Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan (icon; born November 2, 1938) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
paleoconservative political commentator,
authorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
,
syndicatedPrint syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
columnistA columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
,
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and
broadcasterA presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
,
Gerald FordGerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, and
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, and was an original host on
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's
CrossfireCrossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present and challenge the opinions of a politically liberal pundit and a conservative pundit.-Format:...
. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and
1996The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
. He ran on the
Reform PartyThe Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
ticket in the
2000 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
.
He co-founded
The American ConservativeThe American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause. He has been published in
Human EventsHuman Events is a weekly American conservative magazine. It takes its name from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence...
, National ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, The NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
and
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. He is currently a political commentator on the
MSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
cable network, including the show
Morning JoeMorning Joe is a weekday morning talk show on MSNBC, with Joe Scarborough discussing the news of the day in a panel format with co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. It was created as the replacement for Imus in the Morning, which was canceled in April 2007 after simulcasting on MSNBC since 1996...
, and a regular on
The McLaughlin GroupThe McLaughlin Group is a syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program in the United States, where a group of five pundits discuss current political issues in a round table format. It has been broadcast since 1982, and is currently sponsored by MetLife...
.
Personal life
Buchanan was born in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, a son of William Baldwin Buchanan (
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, August 13, 1905 –
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, January 1988), a
partnerA partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position. Originally, these businesses were set up as legal partnerships in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits of the enterprise. The name has remained even though many of these...
in an
accounting firmProfessional services is an industry of infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or by consultants whose occupation is the rendering of such services....
, and his wife Catherine Elizabeth (Crum) Buchanan (
CharleroiCharleroi is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River, 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The population in 1900 stood at 5,930; in 1910, 9,615; in 1920, 11,516, and in 1940, 10,784...
,
Washington County-Government and politics:As of November 2008, there are 152,534 registered voters in Washington County .* Democratic: 89,027 * Republican: 49,025 * Other Parties: 14,482...
,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, December 23, 1911 –
OaktonOakton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. The population was 29,348 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 22124.-Geography:Oakton is located at...
,
Fairfax CountyFairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, September 18, 1995), a nurse and a
homemakerHomemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. Buchanan had six brothers (Brian, Henry, James, John, Thomas, and William Jr.) and two sisters (Kathleen Theresa and
Angela Marie, nicknamed Bay-External links:***...
). Bay served as
U.S. TreasurerThe Treasurer of the United States is an official in the United States Department of the Treasury that was originally charged with the receipt and custody of government funds, though many of these functions have been taken over by different bureaus of the Department of the Treasury...
under
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Buchanan has
ScottishScottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
,
EnglishEnglish Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
,
GermanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
, and
IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
ancestry. He had a great-grandfather who fought in the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in the
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Army. He is a member of the
Sons of Confederate VeteransSons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
and admires
Robert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
. Of his southern roots, Buchanan has written:
Buchanan was born into a Catholic family and attended Catholic schools, including the Jesuit-run
Gonzaga College High SchoolGonzaga College High School is a Jesuit high school for boys located in Washington, D.C. The school is named in honor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian saint from the 16th century...
. As a student at
Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, he was in ROTC but did not complete the program. He received his
draftConscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
notice after he graduated in 1960. However, the District of Columbia draft board exempted Buchanan from
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
service because of
reactive arthritisReactive arthritis , is classified as an autoimmune condition that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body. Coming into contact with bacteria and developing an infection can trigger the disease. Reiter's syndrome has symptoms similar to various other conditions collectively...
, classifying him as 4-F. He received a
master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in
journalismJournalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
from
ColumbiaThe Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
in 1962, writing his thesis on the expanding trade between
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
Buchanan married
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
staffer Shelley Ann Scarney in 1971. Their longtime
tabby catA tabby is any cat that has a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, lines or swirling patterns, usually together with an "M" mark on its forehead. Tabbies are sometimes erroneously assumed to be a cat breed. In fact, the tabby pattern is found in many breeds of cat, as well as among the...
