Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 04:39, 27 December 2005

William L. Safire (born December 17, 1929) is an author, semi-retired columnist, and former journalist and presidential speechwriter. He is perhaps best known as a long-time syndicated political columnist for The New York Times and a regular contributor to "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine, a column on grammar, etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.

His family name was Safir (William added the "e"), and he is an American Jew. He received the Guardian of Zion Award of Bar-Ilan University in 2005.

Safire attended Syracuse University, but dropped out after having attended only two years. Safire was to later deliver a commencement address there, and became a trustee of the university. Safire is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, an elite public school in New York City.

Before he became a journalist, Safire was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew; he wrote Agnew's phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism." From 1955 to 1960, he was a public relations executive. Previously he had been a radio and television producer and a United States Army correspondent.

In 1978, he won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary on Bert Lance's alleged budgetary irregularities. However, subsequent investigations by Congress could find no wrong doing.

Upon announcing Safire's retirement as a political columnist Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The New York Times stated:

The New York Times without Bill Safire is all but unimaginable, Bill's provocative and insightful commentary has held our readers captive since he first graced our Op-Ed Page in 1973. Reaching for his column became a critical and enjoyable part of the day for our readers across the country and around the world.

Whether you agreed with him or not was never the point, his writing is delightful, informed and engaging."

Since 1995 Safire has served as a member of the Pulitzer Board. After ending his op-ed column, Safire became the full-time chief executive of the Dana Foundation, where he had been chairman since 2000.

Politics

Safire describes himself as a libertarian conservative. A Washington Post story on the ending of his op-ed column quotes him on the subject:

I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian. I was the first to really go after George W. on his treatment of prisoners.

After voting for Bill Clinton in 1992, Safire became one of the leading critics of Clinton's administration. Hillary Clinton in particular was often the target of his ire. He caused a mild tempest when he called her a "congenital liar"; Hillary responded that she didn't feel offended for herself, but for her mother's sake; according to the president's press secretary at the time, "the president, if he were not the president, would have delivered a more forceful response to that on the bridge of Mr. Safire's nose."

Many readers who followed his columns in the New York Times felt dismayed when he consistently brought up the point that Iraqi intelligence agents met with the 9/11 attackers in Prague, Czech Republic. This theory has been debunked by CIA and other credible intelligence agencies. Still Mr. Safire kept insisting that this theory was true and used this theory to make a case for war against Iraq.

He is also a consistent and avowed partisan in the defence of the state of Israel. He was also an avid supporter for the the war against Iraq because he felt that Saddam was a threat to Israel.

Writings of Safire

The following is a partial list of his writings:

• Language
  • The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time: Wit and Wisdom from the Popular Language Column in the New York Times Magazine (2004) ISBN 0743242440
  • No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine (2003) ISBN 0743242432
• Novels
  • Scandalmonger (2000) ISBN 0684867192
  • Sleeper Spy (1995) ISBN 067943447X
  • Full Disclosure (1978) ISBN 0385121156
• Selections
  • Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History (1997) ISBN 0393040054
  • Words of Wisdom: More Good Advice (1989) ISBN 0671675354
  • Good Advice (1982) quotations compiled with his brother, Leonard Safire ISBN 0-517-08473-2
• Socio-political works
  • Safire's Political Dictionary, 3rd edition, Random House, NY, l968,l972,l978.
  • The Relations Explosion
  • Plunging into Politics
  • Before the Fall

Reference

• Larry Berman and Bruce W. Jentleson, "Bush and the Post-Cold War World" New Challenges for American Leadership" in Colin Campbell, S.J., and Bert A. Rockman, ed.s The Bush Presidency: First Appraisals. 1991. Chatham House. ISBN 093454090X.

External links

• Columnist Biography, William Safire, from the New York Times
• Archive of political columns (subscription required) from the New York Times
• William Safire: A Conversation (Flash required) from the New York Times
• William Safire Papers, kept at Syracuse University
• William Safire Retires Times Op-Ed Column, a January 2005 story from NPR
• Safire to Retire from 'NYT' Op-Ed Column, a November 2004 article from Editor & Publisher
• William Safire to End Op-Ed Run at N.Y. Times, a November 2004 article from The Washington Post
• Clinton's reaction after Safire calls his wife a liar, from the National Archives and Records Administration
• In Event of Moon Disaster, a presidential speech Safire wrote (but Nixon never delivered), from The Smoking Gun
• Introduction to Beyond Therapy written by Safire, from the website of the Dana Foundation
• 1987 audio interview of William Safire, RealAudio

• American columnists
• Speechwriters
• American linguists
• Etymologists
• 1929 births
• Pulitzer Prize winners
• New York Times people
• Jewish Americans