George Will

Last updated

George Will
George Will (52540061656) (cropped).jpg
Will in 2022
Born
George Frederick Will

(1941-05-04) May 4, 1941 (age 83)
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Education Trinity College (BA)
Magdalen College, Oxford (MA)
Princeton University (MA, PhD)
Occupations
  • Columnist
  • author
Employer(s) Newsweek
The Washington Post
Political party Republican (before 2016)
Independent (after 2016)
Spouses
Madeleine Will
​
​
(m. 1967;div. 1989)​
​
(m. 1991)​
Children4
Awards Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (1977)

George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian conservative writer and political commentator. He writes columns for The Washington Post on a regular basis, and provides commentary for NewsNation . [1] In 1986, The Wall Street Journal called him "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America". [2] [3] Will won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977. [4]

Contents

A former member of the Republican Party, Will was a close ally of Ronald Reagan during his presidential campaign in 1980. He assisted Reagan with debate preparation, and was later falsely accused by former President Jimmy Carter of providing Reagan with a top secret briefing book in a scandal known as Debategate, an allegation Carter later retracted.

In later years, he became a critic of Republican politicians, including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Donald Trump. Will's disapproval of Trump's presidential campaign led him to become an independent in 2016, [5] and he subsequently voted for Joe Biden in 2020, [6] and stated in September 2024 he would be voting for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. [7]

Early life and education

Will was born on May 4, 1941, in Champaign, Illinois, to Louise (née Hendrickson) and Frederick L. Will. [8] His father was a professor of philosophy, specializing in epistemology, at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Will attended University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, where he graduated in 1959.

After high school, Will went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. He then went to England and attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics and received a bachelor's degree (promoted to a master's per tradition). Will then did doctoral study in political science at Princeton University, receiving a PhD in 1968 with a dissertation entitled "Beyond the Reach of Majorities: Closed Questions in the Open Society", alluding to a famous phrase from Justice Robert H. Jackson’s majority opinion in the landmark 1943 Supreme Court case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette . [9]

From 1970 to 1972, Will served on the staff of Republican Senator Gordon Allott of Colorado. Will then taught political philosophy at the James Madison College of Michigan State University, and at the University of Toronto. He taught at Harvard University in 1995 and again in 1998.

Journalism career

Will in 2014 George Will (12987598135) (cropped).jpg
Will in 2014

Will originally had left wing political views but his views shifted toward conservatism during his studies at Oxford, especially after visiting Communist-controlled East Berlin in the mid-1960s. [10] Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. [11] He joined The Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated biweekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country and continues today. As of December 2014, his column was syndicated to about 450 newspapers. [12] In 1976 he became a contributing editor for Newsweek , writing a biweekly backpage column until 2011. [13]

Will won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977. [14] Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.[ citation needed ] Will has also written two bestselling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for The Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures. [13]

From 2013 to 2017, Will was a contributor for Fox News. [15] [16] Prior to joining Fox News, beginning in the early 1980s, Will was a news analyst for ABC News and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos . Will was a panelist on This Week until his departure from ABC News. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984. [13] On Sunday, March 19, 2017, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd welcomed Will back as a panelist, stating he had been absent from the program since 1981 and that his return would mark his 52nd appearance. [17]

On May 8, 2017, Will was announced as an MSNBC and NBC News political contributor, in which he provided regular political input on shows such as Today , Morning Joe , and The 11th Hour . On December 3, 2020, Will received the National Society for Newspaper Columnists 2020 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award, in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists. [18] Since January, 2022, Will has been a senior political contributor at NewsNation . [19]

1980 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign

Will doing an interview with President Ronald Reagan in 1981 President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office during an interview with George Will.jpg
Will doing an interview with President Ronald Reagan in 1981

Will helped Ronald Reagan prepare for his 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter. Immediately after the debate, Will—not yet a member of the ABC News staff—appeared on ABC's Nightline . He was introduced by host Ted Koppel, who said: "It's my understanding that you met for some time yesterday with Governor Reagan", and that Will "never made any secret of his affection" for the Republican candidate. Will did not explicitly disclose that he had assisted Reagan's debate preparation, or been present during it. He went on to praise Reagan's "thoroughbred" performance, saying his "game plan worked well. I don't think he was very surprised." [20]

