About Richard Reeves
Richard Reeves, Senior Lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, is an author and syndicated columnist whose column has appeared in more than 100 newspapers since 1979. A new column also appears on Yahoo! News each Friday. He has received dozens of awards for his work in print, television and film.
Educated as a mechanical engineer, Richard Reeves began his career in journalism at the age of 23, founding the Phillipsburg Free Press in Phillipsburg, N.J. He has been a correspondent for the Newark Evening News and the New York Herald Tribune and was the Chief Political Correspondent of The New York Times. He has also written for numerous other publications, becoming National Editor and Columnist for Esquire and New York Magazine along the way. Named a "literary lion" by the New York Public Library, Reeves has won a number of print journalism awards and has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and juror.
In 1975, Reeves published his first book, A Ford, not a Lincoln. His President Kennedy: Profile of Power is now considered the authoritative work on the 35th president, has won several national awards and was named the Best Non-Fiction Book of 1993 by Time and Book of the Year by Washington Monthly.
Reeves has also worked extensively on television and in film. He was Chief Correspondent on "Frontline". He has made six television films and won all of television's major documentary awards: the Emmy for "Lights, Camera . . . Politics!" for ABC News; the Columbia-DuPont Award for "Struggle for Birmingham" for PBS; and the George Foster Peabody Award for "Red Star over Khyber" for PBS. He has also appeared in two feature films, "Dave" and "Seabiscuit".
In 1998, he won the Carey McWilliams Award of the American Political Science Association for distinguished contributions to the understanding of American politics. He was the Goldman Lecturer on American Civilization and Government at the Library of Congress that year; the lectures were published by Harvard University Press under the title What the People Know: Freedom and the Press.
In 2007, W.W. Norton published his biography - and re-creation of the experiments - of Ernest Rutherford, the Nobel prizewinning physicist, who was born on the frontier of New Zealand in 1871 and went on to become the greatest experimental scientist of his time, discovering the unimagined subatomic world we now know and then splitting the atom he first envisioned. In 2010, he published two books: "Daring Young Men" the story of the Berlin Airlift, published by Simon and Schuster, which became a New York Times bestseller and was named Best Book of the Year by the Christian Science Monitor and best history book of the year by the Book-of-the-Month club. "Portrait of Camelot: A thousand days in the Kennedy White House" was published by Abrams book at the end of the year. He is currently working on a book on the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans by the United States government during World War II.
Positions
- Chief Correspondent, Frontline, PBS, 1981-1984.
- Panelist, We Interrupt This Week, PBS, 1978
- National Editor and Columnist, Esquire, 1976-1980.
- National Editor and Columnist, New York Magazine, 1971-1976.
- Chief Political Correspondent, The New York Times, 1966-1971.
- Correspondent, The New York Herald Tribune, 1965-66.
- Correspondent, The Newark Evening News, 1963-65.
- Editor, Phillipsburg (N.J.) Free Press, 1961-63.
- Engineer, Ingersoll-Rand Co., 1960-61.
Publications
- President Nixon: Alone in the White House, Simon and Schuster, 2001
- What The People Know: Freedom and the Press, Harvard University, 1998
- Do the Media Govern?, Sage, 1997 (with Shanto Iyengar)
- Family Travels: Around the World in 30 Days, Andrews and McMeel, 1997
- Character Above All, Vol. 4, Simon and Schuster Audio, 1996
- Running in Place, Andrews and McMeel, 1996
- President Kennedy: Profile of Power, Simon and Schuster, 1993
- The Reagan Detour, Simon and Schuster, 1984
- Passage to Peshawar, Simon and Schuster, 1983
- American Journey; Travelling with Tocqueville, Simon and Schuster, 1982
- Jet Lag, Andrews and McMeel, 1981
- Convention, Harcourt Brace, 1977
- Old Faces of 1976, Harper and Row, 1976
- A Ford, not a Lincoln, Harcourt Brace, 1975
- Hundreds of magazine articles on public affairs for most major American magazines, including particularly New York Magazine, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine.