, Gipper, was named for U.S. President
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and reportedly sat on Pat's lap during staff meetings.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat Editorial Writer
Buchanan joined the
St. Louis Globe-DemocratThe St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...
at age 23. During the first year of the
United States embargo against CubaThe United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
in 1961,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-Cuba trade tripled. The
Globe-Democrat published a rewrite of Buchanan's Columbia master's project under the eight-column banner "Canada sells to Red Cuba - And Prospers" eight weeks after Buchanan started at the paper. According to Buchanan's memoir
Right from the Beginning, this article was a career milestone. However, Buchanan later said the embargo strengthened the communist regime and he turned against it. Buchanan was promoted to assistant editorial page editor in 1964 and supported
Barry Goldwater'sBarry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
presidential campaign. However, the
Globe-Democrat did not endorse Goldwater and Buchanan speculated there was a clandestine agreement between the paper and President
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. Buchanan recalled: "The conservative movement has always advanced from its defeats.... I can't think of a single conservative who was sorry about the Goldwater campaign." According to the foreword (written by Pat Buchanan) in the most recent edition of
Conscience of a Conservative, Buchanan was a member of the
Young Americans for FreedomYoung Americans for Freedom is a 501 non-profit organization and is now a project of Young America's Foundation. YAF is an ideologically conservative youth activism organization that was founded in 1960, as a coalition between traditional conservatives and libertarians...
and wrote press releases for that organization. He served as an executive assistant in the
Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander, and MitchellMudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon was a prominent New York City law firm tracing its origin back to 1869. The firm is known best as the legal launching pad of Richard M. Nixon. For the period during which Nixon was a senior partner, the firm was renamed to Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie &...
law offices in New York City in 1965.
Work for the Nixon White House
The next year, he was the first adviser hired by Nixon's presidential campaign; he worked primarily as an
opposition researcherOpposition researchers are paid political consultants who research potentially damaging information about their employer's opponent. ....
. For his speeches aimed at dedicated supporters, he was soon nicknamed "Mr. Inside."
Buchanan traveled with
NixonRichard Nixon was the 37th President of the United States.Nixon may also refer to:-Related to Richard Nixon:Movies*Nixon *Elvis Meets Nixon*The Assassination of Richard Nixon*Frost/NixonOther*Nixon Doctrine...
throughout the campaigns of 1966 and 1968. He made a tour of
Western EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
,
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and, in the immediate aftermath of the
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
, the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. When Nixon took the Oval Office in 1969, Buchanan worked as a
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
adviser and speechwriterThe Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently William M. Daley...
for Nixon and vice president
Spiro AgnewSpiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
. Buchanan coined the phrase "Silent Majority" and helped shape the strategy that drew millions of Democrats to Nixon; in a 1972 memo he suggested the White House "should move to re-capture the anti-Establishment tradition or theme in American politics." His daily duties included developing political strategy, publishing the President's
Daily News Summary, and preparing briefing books for news conferences. He accompanied Nixon on his trip to
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1972 and the summit in
MoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
,
YaltaYalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
, and
Minsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
in 1974. He suggested that Nixon label Democratic opponent
George McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
an extremist and burn the
White House tapesThe Watergate tapes, a subset of the Nixon tapes, are a collection of recordings of conversations between Richard Nixon and his fellow conspirators plotting a break in to the Watergate Hotel. U.S. President Richard Nixon and various White House staff started communicating on February 1971 and...
.
Buchanan remained as a special assistant to Nixon through the final days of the
Watergate ScandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
. He was not accused of wrongdoing, though some mistakenly suspected him of being Deep Throat. When the actual identity of the press leak was revealed as
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
Associate Director
Mark FeltWilliam Mark Felt, Sr. was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director...
in 2005, Buchanan called him "sneaky," "dishonest," and "criminal." Because of his role in the Nixon campaign's "Attack Group," Buchanan appeared before the
Senate Watergate CommitteeThe Senate Watergate Committee was a special committee convened by the United States Senate to investigate the Watergate burglaries and the ensuing Watergate scandal after it was learned that the Watergate burglars had been directed to break into and wiretap the headquarters of the Democratic...
on September 26, 1973. He told the panel:
When Nixon resigned in 1974, Buchanan briefly stayed on as special assistant under incoming President
Gerald FordGerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. Chief of Staff
Alexander HaigAlexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
approved Buchanan's appointment as
ambassador to South AfricaBefore 1902, The southern part of Africa that is now South Africa was under the hegemony of Great Britain. There also were two self-proclaimed independent states: Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The British and the Boers fought two wars known as the First Boer War and the Second Boer War...
