M.A., Boston University

William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10, 1949) is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel. Although O'Reilly is widely considered a conservative, his views have been known to depart from conservative orthodoxy, and O'Reilly prefers to characterize himself as a "traditionalist." Prior to hosting The O'Reilly Factor, he served as anchor of the entertainment program Inside Edition. O'Reilly is the author of eight books, and hosted The Radio Factor until early 2009.

O'Reilly was born in New York City to parents William J. and Winifred Angela Drake O'Reilly, from Brooklyn, New York and Bergen County, New Jersey. His father was an accountant for the oil company Caltex. In 1951, his family moved to Westbury on Long Island.. He attended St. Brigid parochial school in Westbury. After graduating from Chaminade High School, a private Catholic boys high school in Mineola, in 1967, O'Reilly attended Marist College. While at Marist, O'Reilly played punter in the National Club Football Association, and was also a writer for the school's newspaper, The Circle. An honors student, he majored in history. He spent his junior year of college abroad, attending Queen Mary College at the University of London. O'Reilly received his B.A. in History in 1971. He played semi-professional baseball during this time, as a pitcher for the New York Monarchs. After graduating from Marist College, O'Reilly moved to Miami, Florida at age 21, where he taught English and history at Monsignor Pace High School for two years. O'Reilly later returned to school and earned an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University. While attending Boston University, he was a reporter and columnist for various local newspapers and alternative news weeklies, including The Boston Phoenix. O'Reilly did his broadcast journalism internship in Miami during this time and was also an entertainment writer and movie critic for The Miami Herald. O'Reilly also earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. At Harvard, he was a student of Marvin Kalb.