Biography of Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer is a prominent political commentator and a syndicated columnist whose columns appear in the Washington Post, Time Magazine, and various other publications. He was born on 13th March 1950, in the New York City, and was raised in Montreal, Canada.

He once said, "When you first start writing a column, you're afraid you won't have anything to write about, but the world turns out to be too interesting. The Lord does provide."

Charles attended Herzliah High School and McGill University, and in 1970, he obtained an honors degree in political science and economics. He was a Commonwealth Scholar in politics at Balliol College, Oxford, and later moved to US and continued his medical studies at Harvard Medical School.

In 1975, he met with a serious diving accident and had to be hospitalized for the whole next year. However, he continued his studies and earned an M.D. in 1975. He later moved to the United States and worked as a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

His first big break was during the presidential campaign of 1980, in which he served as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale.

Charles joined The New Republic as a writer and editor in 1981. He described and termed the new American foreign policy of supporting anti-communist insurgencies around the globe, as the 'Reagan Doctrine', and gained attention of the general public when he first used this phrase in his Time magazine column in mid 1980s.

Basically, the term was coined considering the President Reagan's policy towards Nicaragua in 1985. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for commentary, and in 1997, the Washingtonian magazine named him amongst the top 50 most influential journalists in the national press corps.

Besides these, he is the recipient of numerous awards including:

• The National Magazine Award for essays and criticism in 1984
• The Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 1987

• Center for Security Policy (Mighty Pen Award)
• People for the American Way (First Amendment Award)
• The first annual Bradley prize in 2003
• Irving Kristol Award by the American Enterprise Institute, in 2004

He published the famous column Miers: The Only Exit Strategy in October, 2005. Through this column, he openly criticized the nomination of Harriet Miers, and said that it would be best for the country if she is not confirmed to the Supreme Court.

He also suggested Miers to withdraw, out of respect for the Senate and the White House to accept her decision with the deepest regret and gratitude.

In one of his columns Bush's 'Axis of Evil,' Six Years Later, Krauthammer clearly stated that contrary to current public opinion, Bush will have succeeded on Iraq, failed on Iran and fought North Korea to a draw. In 2006, he was named as America's most influential columnist, by The Financial Times.

His other major domain of writing is strategy and geostrategic policy. Although he writes about politics, he avoids any direct involvement in the field. He is also very interested in sculptures, especially those related to monuments and memorials. He loves to visit the memorials which are dedicated to the Vietnam, Korean and Civil War.

He lives in suburban Washington with his wife Robyn, who is an artist, and their son. As a famous critic and columnist, he has definitely left a mark on the history of media, by his exceptional and sincere work.