William Safire
William L. Safire (born
December 17,
1929) writes syndicated op-ed pieces, generally with a conservative viewpoint. Since
1979, he has written "On Language," a weekly column in the
New York Times Magazine covering grammar, etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.
In 1978, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.
Before he became a journalist, Safire was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew; he wrote Agnew's phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism."