Buckley was born the fourth of eight children in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, the son of Mary Ann Langford and … See more

Buckley attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he received advanced credit for his Spanish language skills and acted as an assistant to a professor in the Romance languages department. He worked as … See more

In 1917, Buckley married Aloise Josephine Antonia Steiner, of New Orleans; she was of Swiss-German, and some Irish, ancestry. They had ten children: Aloïse, short story writer; John, oil business; Priscilla, a journalist; J… See more

In 1908, Buckley moved to Mexico where, together with his brother Claude, he founded the law firm of Buckley & Buckley to represent major American and European oil companies operating in Mexico. In 1912, he opened … See more

After he transferred his company to Venezuela, Buckley fully committed himself to oil exploration, where he was one of the first to use the "farm-out" system. That entailed Buckley's making agreements with some of th… See more