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| George Frederick Will | |
|---|---|
 George Will attending a Nationals-Cardinals baseball game, Labor Day 2006. |
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| Born | May 4, 1941 Champaign, Illinois |
| Residence | Washington, D.C. |
| Education | Trinity College — B.A.
University of Oxford — B.A., M.A. (Oxon) Princeton University— M.A., PhD (1968) |
| Occupation | Journalist, author |
| Employer | ABC News, Newsweek, Washington Post |
| Spouse(s) | Mari Maseng |
| Children | Victoria, Geoffrey, and Jon (first marriage); David (second marriage) |
| Parents | Frederick L. Will and Louise Hendrickson Will |
George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) a U.S. newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner.
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Will was born in Champaign, Illinois, the son of Frederick L. Will and Louise Hendrickson Will.[1] His father was a respected professor of philosophy, specializing in epistemology, at the University of Illinois.
Will graduated from University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, and attended Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut (B.A.). He subsequently studied PPE at Magdalen College, University of Oxford (B.A., M.A.), and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in politics from Princeton University. His 1968 Ph.D. dissertation was entitled Beyond the Reach of Majorities: Closed Questions in the Open Society.
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. From 1970 to 1972, he served on the staff of Senator Gordon Allott (R-CO).
Will served as an editor for the conservative magazine National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1979, writing a syndicated twice-weekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country. In 1976, he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column. As of 2009, Will still writes both columns.
Will was widely praised by liberals for condemning the corruption of the Nixon presidency. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977. 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.[2]
Will has also written two best-selling 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.
His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers.
Will is also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the middle and late 1970s.
Will has proposed that the United States withdraw all troops from Afghanistan[3] and defended Barack Obama's response to the uprisings after the 2009 elections in Iran.[4] He also criticized the Bush administration for engaging in warrantless surveillance[5] 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.[6]
On abortion, Will believes that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision was unconstitutional.[7] Will is also of the opinion that individual gun ownership is a constitutional right.[8] On crime, Will is opposed to the death penalty[9], but thinks that higher incarceration rates make the populace safer.[10] Additionally, Will is generally skeptical of affirmative action programs.[11]
Will supports low taxes, as he thinks that they stimulate economic growth and are more morally fair.[12] He was also opposed to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama's stimulus plans.[13] Other positions include supporting the abolishment of the minimum wage[14], and the creation of voluntary personal retirement accounts to help the government save money on Social Security.[15]
George Will opposed the nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court and was among the first to do so.
Will expressed reservations about Bush administration Iraq policies, eventually openly criticizing what he perceived to be 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, Baghdad, 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. The optimistic assessments delivered by the Bush administration were described by Will as the "rhetoric of unreality."[16]
Even though Will had been hawkish in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, 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.[17]
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, her qualifications for that role and even titled his pre-election Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post "Call Him John the Careless."[18]
Will's detractors complain about instances when Will has blurred the line between independent journalist and political advocate. 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, saying his "game plan worked well. I don't think he was very surprised."[19]
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.[20] In a 2005 syndicated column, Will called his role in Reagan's debate preparation "inappropriate" but denied any role in stealing the briefing book. As he had done to Carter privately, Will wrote in his column that he gave the book a "cursory glance", and found it a "crashing bore and next to useless — for [Carter], or for anyone else."[21] 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."[22]
The progressive national media watchgroup Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) criticized Will in connection with the 1996 election for "commenting on the presidential race while his second wife, Mari Maseng Will, was a senior staffer for the Dole presidential campaign", including commenting on a Dole speech, asserting that he failed to disclose that his wife had helped write it. However, Will mentioned his wife's connection to the Dole campaign almost weekly on This Week.
Will was criticized for his dealings with Canadian-born British financier Conrad Black.[23] Will served on an informal board of advisors to Hollinger International, a newspaper company controlled by Black. The board met once a year and Will received an annual payment of $25,000. The board was disbanded in 2001. In March 2003, Will wrote a syndicated column which praised a speech by Black and did not disclose their previous business relationship.[24]
In a Washington Post column on June 5, 2008, Will stated that "Drilling is underway 60 miles (97 km) off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are". This statement is false. It was later quoted and subsequently withdrawn by Dick Cheney after Congressional Democrats, backed by energy experts, pointed out the error. House Leader John Boehner also cited the incorrect statement: "Right at this moment some 60 miles (97 km) or less off the coast of Key West, Fla., China has the green light to drill for oil."[25][26][27]
In a June 17, 2008 column, George Will issued a correction: "In a previous column, I stated that China, in partnership with Cuba, is drilling for oil 60 miles (97 km) from the Florida coast. While Cuba has partnered with Chinese companies to drill in the Florida Straits, no Chinese company has been involved in Cuba's oil exploration that close to the United States."(See Offshore Cuba)
In a Washington Post column which doubted 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." [28] This and several other claims attracted the attention of environmentalists, such as British author and activist George Monbiot.[29] 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." [30] Will responded in a column that he accurately reported the Center's information and the challenge was mistaken.[31] This drew a second response from George Monbiot, who insisted Will had not accurately reported the Center's information.[32] The debate continued in several forums, including a subsequent op-ed by Chris Mooney published in The Washington Post challenging Will's assertions.[33]
Will has three children - Victoria, Geoffrey, and Jon, with his first wife, Madeleine; Jon was born in 1972 with Down syndrome, which Will has written about in his column on occasion. [34] [35] In 1991, Will married Mari Maseng, a former Reagan presidential speechwriter and deputy director of transportation, as well as former communications director for Robert Dole. They have one child, a son named David, born in 1992, and live in the Washington D.C. area.
Will is a Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears fan.[36][37]
On June 3, 2008, Will stated in an interview on The Colbert Report that he was an agnostic because he was "not decisive enough [to be an atheist]."[38]
In addition to more than 15 honorary degrees:
George Frederick Will (born 4 May 1941) is an American columnist, journalist, and author.
   | Columns from Newsweek - Newsweek - National News, World News, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more... | Newsweek.com |
| | Biography from Newsweek - Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com |
| | President Carter interview, ''Fresh Air'', Thursday October 21, 2004 - Fresh Air from WHYY : NPR |
| | "Briefing Book Baloney", ''Washington Post'', August 10, 2005 - Briefing Book Baloney |
| | Rhetoric of Unreality: Where Is Iraq After Nearly 3 Years of War? - Rhetoric of Unreality |
| | Louise - George F. Will - A Mother's Love, Clarified - washingtonpost.com |
| | Will: The Attack on Kids With Down Syndrome - Newsweek - National News, World News, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more... | Newsweek.com |
| | "Triumph of (George) Will: When Media Might Makes Right", ''Media Beat'', March 8, 2001 - Media Beat: Triumph of (George) Will: When Media Might Makes Right |
| | "George Will, War Pimp" - William Hughes: George Will, War Pimp |
| | A Streetcar Named Marge - A Streetcar Named Marge |
| | Media Monitor - Post Slanders Priests |
| | quoted as fact - Whistling Past the Fault Line |
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