WASHINGTON (AP) – Tom Wardell Braden, a former CIA agent who helped launch CNN’s political debate show “Crossfire,” has died, his family said. He was 92. Braden also was known for writing “Eight is Enough,” a 1975 book about his eight children that inspired a TV show.

Braden died Friday from natural causes at his home in Denver, according to his daughter, Susan Braden.

Braden was born in Greene, Iowa, and graduated from Dartmouth College. After serving with the British and U.S. armies during World War II, he joined the CIA.

He returned to Washington and started a local show called “Confrontation.” Then in 1982, he took the same idea of partisan sparring and created “Crossfire” with Pat Buchanan. He left the show in 1991.