William Safire

William Safire (born December 17, 1929, New York, New York, U.S.—died September 27, 2009, Rockville, Maryland) was an American journalist known for his fiercely opinionated conservative columns (1973–2005) for The New York Times as well as his witty and meticulous columns (1979–2009) in The New York Times Magazine that traced the origins and meanings of popular phrases.

Safire attended Syracuse University but left after his sophomore year. He worked as a newspaper reporter and at radio and television stations before entering the public-relations field. In 1961 he founded his own PR firm, which he ran until he sold the agency in 1968. That year he joined Pres. Richard Nixon’s administration as a speechwriter; he coined the famous phrase “nattering nabobs of negativism” in a speech written for Vice Pres. Spiro Agnew.

In 1973 Safire began his twice-weekly “Essay” column for The New York Times, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. The following year he started writing on linguistic issues in The New York Times Magazine. From 1995 to 2004 he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board. Safire’s books included the novels Full Disclosure (1977), Sleeper Spy (1995), and Scandalmonger (2000) as well as works of lexicographical interest, including Safire’s Political Dictionary (1978; rev. ed. 1993, 2008). He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.