In 2004 and again in 2005, Carter accused Will of giving the Reagan campaign a top-secret briefing book stolen from Carter's office before the 1980 debate. [21] In a 2005 syndicated column, Will called his role in Reagan's debate preparation "inappropriate" but denied any role in stealing the briefing book. [22] In response to Will's column, Carter wrote a letter to The Washington Post retracting his accusations. Carter apologized to Will for "any incorrect statement that I have ever made about his role in the use of my briefing book... I have never thought Mr. Will took my book, that the outcome of the debate was damaging to my campaign or that Mr. Will apologized to me." [23]

2009 global sea ice level

In a Washington Post column that expressed doubt over the effects of global warming, Will stated that: "According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979." [24] This and several other claims attracted the attention of environmentalists, such as British author and activist George Monbiot. [25] Asked to respond, the website of Arctic Climate Research at the University of Illinois states that: "We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979." [26] Will responded in a column that he accurately reported the Center's information and the challenge was mistaken. [27] This drew a second response from Monbiot, who insisted Will had not accurately reported the Center's information. [28] The debate continued in several forums, including a subsequent op-ed by Chris Mooney published in The Washington Post challenging Will's assertions. [29]

Column regarding campus assaults

Will's June 6, 2014, newspaper column about "the supposed campus epidemic of rape" was met with substantial criticism on Twitter, [30] with Democratic U.S. senators and feminists also highly critical of the article. Will wrote, "...when [colleges and universities] make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate." [31] Will's column sparked an outcry on Twitter, with professed rape victims recounting their stories of sexual assault and violence. [32] In The Guardian , feminist blogger Jessica Valenti wrote: "It takes a particular kind of ignorance to argue that people who come forward to report being raped in college are afforded benefits of any kind." [33] In an open letter to Will, Senators Richard Blumenthal, Dianne Feinstein, Tammy Baldwin and Bob Casey wrote:

Your column suggests that we — including some of us who have worked on this issue for many years – all have missed a subculture on college campuses where survivors of sexual assault are inducted into a privileged class. The culture you described is so antiquated, so counter-intuitive and so contrary to anything we heard that we hope you will make an effort to hear the stories survivors bravely shared with us about the struggles they face in addressing what has happened to them — often with little meaningful assistance from authorities expected to help them. [34]

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch dropped Will's column from its pages as a result of the column. Editor Tony Messenger wrote: "The column was offensive and inaccurate; we apologize for publishing it." [35] Will responded to the senators in his blog, saying his article was based on "simple arithmetic involving publicly available reports", and that sexual assault "should be dealt with by the criminal justice system, and not be adjudicated by improvised campus processes." [36]

Political views

Foreign policy and national security

Will once proposed that the United States withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, [37] and defended Barack Obama's response to the uprisings after the 2009 elections in Iran. [38] He also criticized the Bush administration for engaging in warrantless surveillance, [39] and supported trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. On immigration, Will supports tighter border security and a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants. [40]

Social issues

Will argued that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision caused a "truncation of democratic debate about abortion policy". [41] On crime, Will is opposed to the death penalty. [42] He thinks that higher incarceration rates generally make the populace safer, but favors ending mandatory minimums. [43] [44] Additionally, Will is generally skeptical of affirmative action programs, [45] and he favors the legalization of drugs. [46]

Economic issues

Will is a libertarian-style conservative who supports deregulation and low taxes as he thinks these stimulate economic growth and are more morally fair. [47] He was opposed to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama's stimulus plans. [48] Will supports abolishing the minimum wage [49] and creating voluntary personal retirement accounts in order to reduce the federal cost of Social Security. [50] In February 2013, Will wrote in support of a proposal by "relentlessly liberal" Sherrod Brown to break up consolidated banks and finance industry conglomerates, ending "too big to fail" by restoring the Glass-Steagall Act. [51]

Campaign finance reform

Will opposes attempts to regulate campaign funding, arguing that any such legislation is unconstitutional and would unfairly favor incumbent politicians. Additionally, he contends that spending money is a form of free speech and political participation. By giving the government power to regulate speech, Will believes that this will make the government "even bigger." Instead, he believes that we need "more speech, advocating less government" in order to reduce the importance of politics in our lives, thus indirectly reducing political spending. [52]

Criticism of Republican politicians

While identified with conservative politics, Will has criticized a number of individuals and policies associated with the Republican Party and American conservatism. He was among the first to oppose President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court. [53]