, but Ford refused it.
Buchanan remarked about Watergate:
Long after his resignation, Nixon called Buchanan a confidant and said he was neither an anti-Semite nor a "hater," but a "decent, patriotic American." Nixon said Buchanan had "some strong views," such as his "isolationist" foreign policy, with which he disagreed. While Nixon did not think Buchanan should become president, he said the commentator "should be heard."
News commentator
Buchanan returned to his column and began regular appearances as a broadcast host and political commentator. He co-hosted a three-hour daily radio show with liberal columnist Tom Braden called the
Buchanan-Braden Program. He delivered daily commentaries on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio from 1978 to 1984. Buchanan started his TV career as a regular on
The McLaughlin GroupThe McLaughlin Group is a syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program in the United States, where a group of five pundits discuss current political issues in a round table format. It has been broadcast since 1982, and is currently sponsored by MetLife...
and CNN's
CrossfireCrossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present and challenge the opinions of a politically liberal pundit and a conservative pundit.-Format:...
(inspired by
Buchanan-Braden) and
The Capital Gang, making him nationally recognizable. His several stints on
CrossfireCrossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present and challenge the opinions of a politically liberal pundit and a conservative pundit.-Format:...
occurred between 1982 and 1999; his sparring partners included Braden,
Michael KinsleyMichael Kinsley is an American political journalist, commentator, television host, and pundit. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on Crossfire...
,
Geraldine FerraroGeraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
, and
Bill PressWilliam "Bill" Press is a US talk radio host, political commentator and author.-Career:Press has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Niagara University and Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He started his broadcasting career in Los Angeles for TV stations KABC-TV and...
.
Buchanan is a regular panelist on the McLaughlin Group. He appears most Sundays alongside John McLaughlin, the more liberal Newsweek journalist Eleanor Clift, and neoconservative Monica Crowley. On the McLauglin Group, Buchanan has made such comments as ""Capitol Hill is Israeli occupied territory" and “If you want to know ethnicity and power in the United States Senate, 13 members of the Senate are Jewish folks who are from 2 percent of the population. That is where real power is at….”
Accusations of anti-semitism and Holocaust diminution
Buchanan has written about
the HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and engaged in the defense of some accused of Nazi war crimes. For example, Buchanan wrote that it was impossible for 850,000 Jews to be killed by diesel exhaust fed into the gas chamber at Treblinka. When
George WillGeorge Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics...
challenged him about it on TV, Buchanan failed to reply. In 1983 he criticized the U.S. Government for expressing regret over its postwar protection of
Klaus BarbieNikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
. In 1985, Buchanan advocated restoring the citizenship of
Arthur RudolphArthur Louis Hugo Rudolph was a German rocket engineer and member of the Nazi party who played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket. After World War II he was brought to the United States, subsequently becoming a pioneer of the United States space program. He worked for the U.S...
, an ex-Nazi rocket scientist accused of employing slave labor at a V-2 plant. In 1987, Buchanan lobbied to stop deportation of
Karl LinnasKarl Linnas was an Estonian who was sentenced to capital punishment during the Holocaust trials in Soviet Estonia in 1961. He was later deported from the United States to the Soviet Union...
, accused of atrocities in Estonia. In 1991
William F. Buckley, Jr.William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
wrote a 40,000-word
National ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
article discussing anti-Semitism amongst conservative commentators focused largely on Buchanan. (The article and many responses to it were collected in the book
In Search of Anti-Semitism (1992).) He concluded: "I find it impossible to defend Pat Buchanan against the charge that what he did and said during the period under examination amounted to anti-Semitism." The
Anti-Defamation LeagueThe Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
has called Buchanan an "unrepentant bigot" who "repeatedly demonizes Jews and minorities and openly affiliates with white supremacists." Fellow conservative columnist
Charles KrauthammerCharles Krauthammer, MD is an American Pulitzer Prize–winning syndicated columnist, political commentator, and physician. His weekly column appears in The Washington Post and is syndicated to more than 275 newspapers and media outlets. He is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and The New...
said about Buchanan "There's no doubt he makes subliminal appeals to prejudice." Buchanan has adamantly denied that he is antisemitic, and a number of conservatives and his journalistic colleagues, some of them Jewish, including
Jack GermondJack Worthen Germond is an American journalist, author, and pundit. -Life and career:Germond was born in Boston, Massachusetts, an only child and raised in a striving middle-class household in Boston and Trenton, New Jersey. When he was 13, his family moved to Mississippi, and then to Baton Rouge,...
