Pat Buchanan Biography

Writer, politician. Born November 2, 1938, in Washington, D.C. The third of the nine children of Washington accountant William Baldwin Buchanan and his wife, Catherine, Buchanan attended Catholic schools and Georgetown University, graduating in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in English. He earned a master of science from New York City's Columbia University Journalism School in 1962, then began his professional career as a reporter with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a conservative newspaper.

Buchanan was soon promoted to editorial writer and by 1964 had become the paper's assistant editorial editor. In 1966, searching for new challenges in his career, Buchanan arranged a meeting with former Vice President Richard M. Nixon, then a partner in a New York City law firm. Impressed with the young reporter's ambition and solid conservative outlook, Nixon hired Buchanan as an assistant and speechwriter in preparation for his upcoming run for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.

After Nixon’s victory in November 1968 over Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey, Buchanan became special assistant to the president. He wrote speeches for Nixon and for Vice President Spiro Agnew, and planned strategies for the president's successful 1972 reelection campaign, after which he was named special consultant to Nixon. Much of Buchanan's attention during the following two years was diverted to the Watergate crisis, which involved alleged political sabotage by the Republicans during the 1972 presidential campaign.

When Nixon resigned in August 1974, Buchanan stayed on in the White House for several months in the administration of President Gerald R. Ford. In 1975, he began a career as a syndicated political columnist, television and radio commentator, and lecturer. His outspoken style and conservative viewpoint earned him a reputation as one of America's leading spokesmen for right-wing political and social ideologies.

In 1985, Buchanan returned to the White House to work as director of communications at the beginning of President Ronald Reagan's second term. After two years, he resumed his far more lucrative writing and broadcasting career. He has appeared regularly on the political television shows Crossfire and The McLaughlin Group and has hosted his own radio program, Buchanan & Co.

A steadfast critic of Reagan's successor, George Bush, Buchanan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 1992, when Bush was running for reelection. He won 37 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, but that marked the high point of his electoral support. In the summer of 1992, after his supporters threatened a revolt, he was granted the opportunity to address the Republican national convention. He ran again in 1996, but garnered even less support.

In March 1999, Buchanan announced his third bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Building on his 1992 platform of "America First," he criticized U.S. attempts to broker peace around the globe and denounced what he saw as the undue influence of Israel on American foreign policy. A staunch opponent of abortion, feminism, and the homosexual rights movement, Buchanan also chastised fellow Republicans for moving too far to the middle of the ideological spectrum and called for a return to traditional conservative policies.