Joe Holleman | Post-Dispatch

Political correspondent/columnist

In a national move with local ties — and one likely to spark ire from the political left — U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt wants conservative firebrand and former St. Louis journalist Patrick J. Buchanan to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A former editorial writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Buchanan helped give rise to the new conservative movement that reached full speed during the Ronald Reagan administration.

Buchanan also has written a number of books and appeared as a panelist on various television networks, where his writing and comments have led to charges of him being racist and antisemitic.

In his nominating letter sent Monday to President Donald Trump, Schmitt called Buchanan a "courageous intellectual a

See Full Page