Safire, William L.

Safire, William L. (săf`īr'), 1929–, American journalist and speechwriter, b. New York City. A former reporter and public-relations executive, he became a speechwriter (1968–73) for Richard Nixon during his 1968 presidential campaign. From 1973 to 2005 his editorial columns in the New York Times provided a consistently conservative and outspoken perspective on American politics, and he won a Pulitzer Prize for his commentary in 1978. His On Language column (1979–) for the New York Times Magazine both explores the richness of modern American English and decries abuses of the language. Safire has also written a historical novel, Scandalmonger (2000), a fact-based tale of a journalist who tarnished the reputations of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, and a number of books on language.

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Safire, William L. (1929–  ) journalist; born in New York City. A former public relations writer and a speechwriter and special assistant to President Richard Nixon, he became a Washington-based columnist for the New York Times in 1973 and won a 1978 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. A language buff, he also took on a weekly column devoted to verbal oddities.