William F. Buckley's reputation as a rabblerouser was firmly established at an early age. At Yale, Buckley once crashed a meeting to criticize the faculty -- as he had done at one of his prep schools. At another prep school, young Buckley confronted the school's president and recited a list of shortcomings.

But Buckley's activism stretched back further still. Indeed, in elementary school, William wrote a letter complaining about England's failure to pay its war debts to the United States. The letter's recipient? England's King George V!