Films
- "Plowing Up a Storm", PBS, 1986
- "Red Star Over Afghanistan", PBS, 1984
- "Struggle for Birmingham", PBS, 1984
- "American Journey", PBS, 1983
- Lights, Camera . . . Politics", ABC, 1980
- "TV on Trial", PBS, 1978
Awards
- Carey McWilliams Award of the American Political Science Association, 1998
- Goldman Lecturer, Library of Congress, 1997
- PEN Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 1993
- Washington Monthly Book of the Year, 1993
- Christophers Book of the Year, 1983
- Columbia-Peabody Award, 1984
- George Foster Peabody Award, 1984
- Christopher Award, 1982
- National Emmy, 1980
- Silver Gavel, American Bar Association, 1978
- Literary Lion, New York Public Library
- Lifetime Achievement Award, National Society of Newspaper Columnists
- Honorary Degrees: Stevens Institute of Technology; Drew University; St. Joseph's College
Teaching
- Visiting Professor of Journalism, Annenberg School for Communication at USC
- Regents Professor of Political Science, UCLA 1992-94
- Political Writing, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 1974-1976
- Hunter College, Government, 1970-1972
Education
- ME, Stevens Institute of Technology,1960
TV/Film Appearances
- Seabiscuit, as Radio Reporter Joe, 2003
- Dave, as Himself, 1993
Links
- USC Annenberg School for Communication
- Reeves Blog at USC Annenberg School for Communication
- Richard Reeves at Simon and Schuster
- Richard Reeves at Amazon.com
- Richard Reeves at Barnes and Noble
- Richard Reeves at Yahoo! News Op-Ed
- Richard Reeves at Universal Press Syndicate
- Richard Reeves' Personal Papers at JFK Library
Latest Column
Politics As Entertainment
LOS ANGELES —- In 1976, to my regret, I wrote what amounted to an obituary of the Republican Party. Writing about the Democratic Convention in New York that year, I said:
Column Archive
America's Five Political Parties
LOS ANGELES — It would seem that the United States has a five-party system right now. What was done in Iowa last Tuesday could unravel in New Hampshire, but whatever happens next, the United States is more politically fractured than it has been in decades.
Why Americans Aren't Trusted
DALLAS — One of the darker pages of American history was illustrated by film of South Vietnamese, many of whom had worked for the American military or diplomatic corps for years, desperately trying to get into the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and being pushed and batted away by Marines as the last Americans climbed to the roof to escape the advancing North Vietnamese troops by helicopter.
Goodnight, Moon! Goodnight, America!
LOS ANGELES — Scanning the latest national polls, it seems that only 17 percent of Americans — fewer than one in five — say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Only 11 percent have confidence in the U.S. Congress, and the same percentage believe that old one about the country being headed in the right direction. Two out of three respondents think the economy is going in the wrong direction. This in the land of hope and glory.
The New Newt
WASHINGTON — Mention the name of the man of the hour around here and people all seem to have the same reaction. They shake their heads. Some seem amused, some angry, some frightened. Despite living most of his adult life here, Newt Gingrich does not have many friends among his neighbors.
The Sayings Of Chairman Barney
WASHINGTON — I first met Barney Frank in 1979, when he was a state legislator in Massachusetts. We spoke the same language, Jersey cynical, because we grew up a couple of miles from each other. He was from Bayonne and I was from Jersey City, the jewel of Hudson County.
Whack-a-Newt Is The New Game In Town
WASHINGTON — Like most reporters here in the 1980s, I liked Newt Gingrich and spent time listening to his office lectures every few weeks. He was smart, he was candid about most things, wrong about others — and funny in his hypercharged way. He was young and irreverent — like us — and he was on his way to taking over the Republicans in Congress and then Congress itself. His ambition was boundless, but he was changing the rules in Washington for better or worse.
It Seems Wall Street Is Occupying Us
LOS ANGELES — The good news of the day is that Bill Moyers is coming back to television next January. The bad news is that Coca-Cola seems to be winning its battle to fill the Grand Canyon with empty plastic bottles.
American Decline; Crushing The Middle Class
LOS ANGELES — By chance, the three things that landed in my inbox — that's a polite euphemism for "pile" — on Tuesday were these:
The Worst Generation
DETROIT — Looking at the newspapers this morning, I noticed that Tom Brokaw was making a speech in New York. It made me wonder if he was working on a sequel to his books on "The Greatest Generation." This one might be called "The Worst Generation."
Nice Debates, Guys, But You're In Trouble
LOS ANGELES — I was pleasantly surprised last Wednesday when I asked a roomful of students at the University of Southern California how many had watched the Republican candidates' debate the night before and dozens of hands went up, more than half the students, maybe two-thirds.
Which Side Are You On!
LOS ANGELES — I am all for Occupy Wall Street — and a lot of other places — but I wish I understood where this is going. And why it took so long to get going.
The Republican Circus
LOS ANGELES — Who's left? Is there a good-looking, smart state legislator out there somewhere whom the Republican parties could agree on as their candidate?
Class Warfare: Bring It On!
LOS ANGELES — President Obama came out here last Tuesday to proclaim himself a "warrior for the middle class." Would that it were true.
America The Passive
BERKELEY, Calif. — Democrats should be building statues of former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, or at least giving away copies of her new book, "A Governor's Story."
Lost Decade ... Lost Generation?
LOS ANGELES — "Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'" was the lead headline in last Wednesday's New York Times.
Does Karl Rove Know Something We Don't?
LOS ANGELES — Karl Rove, pundit for now, continued to pound away at his favorite target, Sarah Palin, over the summer, saying this time she was too "thin-skinned" to be president.
Who Pays For God's Revenge?
LOS ANGELES — The phrase "the general welfare" of the people is part of the U.S. Constitution that so many political folk wave around these days — arguing basically that the problems and assumptions of 1789 remain inviolate in the 21st century.
Deep In The Heart Of Fantasyland
SAG HARBOR, N.Y. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a man who would be king, has written a book. It's called "Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington."
