
National Review
In summer and fall 2008, Christopher Buckley wrote the back-page column for National Review, the conservative magazine founded by his father. In October 2008, Buckley wrote a column endorsing Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, choosing to have it published in The Daily Beast to avoid backlash from National Review readers.[6] After many National Review readers and contributors still expressed their displeasure, Buckley resigned from that publication.[7][8]
The Beast's title for his endorsement, "Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama", was found by many of his father's friends and supporters to be offensive, particularly as it appeared shortly after his father's death. Buckley disavowed the choice of title,[citation needed] although he continued to occasionally write for the Beast.[9]
Personal life
Buckley's first marriage was to Lucy Gregg, the daughter of Donald Gregg, who served as assistant to Vice President Bush for national security affairs and later as United States Ambassador to South Korea. Buckley and Gregg have two children, Caitlin and William, born in 1988 and 1992, respectively. In 2000, Buckley's son, Jonathan, was born to former Random House publicist Irina Woelfle.[10] Buckley and Gregg divorced in 2011.
In 2012, he married Dr. Katherine "Katy" Close, a physician.[11] She has four children.
Bibliography
Satirical novels
God Is My Broker: A Monk-Tycoon Reveals the 7½ Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth (1998) (written with John Tierney)
Little Green Men (In development) (Screenplay by Sean Bates and Gregory Mackenzie)
Boomsday (In development) Screenwriters Ron Bass and Jen Smolka have adapted the novel into a screenplay. Tom Vaughan was set to direct the film in early 2011 for GreeneStreet Films and Das Films
Travelogues
Steaming to Bamboola – The World of a Tramp Freighter (1983)
Washington Schlepped Here: Walking in the Nation's Capital (2003)
^Chris Matthews, Christopher Buckley (October 14, 2008). Hardball (Television). New York City: MSNBC. Archived from the original(Javascript) on January 13, 2004. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
