BillSafire

Bill Safire: Happy Warrior of the Op-Ed Page

On Page 317 of my dog-eared copy of "Safire's New Political Dictionary" (1993), there is an entry for "Happy Warrior," the sobriquet that Franklin Roosevelt used in his 1924 Democratic nomination speech for Al Smith. As the Political Dictionary explains, "Smith – 'the Brown Derby' – became the party's choice four years later, and FDR's label for cheerful combativeness stuck." Dictionary-maker, language maven, loyal Richard Nixon speechwriter and Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bill Safire died Sunday at age 79. From a Zelig-like early career (helping ...

Add Comment

SHARE