Safire, William L.

Safire, William L.

(săf`īr'), 1929–2009, American journalist and speechwriter, b. New York City as William Safir. A former reporter and public-relations executive, he became a speechwriter (1968–73) for Richard NixonNixon, Richard Milhous,
1913–94, 37th President of the United States (1969–74), b. Yorba Linda, Calif. Political Career to 1968

A graduate of Whittier College and Duke law school, he practiced law in Whittier, Calif.
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 during his 1968 presidential campaign and continued in the post in the White House. From 1973 to 2005 his twice-weekly editorial columns in the New York Times provided a consistently conservative and outspoken perspective on American politics; he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1978. His On Language column (1979–2009) for the New York Times Magazine explored the richness of modern American English and decried abuses of the language. Safire also wrote a number of books on language, a memoir of his time in the White House (1975), and several novels including Scandalmonger (2000).

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.