The Union Leader is best known for the extremely conservative political opinions of its late publisher, William Loeb, and his wife, Nackey Scripps Loeb. Famously, the paper helped defeat Maine governor Edmund Muskie in his 1972 bid for the presidency by attacking his wife in editorials, leading Muskie to tearfully defend her in a press conference that some say ruined his image in the state, which holds the first presidential primary.
The Loebs are also considered the people most responsible for New Hampshire's lack of any income or sales tax, due to the newspaper's decades of anti-tax rhetoric that shaped the state political landscape.
The newspaper's strident tone has lessened considerably since the Loebs died.