Early life and journalism career

The son of an Air Force officer, Barnes graduated from St. Stephens School in Alexandria in 1960. He spent two years in the U.S. Army and considered applying to West Point, but instead decided to attend the University of Virginia where he studied history. Barnes graduated from the University of Virginia and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

After spending several years as a journalist with The Charleston News and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, he became a reporter for the Washington Star in 1979. Barnes covered the Supreme Court and the White House for the Star before moving to the Baltimore Sun. He was the national political correspondent at the Baltimore Sun. For ten years from 1985 to 1995, he was senior editor and White House correspondent for The New Republic. He also wrote the "Presswatch" media column for the American Spectator. He was a panelist on the public affairs show The McLaughlin Group from 1988 to 1998, where he was often referred to by the show's host as Freddy "the Beadle" Barnes.

In 1984, Barnes was chosen to be one of three panelists quizzing then-President Ronald Reagan and challenger Walter Mondale in the first nationally-televised debate of the 1984 presidential campaign.

Barnes has made cameo appearances in the Hollywood films Dave, Getting Away with Murder, Independence Day and My Own Private Idaho. He has thrown out the first pitch for a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park.

Though having gone to separate high schools, Barnes was a friend of fellow Fox News personality Brit Hume in high school, and at The University of Virginia.

Later life and commentator career

Most recently, Barnes penned a biography of President George W. Bush, Rebel in Chief. He is a member of the board of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. As a member of The Falls Church, he and his family voted to disaffiliate the congregation from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.