,
Al HuntAlbert R. Hunt Jr. is the executive Washington editor for Bloomberg News, a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P. Hunt hosts the Sunday morning talk show Political Capital on Bloomberg Television, which airs on Friday night.-Personal life:...
, and
Mark ShieldsMark Shields is an American political columnist and commentator.Since 1988, Shields has provided weekly political analysis and commentary for PBS’ award-winning PBS NewsHour. His current sparring partner is David Brooks of The New York Times. Previous counterparts were the late William Safire,...
, have defended him against the charge.
Work for the Reagan White House
Buchanan served as
White House Communications DirectorThe White House Director of Communications, also known as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the President of the United States, and is responsible for developing and promoting the agenda of the President and leading its media campaign...
from 1985 to 1987. Buchanan supported President Reagan's plan to visit a German military cemetery at
BitburgBitburg It is situated approx. 25 km north-west of Trier, and 50 km north-east of Luxembourg . One American airbase, Spangdahlem Air Base, is located nearby.-History:...
in 1985, where among buried
WehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
soldiers were 48 buried Waffen SS members. Over the vocal objections of Jewish groups, the trip went through. In an interview, author
Elie WieselSir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
described attending a
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
meeting of Jewish leaders about the trip:
Buchanan accused Wiesel of fabricating the story in an
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
interview in 1992:
In a speech to the
National Religious BroadcastersNational Religious Broadcasters is an American organization that represents Christian religious broadcasters on American television and radio, including several high-profile televangelists and Christian radio show hosts. It claims a membership of more than 1700 organizations...
in 1986, Buchanan said about the "Reagan Revolution,"
A year later, he remarked that "the greatest vacuum in American politics is to the right of Ronald Reagan." While her brother was working for Reagan, Bay Buchanan started a "Buchanan for President" movement in June 1986. She said the conservative movement needed a leader, but Buchanan was initially ambivalent. After leaving the White House, he returned to his column and
Crossfire. Out of respect for
Jack KempJack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
he sat out the 1988 race, although Kemp later became his adversary.
1992 presidential primaries
In 1990, Buchanan published a newsletter called
Patrick J. Buchanan: From the Right; it sent subscribers a bumper sticker reading: "Read Our Lips! No new taxes."
In 1992, Buchanan explained his reasons for challenging the incumbent, President George H.W. Bush:
He ran on a platform of
immigration reductionImmigration reduction refers to a movement in the United States that advocates a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the country. Steps advocated for reducing the numbers of immigrants include advocating stronger action to prevent illegal entry and illegal immigration, and...
and
social conservatismSocial Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
, including opposition to
multiculturalismMulticulturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
,
abortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and gay rights. Buchanan seriously challenged Bush (whose popularity was waning) when he won 38 percent of the seminal
New Hampshire primaryThe New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
. In the primary elections, Buchanan garnered three million total votes.
Buchanan later threw his support behind Bush and delivered a keynote address at the 1992
Republican National ConventionThe Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
, which became known as the
culture warThe culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...
speech, in which he described "a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America." In the speech, he said of
BillWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and
Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
:
The enthusiastic applause he received prompted his detractors to claim that the speech alienated moderates from the Bush-Quayle ticket.
Off the campaign trail
Buchanan returned to his column and
Crossfire. To promote the principles of federalism, traditional values, and anti-intervention, he founded The American Cause, a conservative educational foundation in 1993. Bay Buchanan serves as the
ViennaVienna is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 15,687. Significantly more people live in zip codes with the Vienna postal addresses bordered approximately by Interstate 66 on the south, Interstate 495 on the east, Route 7 to...
, Virginia-based foundation's president and Pat is its chairman.
Buchanan returned to
radioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
as host of
Buchanan and Company, a three-hour talk show for
Mutual Broadcasting SystemThe Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
on July 5, 1993. It pitted him against liberal co-hosts, including
Barry LynnBarry W. Lynn, Esq. has been the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and a prominent leader of the American religious left...
