Leo Brent Bozell Jr. (; January 15, 1926 – April 15, 1997) was an American conservative activist and Roman Catholic writer, and former US Merchant Marine. He was a conservative Catholic, and a strong supporter of the anti-abortion movement. In 1966, he co-founded the Catholic magazine Triumph, which ceased publication in 1976. Biography Family His parents were Lois (née Robbins) and Leo B. Bozell, the co-founder of Bozell Worldwide. His wife was Patricia Lee Buckley, sister of William F. Buckley, and their 10 children include L. Brent Bozell III, also a conservative activist and the founder and president of Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group and publisher. Another son, Michael Bozell, is a Benedictine monk in Solesmes Abbey. The Bozell family grew to 23 grandchildren and a great-grandchild by the time he died. His godson was novelist Tristan Egolf. Early life Bozell was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha. Bozell was the state American Legion Oratorical Contest Champion of Nebraska in 1943 and 1944, winning the national title in 1944. He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine in the Pacific during World War II. Bozell resolved to convert to Catholicism in 1946 but after his father's death that same year he deferred his decision until 1947 so as not to upset his family. "A young, energetic red-haired Yalie from Omaha", as he is described in Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, Bozell was the best friend and debating society teammate of William F. Buckley Jr. at Yale University, where he was President of the Yale Political Union and the campus World Federalist Movement. Political activity Bozell was a consistent supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy, teaming up with fellow National Review associate William F. Buckley Jr. in 1954 to write a ringing defense of him in McCarthy and His Enemies. Bozell and Buckley defined McCarthyism, the political movement associated with McCarthy, as “a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks.” Bozell joined McCarthy's staff, shortly after Roy Cohn left, and wrote McCarthy's defense speech before the U.S. Senate committee that would censure him, as well as a series of policy speeches through at least 1956. In 1958, Bozell ran for the Maryland House of Delegates but lost. After this defeat he proposed the formation of a new political party at one of