Richard Stengel

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Stengel was a strategic adviser at Snap, Inc. from 2017 to 2021, working primarily on communications. [45]

Stengel is currently an on-air analyst for MSNBC and NBC who comments on political news of the day. [46] Stengel is also a member of the board of directors of CARE, the global humanitarian and poverty relief organization. [47]

National Service Movement

In September 2007, Stengel wrote a Time cover story called "The Case For National Service" in which he argued that Americans needed to redouble their efforts to get involved in community service and volunteerism, and that the presidential candidates needed to make the issue a top priority in the 2008 presidential campaign. [48] Through this essay, he became involved with national service groups Be the Change, City Year, Civic Enterprises, and others to form ServiceNation, a coalition of more than 100 organizations dedicated to promoting national service and volunteerism. [49]

ServiceNation announced that it had secured both U.S. presidential candidates to participate in Presidential Forum on National Service at Columbia University on September 11, 2008. [50] Stengel served as co-moderator of the forum, along with PBS journalist Judy Woodruff, and both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain answered questions in front of a live audience at Columbia University about their plans for national service. [51] [52]

On September 12, 2008, Stengel was a featured speaker at the ServiceNation Summit in New York, along with Caroline Kennedy, Senator Hillary Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. [53] In February 2009, he testified alongside Usher Raymond, former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and others, in front of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor about the importance of national service, [54] leading to the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (H.R. 1388). Among other provisions, the bill helped to establish a Summer of Service Program, increase the number of AmeriCorps opportunities and establish a nationwide Call to Service Campaign. [55]

Stengel was awarded Citizen of the Year at the Annual National Conference on Citizenship on September 17, 2010. [56] He has also been presented with the 2010 Lifetime of Idealism Award, awarded to him by City Year Washington, D.C. for "his commitment to promoting and expanding opportunities for Americans to serve". [57]

Published works

Stengel has authored several books. His first was January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town, a non-fiction work about the lives of three men in rural South Africa, published in 1990. [6]

Stengel is best known for is his collaboration with Nelson Mandela on Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom . [7] In 1992, he signed a ghostwriting deal with publishers Little, Brown to work on the book, having first been cleared by the African National Congress as a suitable author. [7] The book was published in 1995, and was praised by the Financial Times , which stated: "Their collaboration produced surely one of the great autobiographies of the 20th century". [58] Stengel later served as co-producer of the 1996 documentary film Mandela , which was nominated for an Academy Award. [12]

In 2000, Stengel published You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery, a popular history of flattery. [59]

Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love and Courage was released in March 2010 and is based on Stengel's personal interactions with Nelson Mandela. [60] [61] The book drew praise from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, as well as Deepak Chopra and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. [61]

In 2012, Stengel edited and wrote the lead essay for the book The Constitution: The Essential User's Guide, which explored the relevance of the U.S. Constitution in modern-day events. [62]

In 2019, Stengel published Information Wars, which has been praised by Madeleine Albright, Walter Isaacson and Jon Meacham. It tells the story of his efforts to combat both Russian disinformation and ISIS messaging from the State Department, and the eventual formation of the Global Engagement Center, tasked with fighting the global epidemic of disinformation. [63] The book's final chapter details what can be done about disinformation. [63]

In December 2022, Audible released Stengel's 10-part podcast, Mandela: The Lost Tapes, which uses more than 60 hours of taped interviews Stengel did with Mandela for Long Walk to Freedom. [9] The tapes had never before been released in their entirety. [64] The podcast tells the story of Mandela's life, the making of Long Walk to Freedom, and the unusual friendship between Mandela and Stengel. [9] The podcast was covered by The New York Times, Washington Post, the Today Show, The Guardian, and The Times of London. [9] [65] [66] [67] [68] AudioFile called it “a compelling work that makes history come alive.” [69]

Personal life

Stengel is married to Mary Pfaff, a native of South Africa. They have two sons, Gabriel and Anton. [12] The couple met while Stengel was in South Africa working on Nelson Mandela's autobiography. Mandela was godfather to their oldest son, Gabriel. [70]

Honorary degrees

Stengel delivered the commencement address for and received honorary doctorates from Wittenberg University in 2009, [71] Wheaton College in 2011 [72] and Butler University in 2012. [73]

References

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  4. 1 2 3 Pompeo, Joe; Byers, Dylan (September 12, 2013). "Stengel leaving Time for State Dept". POLITICO. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  5. "Foreign Service Retirements, and State Department Farewells and Departures". December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
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  7. 1 2 3 Beresford, David (November 13, 1992). "Ghost Writer Hired To Speed Way Of Mandela Story". The Guardian (London).
  8. Stengel, Richard. Information Wars. Grove Atlentic.
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  10. "Are Jews the New WASPs? | Joe Carter". First Things. May 11, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
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  23. Stengel, Richard (April 17, 2008). "Why We're Going Green". Time. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008.
  24. "Iwo Jima Vets Slam Time Cover, Dismiss Global Warming As "A Joke"". The Huffington Post. April 18, 2008. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
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  35. Moses, Lucia (May 3, 2012). "'Time' is Magazine of the Year". Adweek . Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  36. "Time puts PM on its cover, imagines him arguing with God, quotes him calling Iran civilization's 'greatest threat'". The Times of Israel . Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  37. "TIME crowns Netanyahu as the 'king of Israel'". Haaretz . May 17, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  38. Richard Stengel; Bobby Ghosh; Karl Vick (November 28, 2012). "Time Magazine Interviews Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi". Time . Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  39. Fisher, Max (November 28, 2012). "Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi holds forth on 'Planet of the Apes'". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
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  47. "Board of Directors". CARE.org.
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  49. "Vision". Be The Change Inc.org. ServiceNation. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
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  51. "The Spirit of Public Service". The New York Times. September 12, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
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  53. "National Service Summit Set For New York City". The Non-Profit Times. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
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  55. "Highlights of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act" (Press release). Corporation for National & Community Service. March 30, 2009. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  56. "Rick Stengel is 2010 Citizen of the Year". ncoc.net. National Conference on Citizenship. May 19, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  57. "Idealism In Action Gala". CityYear.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
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  62. Youssef Aboul-Enein (November 8, 2012). "The Constitution: The Essential User's Guide". DCMilitary.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
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  64. "Mr Mandela witnesses handover of historical collections – Nelson Mandela Foundation". www.nelsonmandela.org. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
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  66. "Never-before-heard Nelson Mandela tapes released in podcast". TODAY.com. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  67. Smith, David (December 2, 2022). "Nelson Mandela podcast illuminates rare side of anti-apartheid activist". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  68. Stengel, Richard (May 31, 2023). "Me, a tape recorder and my months working on Nelson Mandela's book". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  69. "MANDELA THE LOST TAPES by Richard Stengel Ed Read by Nelson Mandela Richard Stengel | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  70. Jose Antonio Vargas (March 30, 2010). "Richard Stengel On Mandela: Neither 'Terrorist' Nor Mother Teresa". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  71. "Wittenberg University Preps For 164th Commencement Exercises". Wittenberg University . May 15, 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  72. "Richard Stengel, Commencement Speaker". Wheaton College . 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  73. Naylor, Kyler (March 28, 2012). "TIME editor to speak at commencement". The Butler Collegian . Retrieved May 20, 2013.

Further reading

Richard Stengel
Richard Stengel 2014.jpg
8th Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
In office
February 14, 2014 December 8, 2016
Media offices
Preceded by
Jim Kelly
Managing Editor of Time
2006–2013
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
2014–2016
Succeeded by