,
Bob BeckelRobert Beckel is an American political commentator and an analyst on the Fox News Channel. He is also a columnist for USA Today where he writes "point-counterpoint" style articles with friend and political opposite Cal Thomas. He is the brother of actor Graham Beckel.-Career:Beckel holds a B.A....
, and
Chris MatthewsChristopher John "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...
, in a time slot opposite
Rush LimbaughRush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
's show. To launch his 1996 campaign, Buchanan left the program on March 20, 1995.
1996 presidential primaries
1996 saw Buchanan's most impressive attempt to win the Republican nomination. With a Democratic President (
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
) seeking re-election, there was no incumbent Republican with a lock on the ticket. Indeed, with former President
George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
having made clear he was not interested in re-gaining the office, the closest the party had to a front-runner was the Senate Majority leader Sen. Robert Dole of
KansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, who was considered to have many weaknesses. Buchanan sought the Republican nomination from Dole's right, voicing his opposition to the
North American Free Trade AgreementThe North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA). Other candidates for the nomination included Sen.
Phil GrammWilliam Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
of
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, former Tennessee Governor
Lamar AlexanderAndrew Lamar Alexander is the senior United States Senator from Tennessee and Conference Chair of the Republican Party. He was previously the 45th Governor of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987, United States Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993 under President George H. W...
and the multi-millionaire publisher
Steve ForbesMalcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...
.
In February, the liberal
Center for Public IntegrityThe Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy and committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around...
issued a report claiming Buchanan's presidential campaign co-chairman,
Larry PrattLawrence D. Pratt is the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a U.S.-based firearms lobbying group, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.- Early life :...
, appeared at two meetings organized by white supremacist and militia leaders. Pratt denied any tie to racism, calling the report an orchestrated smear before the New Hampshire primary. Buchanan told the
ManchesterManchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
Union LeaderThe New Hampshire Union Leader is the daily newspaper of Manchester, the largest city in the state of New Hampshire. As of September 2010 it had a daily circulation of 48,342 and the circulation of its Sunday paper, the New Hampshire Sunday News, was 63,991. It was founded in 1863.It was called...
he believed Pratt. Pratt took a leave of absence "to answer these charges," "so as not to have distraction in the campaign."
Buchanan defeated Senator Bob Dole by about 3,000 votes to win the February
New Hampshire primaryThe New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
, getting his campaign off to an energetic start. He won three other states (
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
MissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, and
LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
), and finished only slightly behind Dole in the
Iowa caucusThe Iowa caucuses are an electoral event in which residents of the U.S. state of Iowa meet in precinct caucuses in all of Iowa's 1784 precincts and elect delegates to the corresponding county conventions. There are 99 counties in Iowa and thus 99 conventions...
. His insurgent campaign used his soaring rhetoric to mobilize grass-roots right wing opinion against what he saw as the bland
WashingtonWashington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
establishment (personified by Dole) which he believed had controlled the party for years. At a rally later in Nashua, he said:
The line "The peasants are coming with
pitchforkA pitchfork is an agricultural tool with a long handle and long, thin, widely separated pointed tines used to lift and pitch loose material, such as hay, leaves, grapes, dung or other agricultural materials. Pitchforks typically have two or three tines...
s" became somewhat of a slogan for the campaign, with Buchanan occasionally appearing with a prop pitchfork at rallies.
In the
Super TuesdayIn the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...
primaries, however, Dole defeated Buchanan by large margins. Having collected only 21 percent of the total votes in Republican primaries, Buchanan suspended his campaign in March. He declared however that If Dole were to choose a
pro-choiceSupport for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
running mate, he would run as the U.S. Taxpayers Party (now
Constitution PartyThe Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
) candidate. However, Dole chose
Jack KempJack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
and he received Buchanan's endorsement. After the 1996 campaign, Buchanan returned to his column and
Crossfire. He also began a series of books with 1998's
The Great Betrayal.
2000 presidential campaign
Buchanan announced his departure from the Republican Party in October 1999, disparaging them (along with the Democrats) as a "beltway party." He sought the nomination of the Reform Party. Many reformers backed
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
physicist
John HagelinJohn Samuel Hagelin is an American particle physicist, three-time candidate of the Natural Law Party for President of the United States , and the director of the Transcendental Meditation movement for the US....
