Safire, William

William Safire, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1978, has been a political columnist for the New York Times since 1973. Readers also know him for his New York Times Magazine column "On Language" upon which he has based 13 books. Previously, Safire served as a senior White House speech-writer for President Nixon.

The New York City native began his journalism career as a reporter with the New York Herald Tribune, after attending Syracuse University for two years. Safire also spent time as a radio and TV producer as well as a U.S. Army correspondent. In the late 1950s, while serving as a vice president of a New York public relations firm, he was responsible for bringing together then-Vice President Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev for their Cold-War era "kitchen debate" in Moscow.

Among Safire's numerous books are four novels: Freedom (1987) about Lincoln and the Civil War, Full Disclosure (1977), Sleeper Spy (1995), and Scandalmonger (2000) about press freedom and vituperation in the post-Revolutionary era. Other works include a political dictionary, a commentary on the Book of Job, and anthologies.

Safire also serves as chairman of the Dana Foundation, a philanthropic organization supporting arts education and neuroscience, and serves on the board of trustees of Syracuse University.