Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Former N.Y. conservative Sen. James L. Buckley died Friday at the age of 100 in Washington, D.C., according to his nephew, Christopher Buckley.
Buckley won a three-way race for one of New York's two Senate seats as a Conservative Party candidate against Republican Sen. Charles Goodell and Democratic Rep. Richard Ottinger in 1970.
Buckley served in the Senate from 1971-1977, during which he opposed President Richard Nixon's attempts to normalize relations with communist China. Following the Watergate scandal, Buckley called on Nixon to leave office.
In 1976, he lost the New York senatorial election to Democratic candidate Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who went on to hold the seat until 2001, shortly before his death in 2003.
Buckley's time in the Senate was the only instance of a Conservative Party candidate holding a statewide public office in New York state.
Buckley was one of 10 children of oil tycoon William F. Buckley Sr. and the older brother of conservative writer and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr.
Buckley ran for Senate again, this time in Connecticut in 1980 but lost to Democrat Chris Dodd.
In 1981, President Reagan appointed Buckley to Under Secretary of State for Security Affairs.
In 1985, Buckley was nominated and confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Buckley had six children with his wife, Ann Frances Cooley, who passed away in 2011.
