The American journalist William Safire (born 1929) was one of the most influential political columnists in the United States into the 1990s. A former public relations executive and President Richard Nixon speechwriter, Safire contributed a conservative perspective to the New York Times.

Born December 17, 1929, in New York City, William Safire was the youngest of three sons of Oliver C. and Ida (Panish) Safir. (Safire later changed the spelling of the family name while in the army to ensure correct pronunciation.) His father, a successful thread manufacturer, died when Safire was four, and he was raised by his mother in Los Angeles and New York.

After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science in New York, Safire attended Syracuse University for two years. Through the help of his older brother Leonard, he got a job as a copyboy for Tex McCrary, a personality columnist for the New York Herald...