Will was hawkish in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and he expressed reservations about Bush administration Iraq policies. He eventually criticized what he said was an unrealistically optimistic set of political scenarios. In March 2006, in a column written in the aftermath of the apparently sectarian bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, Will challenged the Bush administration—and U.S. government representatives in Iraq—to be more honest about the difficulties the United States faced in rebuilding and maintaining order within Iraq, comparing the White House's rhetoric unfavorably to that of Winston Churchill during the early years of World War II. Will described the optimistic assessments delivered from the Bush administration as the "rhetoric of unreality." [54] He criticized the Bush Iraq policy, and broader White House and congressional foreign and domestic policy making, in his keynote address for the Cato Institute's 2006 Milton Friedman Prize dinner. [55]

Will was also a harsh and early critic of both Sarah Palin and John McCain's 2008 election campaign. He criticized Palin's understanding of the role of the Vice President and her qualifications for that role. [56] In late 2011, as the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries approached, Will said that frontrunner Newt Gingrich "embodies almost everything disagreeable about modern Washington", and described him as "the classic rental politician". [57] In a 2013 interview with Reason writers Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, Will said his views have gradually but steadily become more libertarian. [58]

Will criticized Donald Trump several times during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, calling him a "one-man Todd Akin", and urged conservative voters to "help him lose 50 states—condign punishment for his comprehensive disdain for conservative essentials." [59] In turn, Trump criticized Will and brought attention to the fact that his wife Mari Maseng Will was an advisor to Scott Walker's presidential campaign.[ citation needed ] Will criticized Trump again, saying Trump was a bigger threat than Hillary Clinton. In June 2016, citing his disapproval of Trump, Will told journalist Nicholas Ballasy in an interview that he had left the Republican Party and was registered as an unaffiliated voter. [5]

In June 2019, Will asserted that the Republican Party had become a cult. [60] Will supported Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, [6] and Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election. [7]

Personal life

Family

Will has three children—Victoria, Geoffrey, and Jonathan—with his first wife, Madeleine; [61] their eldest child, [62] Jonathan, was born in 1972 with Down syndrome, which Will has written about in his column on occasion. [63] [64] [65] In 1989, he and Madeleine divorced after 22 years of marriage. [66]

In 1991, Will married Mari Maseng. They have one child, a son named David, born in 1992, and live in Chevy Chase, Maryland, an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C. [67] Maseng is a political consultant and speechwriter who was in charge of communications for the Rick Perry 2012 presidential campaign, and most recently worked on Scott Walker's 2016 presidential campaign. She earlier worked on Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign, and offered her services to the Mitt Romney 2012 campaign. [68] [69] She previously worked for Ronald Reagan as a presidential speechwriter, deputy director of transportation, and Assistant to the President for Public Liaison. She also was a former communications director for Senator Bob Dole.

Religious beliefs

Will is a self-described "amiable, low-voltage atheist". [70] He was for quite a number of years a fairly active member of the Episcopal Church.[ citation needed ]

Interests

Will (at far left) with members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and George W. Bush at the White House in 2004 George W Bush Luncheon with Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.jpg
Will (at far left) with members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and George W. Bush at the White House in 2004

Will, a Chicago Cubs fan, [71] [72] has written extensively on baseball, including his best-selling book Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball . He was one of the interview subjects for Ken Burns's PBS documentary series Baseball .

Will was occasionally lampooned in the comic Doonesbury , particularly in a December 1980 sequence of strips in which several characters attend a party hosted by Will for the Reagans. [73]

Will was lampooned in a skit on an April 1990 episode of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live . Dana Carvey played Will as the host of the fictional baseball trivia game show George F. Will's Sports Machine , in which the answers are all highflown literary metaphors that leave the contestants befuddled; the exasperated contestants finally get Will to try to throw a baseball, which he is unable to do. [74]

In the Seinfeld season 6 episode "The Jimmy", Kramer mentions that he finds George Will attractive. [75] In the 30 Rock season 1 episode "Jack-Tor", Tracy Jordan remarks while reading a newspaper that George Will "just gets more and more conservative." [76]

Honorary awards and recognition

In addition to more than 16 honorary degrees:

