Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is an American conservative political commentator, author, and former television host born William James O'Reilly Jr. on September 10, 1949, in New York City. He grew up on Long Island, earned a bachelor's degree in history from Marist College in 1971, a master's in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1975, and later a master's in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School in 1996.

He worked as a reporter at local stations in Scranton, Dallas, Denver, Hartford, Boston, and New York, and he served as a network correspondent for CBS News and ABC News during the 1980s. He hosted the syndicated tabloid program Inside Edition from 1989 to 1995. In 1996 he launched The O'Reilly Factor on the new Fox News Channel, which he hosted until 2017.

The program became the highest-rated cable news show for many of its years on air, built around an opinion-driven format that O'Reilly branded the No Spin Zone. Fox News parted ways with O'Reilly in April 2017 following reports about settlements of sexual harassment allegations brought against him; he denied the underlying claims. After leaving Fox, he continued to publish commentary and host a podcast called No Spin News.

He has written a number of best-selling history books with co-author Martin Dugard in the Killing series, including Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, and Killing Reagan. The series has sold tens of millions of copies and has been adapted into National Geographic Channel television films.

Their name Bill derives from the Germanic elements wil meaning will or desire and helm meaning helmet, as a short form of William. Bill remained one of the most common American nicknames for boys named William throughout the twentieth century.