, whose platform was based on
Transcendental MeditationTranscendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
. Party founder
Ross PerotHenry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
did not endorse a candidate, but his former running-mate
Pat ChoatePatrick Choate is an American economist who is perhaps most known for being the 1996 Reform Party Vice President candidate, the running-mate of H. Ross Perot...
endorsed Buchanan.
Supporters of Hagelin charged the results of the party's open primary, which favored Buchanan by a wide margin, were "tainted." The Reform Party divisions led to dual conventions being held simultaneously in separate areas of the Long Beach Convention Center complex. Both conventions' delegates ignored the primary ballots and voted to nominate their presidential candidates from the floor, similar to the Democratic and Republican conventions. One convention nominated Buchanan while the other backed Hagelin, with each camp claiming to be the legitimate Reform Party.
Ultimately, when the Federal Elections Commission ruled Buchanan was to receive ballot status as the Reform candidate, as well as about $12.6 million in federal campaign funds secured by Perot's showing in the
1996 electionThe United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
, Buchanan won the nomination. In his acceptance speech, Buchanan proposed U.S. withdrawal from the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and expelling the U.N. from New York, abolishing the
Internal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
,
Department of EducationThe United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
,
Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
, Department of Housing and Urban Development, taxes on inheritance and capital gains, and
affirmative actionAffirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
programs.
As his running mate, Buchanan chose African-American activist and retired teacher from
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
,
Ezola B. FosterEzola Broussard Foster is an American activist, writer, and politician. She is president of Black Americans for Family Values, authored the book What's Right for All Americans, and was the Reform Party candidate for Vice President in the U.S. presidential election of 2000...
. Buchanan was supported in this election run by future
Socialist Party USAThe Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
presidential candidate
Brian MooreBrian Patrick Moore is an United States politician and founder of antiwar organization Nature Coast Coalition for Peace & Justice. He was the presidential nominee of the Socialist Party USA for the 2008 United States presidential election. He waged several campaigns for mayor and city council in...
, who said in 2008 he supported Buchanan in 2000 because "he was for fair trade over
free tradeUnder a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
. He had some
progressiveProgressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
positions that I thought would be helpful to the common man." On August 19, the New York Right to Life Party, in convention, chose Buchanan as their nominee, with 90% of the districts voting for him.
In the
2000 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, Buchanan finished fourth with 449,895 votes, 0.4% of the popular vote. (Hagelin garnered 0.1 percent as the
Natural LawThe Natural Law Party was a United States political party affiliated with the international Natural Law Party. It was founded in 1992 and mostly dissolved in 2004...
candidate.) In
Palm Beach County, FloridaPalm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
, Buchanan received 3,407 voteswhich some saw as inconsistent with Palm Beach County's liberal leanings, its large Jewish population and his showing in the rest of the state. As a result of the county's now-infamous "butterfly ballot", he is suspected to have gained thousands of inadvertent votes. Bush spokesman
Ari FleischerOn May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector...
stated, "Palm Beach county is a Pat Buchanan stronghold and that's why Pat Buchanan received 3,407 votes there." However, Reform Party officials strongly disagreed, estimating the number of supporters in the county at between 400 and 500. Appearing on
The Today Show, Buchanan said:
Some observers said his campaign was aimed to spread his message beyond his white base, while his views had not changed.
Following the 2000 election, Reformers urged Buchanan to take an active role within the party. Buchanan declined, though he did attend their 2001 convention. In the next few years, he identified himself as a political independent, choosing not to align himself with what he viewed as the neo-conservative Republican party leadership. Prior to the
2004 electionThe United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Buchanan announced he once again identified himself as a Republican, declared that he had no interest in ever running for president again, and reluctantly endorsed Bush's 2004 re-election, writing:
MSNBC Commentator
Although CNN decided not to take him back, Buchanan's column resumed. A longer variation of the
CrossfireCrossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present and challenge the opinions of a politically liberal pundit and a conservative pundit.-Format:...
format was aired by MSNBC as
Buchanan and PressBuchanan & Press was a debate show on MSNBC pairing former Crossfire hosts conservative Pat Buchanan and liberal Bill Press.-External links:* *...