Works

Notes

  1. ↑ "George Will on NewsNation". NewsNation. June 30, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  2. ↑ D'Evelyn, Thomas (October 26, 1986). "Will's collection of columns chronicles his conservatism". The Christian Science Monitor . Archived from the original on June 4, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ Quoted in Eric Alterman, Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (1999) pp. 87–88.
  4. ↑ "George F. Will of The Washington Post Writers Group". www.pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  5. 1 2 "George Will on Republican Exit: Like Reagan Said, I Didn't Leave The Party, The Party Left Me". June 26, 2016. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Moran, Lee (July 21, 2020). "Conservative Icon George Will Says He'll Vote For Joe Biden In 2020 Election". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Pigs Fly; George Will Endorses Harris". Daily Kos. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  8. ↑ Will, George F. (July 13, 2006). "A Mother's Love, Clarified". The Washington Post . p. A23. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  9. ↑ Pulliam, Mark (August 9, 2016). "George Will's Constitution". Law & Liberty. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  10. ↑ Randolph, Elizabeth (September 26, 1986). "George Will, the Oracle at Strict Remove". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  11. ↑ Pulliam, Mark (August 9, 2016). "George Will's Epiphany". National Review. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  12. ↑ Wemple, Erik (December 4, 2014). "George Will guilty of conflict of interest". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  13. 1 2 3 "George F. Will *68 Profile". www.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on June 23, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  14. ↑ "George F. Will of The Washington Post Writers Group". www.pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  15. ↑ Mirkinson, Jack (October 1, 2013). "George Will Joins Fox News, Leaves ABC After 3 Decades". The Huffington Post . AOL. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  16. ↑ Concha, Joe (January 17, 2017). "Fox declines to renew contracts for several contributors". The Hill . Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Meet The Press 03-19-17 (transcript)". NBC News . March 19, 2017. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Welcome, George Will". National Society for Newspaper Columnists. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  19. ↑ "George Will on NewsNation". NewsNation. June 30, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  20. ↑ Nightline Special Edition, October 28, 1980.
  21. ↑ Fresh Air , October 21, 2004; The Alabama Plainsman, July 28, 2005.
  22. ↑ Will, George F. (August 11, 2005). "Briefing Book Baloney". The Washington Post. p. A23. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  23. ↑ Carter, Jimmy (August 31, 2005). "Putting an End to the 'Briefing Book Baloney'" (Letter to the Editor). The Washington Post. p. A22. Archived from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  24. ↑ Will, George F. (February 15, 2009). "Dark Green Doomsayers". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  25. ↑ Monbiot, George. George Will's climate howlers Archived September 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , The Guardian. February 18, 2009.
  26. ↑ "The Cryosphere Today". February 15, 2009. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  27. ↑ Will, George F. Climate Science in A Tornado Archived August 12, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post. February 27, 2009.
  28. ↑ Monbiot, George. We all make mistakes but Washington Post's George Will just won't admit his Archived August 12, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , The Guardian. March 3, 2009.
  29. ↑ Mooney, Chris Climate Change Myths and Facts Archived July 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine "Washington Post". March 22, 2009.
  30. ↑ Zara, Christopher (June 10, 2014) "Washington Post Opinion Editor Defends George Will’s ‘Survivor Privilege’ Column As Twitter Backlash Continues." Archived July 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine International Business Times. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  31. ↑ Will, George (June 6, 2014) "Colleges become the victims of progressivism." Archived September 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  32. ↑ Warren, Rosalyn (June 9, 2014) #SurvivorPrivilege Trends On Twitter After Columnist Says Rape Survivors Lie To Get "Privileges." Archived November 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Buzzfeed. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  33. ↑ Valenti, Jessica (June 10, 2014) "The only 'privilege' afforded to campus rape victims is actually surviving." Archived March 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Guardian. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  34. ↑ Grasgreen, Allie (June 12, 2014) "Senators scold Washington Post’s George Will for sexual assault column." Archived 2014-06-12 at the Wayback Machine Politico. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  35. ↑ Messenger, Tony (June 19, 2014) "Editor's note: Michael Gerson replaces George Will." Archived August 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  36. ↑ "George Will responds to senators on his sexual assault column". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  37. ↑ Will, George F. (September 1, 2009). "Time for the U.S. to Get Out of Afghanistan". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  38. ↑ Armbruster, Ben (June 21, 2009). "Will calls right-wing attacks on Obama's Iran response 'foolish criticism.'". ThinkProgress.org. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
