Pat Buchanan is an author, journalist, political commentator and three-time presidential candidate. He was born Patrick Joseph Buchanan on November 2, 1938, in Washington, D.C., the third child of Catherine Elizabeth and William Baldwin Buchanan. The couple went on to have nine children total; one of Buchanan’s sisters, Bay, also became active in politics and was to influence her brother’s career in later years.
Early Career
Buchanan attended Washington-area Catholic schools and graduated from Georgetown University in 1961 with a degree in English. One year later, he received a Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City, where he focused his studies on trade relations with the communist government in Cuba. After graduating, he began working at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which soon published a version of his Master’s thesis on the Cuban trade embargo. Buchanan was the paper’s assistant editorial director, and left in 1966 to begin working as an assistant and speechwriter to Richard M. Nixon. Although Nixon was working as a partner in a New York City law firm at the time, he was preparing a run for the presidency in 1968.
After Nixon won the presidential bid in 1968, Buchanan followed him to the White House, serving as a special assistant and writing speeches for Nixon as well as Vice-President Spiro Agnew. In 1971, while working at the White House, Buchanan married Shelley Ann Scarney, another member of the White House staff; they had no children. He stayed with Nixon as an advisor through the Watergate scandal, and after Nixon resigned in 1974 Buchanan continued his service in the administration of Gerald R. Ford.
Work in the Media
In 1975, Buchanan began working as a syndicated columnist and political commentator, where he forged a reputation as an unabashed, even pugilistic, supporter of conservative causes. Buchanan made regular appearances on political television programs like NBC’s The McLaughlin Group and CNN programs The Capital Gang and Crossfire. He also co-hosted a radio program with Tom Braden called The Buchanan-Braden Program. Buchanan has also published several books, including Right from the Beginning(1988), The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (2002) and Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency (2004).
Political Career
Buchanan returned to the White House in 1985 as Ronald Reagan’s Director of Communications, a position he held for two years. At the same time, his sister Bay was serving as U.S. Treasurer. She began a “Buchanan for President” movement in 1986, though Buchanan himself was reportedly ambivalent about holding political office after clashing repeatedly with other members of Reagan’s staff and with Congress.
Buchanan’s dim view of Reagan successor George H. W. Bush, however, hardened his resolve and he announced that he would challenge Bush for the Republican nomination in 1992. His campaign platform included opposition to abortion, immigration and gay rights, and favored economic nationalism over global trade alliances like NAFTA. Buchanan won 37 percent of the New Hampshire primary, but failed to secure any real success in other states; he eventually supported Bush’s failed contest against Democrat Bill Clinton.
In 1996, Buchanan again ran for the presidency on the Republican ticket, and succeeded in winning the New Hampshire, Alaska, Missouri and Louisiana primaries. Though he performed admirably in the Iowa primary, frontrunner Senator Bob Dole defeated Buchanan in the all-important Super Tuesday primary, and Buchanan ended his campaign shortly thereafter.
Buchanan was not through with politics just yet – in 1999, he renounced the Republican party as typical Washington insiders, and the following year announced he would seek the presidency with the Reform Party founded by H. Ross Perot. Internal divisiveness made securing the party’s nomination difficult, though Buchanan was eventually successful. His position included many views outside the mainstream of American politics, like abolishing the United Nations, the Internal Revenue Service, and the departments of Energy, Education and Housing and Urban Development. Buchanan and the Reform Party finished fourth in the 2000 election.
Current Media Commentary
Following his foray into political campaigning, Buchanan resumed the role of political commentator in 2002 on MSNBC’s Buchanan and Press, where he debated topical issues with Bill Press; though the program was canceled a year later, Buchanan continues to make frequent appearances on other political programs like Hardball, Scarborough Country and The Rachel Maddow Show. He also co-founded the biweekly magazine The American Conservative and, along with his sister Bay, established the American Cause, a conservative educational organization.
Related Pat Buchanan Resources
About.com Washington, D.C.: [1]
About.com US Foreign Policy: Baby Steps Toward Change of U.S.-Cuba Policy [2]
About.com American History: Richard Nixon - Thirty-Seventh President of the United States [3]
About.com 20th Century History: Ronald Reagan [4]
About.com US Politics: History of US Politics [5]
About.com American History: George H. W. Bush - Forty-first President of the United States [6]
About.com Washington, D.C.: The White House [7]
About.com American History: Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States[8]
About.com 20th Century History: Watergate Scandal [9]
About.com American History: Images of President Gerald Ford's Presidency [10]
About.com US Conservative Politics: [11]
About.com American History: George H. W. Bush - Forty-first President of the United States [12]
About.com Women's History: Abortion History [13]
About.com US Economy: NAFTA Facts [14]
About.com American History: Bill Clinton Fast Facts [15]
About.com US Politics: Isolationism: What Does it Mean? [16]
About.com Civil Liberties: The American Gay Rights Movement [17]
About.com Immigration Issues: Immigration Issues Guide [18]
About.com US Government Info: Just Another Super Tuesday [19]
Georgetown University: Official Site [20]
U.S. Department of the Treasury: Official Site [21]
Columbia University: School of Journalism [22]
St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Remembering the St. Louis Globe-Democrat [23]
The McLaughlin Group: Official Site [24]
CNN.com: The Capital Gang [25]
CNN.com: Crossfire [26]
CNN.com: Former CNN talk show host Tom Braden dies at 92 [27]
Pat Buchanan Blog [28]
Reform Party National Committee: Official Site[29]
The New York Times: H. Ross Perot [30]
The New York Times: Pat Buchanan [31]
The Bill Press Show: Official Site [32]
MSNBC.com: Hardball [33]
MSNBC.com: Scarborough Country [34]
MSNBC.com: The Rachel Maddow Show [35]
MSNBC.com: Pat J. Buchanan [36]
The American Conservative: Official Website [37]
The American Cause: [38]
Biography.com: Patrick Buchanan Biography [39]