on July 15, 2002, reuniting Buchanan and Press. Billed as "the smartest hour on television",
Buchanan and Press featured the duo interviewing guests and sparring about the top news stories. As the
Iraq War loomed, Buchanan and Press toned down their rivalry, as they both opposed the invasion. Press claims they were the first cable hosts to discuss the planned attack. MSNBC Editor-in-Chief
Jerry NachmanJerome A. "Jerry" Nachman born in Brooklyn and raised in Pittsburgh. He was the editor-in-chief of MSNBC until his death at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey after suffering from cancer.-Biography:...
once jokingly lamented this unusual situation, saying:
Just hours after his talk show debuted, Buchanan was a guest on the premiere of MSNBC's ill-fated
Donahue program. Host
Phil DonahuePhillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
and Buchanan debated the separation of church and state. Buchanan called Donahue "dictatorial" and teased that the host got his job through affirmative action.
After MSNBC President Eric Sorenson canceled
Buchanan and Press on November 26, 2003, Buchanan stayed at MSNBC as a political analyst. He regularly appears on the network's talk shows. He occasionally filled in on the nightly show
Scarborough CountryScarborough Country was an opinion/analysis show broadcast on MSNBC Monday - Thursday at 9 P.M. ET. It was hosted by former congressman Joe Scarborough....
during its run on MSNBC. Buchanan is now a frequent guest and co-host of
Morning JoeMorning Joe is a weekday morning talk show on MSNBC, with Joe Scarborough discussing the news of the day in a panel format with co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. It was created as the replacement for Imus in the Morning, which was canceled in April 2007 after simulcasting on MSNBC since 1996...
as well as
HardballHardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
and
The Rachel Maddow ShowThe Rachel Maddow Show is a news and opinion television program that airs weeknights on MSNBC at 9:00 p.m. ET. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained popularity with her frequent appearances as a liberal pundit on various MSNBC programs. It is based on her former radio show of the same name...
.
In September 2009, MSNBC removed a Buchanan opinion column from its website after receiving complaints from Jewish organizations. Buchanan had used the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland to argue that Britain should not have declared war on Germany.
The American Conservative Magazine
In 2002, to start a new magazine featuring conservative viewpoints on the economy, immigration and foreign policy, Buchanan joined with former
New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
editorial page editor
Scott McConnellScott McConnell is an American journalist best known as a founding editor of The American Conservative.In 1968, as a student at a New Hampshire boarding school, McConnell canvassed for Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. After receiving a Ph.D in history at Columbia University, McConnell returned...
and financier
Taki TheodoracopulosTaki Theodoracopulos , originally named Panagiotis Theodoracopulos is a Greek/American journalist, socialite, and political commentator.Better known as Taki, diminutive for Panagiotis, he is a Greek-born journalist and writer living in New York City, London and Switzerland...
.
The American ConservativeThe American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
s first issue was dated October 7, 2002.
On Supreme Court appointments
In a 2010 column, Buchanan expressed his disapproval of
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's nomination of
Elena KaganElena Kagan is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 7, 2010. Kagan is the Court's 112th justice and fourth female justice....
, to the United States Supreme Court. Buchanan wrote: "If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this the Democrats' idea of diversity?" Buchanan also suggested that liberals might be "anti-
WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
".
See also
- Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
- Culture war
The culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...
- Ezola B. Foster
Ezola Broussard Foster is an American activist, writer, and politician. She is president of Black Americans for Family Values, authored the book What's Right for All Americans, and was the Reform Party candidate for Vice President in the U.S. presidential election of 2000...
- Globe-Democrat
- Non-interventionism
Nonintervention or non-interventionism is a foreign policy which holds that political rulers should avoid alliances with other nations, but still retain diplomacy, and avoid all wars not related to direct self-defense...
- Old Right (United States)
The Old Right was a conservative faction in the United States that opposed both New Deal domestic programs and U.S. entry into World War II. Many members of this faction were associated with the Republicans of the interwar years led by Robert Taft, but some were Democrats...
- Paleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism is a term for a conservative political philosophy found primarily in the United States stressing tradition, limited government, civil society, anti-colonialism, anti-corporatism and anti-federalism, along with religious, regional, national and Western identity. Chilton...
- Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
- Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
- Reform Party of the United States of America
The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
Books
- Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? (October 18, 2011) ISBN 0-312-57997-7
- Churchill, Hitler, and The Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, is a book by Pat Buchanan. The book was released in May 2008.- Synopsis :...
(May 27, 2008) ISBN 0-307-40515-X
- Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart (November 27, 2007) ISBN 0-312-37696-0
- State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America
State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America is a 2006 book by American conservative Patrick Buchanan. The book criticizes the large number of illegal immigrants entering the United States, alleging that the influx constitutes a crisis with profound cultural, political, and...
(August 22, 2006) ISBN 0-312-36003-7
- Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency (2004) ISBN 0-312-34115-6
- The Death of the West
The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Culture and Civilization is a 2001 book by paleoconservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan.-Description of Book:...
: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (2002) ISBN 0-312-28548-5
- A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny
A Republic, Not An Empire is a 1999 book written by American political figure Patrick J. Buchanan. Buchanan critiques foreign policy commitments by the United States. He likens America's overseas involvement to those of past empires--and predicts a similar decline without a change in course....
(1999) ISBN 0-89526-272-X
- The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy (1998) ISBN 0-316-11518-5
- Right from the Beginning (1988) ISBN 0-316-11408-1
- Conservative Votes, Liberal Victories: Why the Right Has Failed (1975) ISBN 0-8129-0582-2
- The New Majority: President Nixon at Mid-Passage (1973)
Major speeches
- 1992 Republican National Convention keynote, August 17, 1992
- 1996 campaign announcement, March 20, 1995
- 1996 campaign speech, Georgia primary stump speech February 29, 1996
- 2000 campaign announcement, March 2, 1999
- 2000 Reform Party nomination acceptance, August 12, 2000
- The Cultural War for the Soul of America, September 14, 1992
- Death of The West, Commonwealth Club speech January 14, 2002
- Free Trade, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations speech November 18, 1998
- A Time for Truth about China, Commonwealth Club speech April 5, 1999
- To Reunite a Nation, Richard Nixon Library speech on immigration January 18, 2000
Selected articles
- Blowback From Bear Baiting, column August 15, 2008
- PJB: A Brief For Whitey, column March 21, 2008
- The Dark side of Diversity column May 1, 2007
- The Aggressors in the Culture Wars, column March 8, 2004.
- The Death of Manufacturing, American Conservative August 11, 2003.
- The Death of the West, book excerpt on MSNBC.com, Oct 30, 2003.
- Ghostbusting the Smoot-Hawley Ogre, column October 20, 1993
- 'Ivan The Terrible' - More Doubts, column March 17, 1990
- A Lesson in Tyranny Too Soon Forgotten, column August 25, 1977
- The Old Right and the Future of Conservatism, by Patrick J. Buchanan. Foreword to the second edition of Justin Raimondo
Justin Raimondo is an American author and the editorial director of the website Antiwar.com. He describes himself as a "conservative-paleo-libertarian."-Background:...
's 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right
- The Sad Suicide of Admiral Nimitz, column January 18, 2002
- Time for Economic Nationalism, column June 12, 1995
- True Fascists of the New Europe, column April 30, 2002
- What Do We Offer the World?, column May 19, 2004
- Whose War?, American Conservative March 24, 2003
- Where are the Christians?, column July 18, 2006
The American Cause
archives several years of Buchanan's newspaper columns.
VDAREVDARE.com, or VDARE, is a website that advocates reduced immigration, especially illegal immigration, into the United States. Former Forbes editor Peter Brimelow supports the site through his VDARE Foundation, also known as Lexington Research Institute Limited...
archives many articles written by Buchanan.
Interviews
Time
, Aug. 20, 2006
Is This the Face of the Twenty-First Century?, by Bill Kauffman, The American Enterprise
, July/August 1998.
Pat Buchanan Defends Controversial Immigration Comments Fox News partial transcript, Hannity & Colmes," August 22, 2006
Republicans: Whitman, Buchanan and Terror, "Open Source" public radio show. (audio)
Pat Buchanan discusses his book State of Emergency on Book TV, August 24, 2006 (Video)
External links