  39. ↑ Will, George F. (February 16, 2006). "No Checks, Many Imbalances". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  40. ↑ Will, George F. (March 30, 2006). "Guard the Borders – And Face Facts, Too". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  41. ↑ Will, George F. (December 1, 2005). "The Abortion Argument We Missed". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  42. ↑ Ponnuru, Ramesh (November 6, 2003). "Penalty Box: George Will gets capital punishment wrong". National Review Online. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012.
  43. ↑ Will, George F. (June 22, 2008). "More Prisoners, Less Crime". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  44. ↑ Will, George Fl (June 8, 2013). "Mandatory Minimum Sentences Do Harm". Columbia Dispatch. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  45. ↑ "George Will: The distortion of affirmative action". Townhall.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
  46. ↑ Will, George F. (April 11, 2012). "Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 7, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  47. ↑ Will, George F. (June 10, 2007). "Democrats' Prosperity Problem". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  48. ↑ Will, George F. (July 12, 2009). "Liberal Policies Paving Way for Higher Taxes". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  49. ↑ Will, George F. (January 4, 2007). "The Right Minimum Wage". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  50. ↑ Will, George F. (January 20, 2005). "Social Security: Opportunity, Not a Crisis". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  51. ↑ "Time to break up the big banks" George F. Will, The Washington Post , February 8, 2013.
  52. ↑ PragerU (October 6, 2014), Money in Politics: What's the Problem?, archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved December 7, 2018
  53. ↑ Will, George F. (October 5, 2005). "George F. Will - Can This Nomination Be Justified?". Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014– via www.washingtonpost.com.
  54. ↑ Will, George (March 2, 2006). "Rhetoric of Unreality: Where Is Iraq After Nearly 3 Years of War?". The Washington Post . p. A21. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  55. ↑ Will, George (Summer 2006). "Cato: Upholding the Idea of Liberty" (PDF). Cato's Letter. 4 (3). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  56. ↑ Will, George F. (October 30, 2008). "Call Him John the Careless". The Washington Post . p. A23. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  57. ↑ James Joyner, Newt Gingrich Embodies Everything Disagreeable About Modern Washington Archived July 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Outside the Bellway, November 21, 2011.
  58. ↑ Reason TV,George Will's Libertarian Evolution on YouTube, September 13, 2013.
  59. ↑ Will, George F. (April 29, 2016). "If Trump is nominated, the GOP must keep him out of the White House". Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016– via washingtonpost.com.
  60. ↑ "George Will: The Republican Party's Become a 'Cult'". June 5, 2019. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  61. ↑ Think College, executive committee: Madeleine Will, M.A. Archived August 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (Access date October 30, 2011)
  62. ↑ Wallace, Carol (September 19, 1983). "George and Madeleine Will Have the Government Cornered: He Writes About It and She Serves in It". People . Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  63. ↑ Will, George (April 14, 2005). "Eugenics By Abortion: Is Perfection an Entitlement?". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
  64. ↑ Will, George (January 29, 2007). "Will: The Attack on Kids With Down Syndrome". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 16, 2007.
  65. ↑ Will, George (May 2, 2012). "Jon Will's gift". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  66. ↑ Jack Friedman, "Turning from Politics, George Will Writes a Love Story About Men and Baseball", People Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 1, July 9, 1990.
  67. ↑ Neate, Rupert (December 4, 2015). "Chevy Chase, Maryland: the super-rich town that has it all – except diversity". The Guardian . Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  68. ↑ Maseng sought work on Romney campaign Archived November 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , Ben Smith, Politico , November 12, 2011.
  69. ↑ This Week 11/13 Archived December 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , George Will, This Week , November 13, 2011.
  70. ↑ Chotiner, Isaac (February 11, 2014). "George Will Finds His Wild Side". The New Republic. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  71. ↑ "George Will tells Washington University graduates: 'Don't let your babies grow up to be Cub fans'". For Expert Comment. Washington University. May 15, 1998. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  72. ↑ Will, George F. (April 7, 2008). "The Last Word: 'Your Brain on Cubs'". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  73. ↑ "Rick & Joanie Attend George Will's Reagan Party (Doonesbury Navigator)". Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  74. ↑ "SNL Transcripts: Corbin Bernsen: 04/14/90: George F. Will's Sports Machine". snltranscripts.jt.org. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  75. ↑ ""The Jimmy" (Script)" . Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  76. ↑ "01x05 - Jack-Tor-Full". 30 Rock Transcripts. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  77. ↑ Arizona State University. "Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication". Archived from the original on March 20, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  78. ↑ "The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation". Archived from the original on September 7, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  79. ↑ "Can We Make Iraq Democratic?". City Journal. December 23, 2015. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  80. ↑ "2019 Laureates Announced by Gov. Rauner". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.

