William Safire

(1929 - 2009)

As one of Richard Nixon’s speechwriters, William Safire at the age of thirty-nine completed a statement on July 18, 1969, to be read by the president if the astronauts got stranded in space. Apollo 11 landed on the moon two days later, and Neil Armstrong made his one small step while more than 800 million members of mankind watched on TV. Safire’s New York Times “Essay” column earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1978.