The two national parties in Washington, DC, have become virtual Xerox copies of one another. They've got sort of a phony battle that goes on like professional wrestling, and then they all move on to the next town.
- CBS This Morning, September 14, 1999
Pat Buchanan is a
conservative, in case you haven't already picked that up, who's into
protectionism and
realpolitik-style defense. He has run for President several times, and currently appears on a number of
talk shows, including
MSNBC's twice-daily "
Buchanan and Press" and
PBS's "
The McLaughlin Group."
He was born in Washington, D.C. in 1938 and went to Georgetown University, graduating with a B.A. in 1961. At Georgetown, he was in ROTC for some time before a sports injury disqualified him from service. He then completed his M.S. in journalism at Columbia University in 1962.
His first gig was writing editorials for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a right-wing newspaper despite its misleading title. Buchanan caught the attention of presidential hopeful Richard Nixon, who signed Buchanan on as an executive assistant: when Nixon won the election in 1968, he made Buchanan a speechwriter. They worked together for the rest of Nixon's presidency, and it was here that Pat met his future wife, Shelley Ann Buchanan, who was Tricky Dick's secretary.
Buchanan defended Nixon through the Watergate scandal and continued to work in the White House through Gerald Ford's takeover. He then started again as a columnist and began a radio show with Tom Braden that became one of the first conservative-liberal debate shows in the country.
In 1985, Ronald Reagan brought Buchanan back into the White House as communications director, but he left after just two years, mostly because he was too conservative for Reagan. Again, he went back to writing columns, and soon found himself on television, co-hosting CNN's "Crossfire" and "The Capitol Gang."
Eventually, Buchanan was popular enough to be a viable presidential candidate. He ran against the incumbent George Bush for the Republican nomination in 1992, and flopped. In the 1996 election, however, he won the primary election in New Hampshire, soundly defeating Bob Dole, Steve Forbes, Lamar Alexander, and Alan Keyes. That was the limit of his success, though, and Dole ultimately won the nomination.
Later, Buchanan left the Republican Party and became the candidate of the divided Reform Party in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. While he didn't win, some believe that his position on the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, Florida took votes from Al Gore and allowed George W. Bush to win.
In addition to his political and talking head work, he also runs a foundation called The American Cause, which is dedicated to pushing federalism, industrial and agricultural tariffs, and immigration controls to "keep America first." He has no children, but won't hesitate to shout out to his wife.