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Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1976. Democratic nominee, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, narrowly defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. This was the first presidential election since 1932 in which the incumbent was defeated, as well as the only Democratic victory of the six such presidential elections between 1968 and 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 United States presidential election</span> Election won by Ronald Reagan

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 1980. Republican nominee, former Governor of California Ronald Reagan, defeated incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory. This was the second consecutive election in which an incumbent president was defeated, although Gerald Ford assumed the presidency after President Richard Nixon resigned and was not elected, as well as the first election since 1888 that saw the defeat of an incumbent Democratic president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Baker</span> American lawyer and statesman (born 1930)

James Addison Baker III is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. secretary of state before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States presidential debates</span> Traditional formality of presidential candidates debating prior to the election

During presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the candidates to engage in one or more debates. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time, and arguably elections have been nearly decided by these debates. Candidate debates are not constitutionally mandated, but they are now considered an intrinsic part of the election process. The debates are targeted mainly at undecided voters; those who tend not to be partial to any political ideology or party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tip O'Neill</span> American politician (1912–1994)

Thomas PhillipO'Neill Jr. was an American Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, the third-longest tenure in history and the longest uninterrupted tenure. He represented northern Boston in the House from 1953 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Noonan</span> American political commentator and author (born 1950)

Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Noonan, is a weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and contributor to NBC News and ABC News. She was a primary speechwriter and Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 1986 and has maintained a center-right leaning in her writings since leaving the Reagan administration. Five of Noonan's books have been New York Times bestsellers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Krauthammer</span> American journalist (1950–2018)

Charles Krauthammer was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in The Washington Post in 1987. His weekly column was syndicated to more than 400 publications worldwide. While in his first year studying medicine at Harvard Medical School, Krauthammer became permanently paralyzed from the waist down after a diving board accident that severed his spinal cord at cervical spinal nerve 5. After spending 14 months recovering in a hospital, he returned to medical school, graduating to become a psychiatrist involved in the creation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III in 1980. He joined the Carter administration in 1978 as a director of psychiatric research, eventually becoming the speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Reagan</span> American liberal political commentator

Ronald Prescott Reagan is an American political commentator and broadcaster. Reagan is a former radio host and political analyst for KIRO and Air America Radio, with which he hosted his own daily three-hour show. He has also been a contributor to MSNBC. His liberal views contrast with those of his conservative father, President Ronald Reagan. He has been an outspoken critic of the modern-day Republican Party and has insisted his father would be "ashamed" over the influence of Donald Trump in the Republican Party. Donald Trump has said that Ronald Reagan was one of his influences. Ron Reagan is the only biological son of Ronald Reagan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear football</span> US device for a nuclear attack order

The nuclear football, officially the Presidential Emergency Satchel, is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the president of the United States to communicate and authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Functioning as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States, the football is carried by a military aide when the president is traveling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical rankings of presidents of the United States</span> Rankings of the success of US presidents

In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.

Debategate or briefing-gate was a political scandal affecting the administration of Ronald Reagan; it took place in the final days of the 1980 presidential election. Reagan's team acquired President Jimmy Carter's briefing papers, classified top secret, that Carter used in preparation for the October 28, 1980 debate with Reagan. The briefing papers were never specified to be either vital strategy memos or just routine position papers. This leak of campaign papers was not divulged to the public until late June 1983, after Laurence Barrett published Gambling with History: Reagan in the White House, an in-depth account of the Reagan administration's first two years.

In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were first conducted by George Gallup to gauge public support for the president of the United States during their term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Typically, an approval rating is given to a politician based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A question might ask: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the current president is handling their job as president?".

In the politics of the United States, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election, whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date for national elections is in early November, events that take place in October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters and allow less time to take remedial action; thus, relatively last-minute news stories could either change the course of an election or reinforce the inevitable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counselor to the President</span> American political position

Counselor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States and senior members of the White House Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

In the 1980 United States presidential election, Ronald Reagan and his running mate, George H. W. Bush, were elected president and vice president, defeating incumbents Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale of the Democratic Party.

Jeffrey Lord is an American author, and political strategist in Pennsylvania, who served as an associate political director in the administration of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He subsequently became a highly visible political commentator for CNN and other media outlets. He was dismissed from CNN in 2017 after posting "Sieg Heil" on Twitter as a mocking response to Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America.

References

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