Peter M. Robinson

Murdoch Distinguished Policy Fellow
Biography: 

Peter M. Robinson is the Murdoch Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's video series program, Uncommon Knowledge™.

Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life (Regan Books, 2003); It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP, (Warner Books, 2000); and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA (Warner Books, 1994; still available in paperback).

In 1979, he graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he majored in English. He went on to study politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University, from which he graduated in 1982.

Robinson spent six years in the White House, serving from 1982 to 1983 as chief speechwriter to Vice President George Bush and from 1983 to 1988 as special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan. He wrote the historic Berlin Wall address in which President Reagan called on General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

After the White House, Robinson attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. (The journal he kept formed the basis for Snapshots from Hell.) He graduated with an MBA in 1990.

Robinson then spent a year in New York City with Fox Television, reporting to the owner of the company, Rupert Murdoch. He spent a second year in Washington, D.C., with the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he served as the director of the Office of Public Affairs, Policy Evaluation, and Research. Robinson joined the Hoover Institution in 1993.

The author of numerous essays and interviews, Robinson has published in the New York Times, Red Herring, and Forbes ASAP, the Wall Street Journal, and National Review Online. He is the editor of Can Congress Be Fixed?: Five Essays on Congressional Reform (Hoover Institution Press, 1995).

In 2005, Robinson was elected to serve as a Trustee of Dartmouth College.

Robinson lives in northern California with his wife, their children and their dog, Crusoe.

His research papers are available at the Hoover Institution Archives.

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Interviews

Politics with Haley Barbour: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Haley Barbourvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, August 30, 2010

Mississippi governor Haley Barbour discusses the decades-long rise of the Republican party in the South...

Uncommon Knowledge: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Advancing a Free Society
Monday, August 30, 2010

Peter Robinson interviews Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. Here is the full video, beginning with the prospects for a presidential run in 2012.

Interviews

Thomas Sowell on American Collapse: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, August 20, 2010

Thomas Sowell discusses the parallels between the fall of Rome and what he sees as the collapse of America...

Interviews

Thomas Sowell on American Collapse: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, August 19, 2010

Thomas Sowell states that if the Obama agenda is not stopped in the November 2010 elections, he doesn’t know how it will ever be stopped...

Interviews

Thomas Sowell on American Collapse: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Thomas Sowell says a loss of personal responsibility is at the heart of the decline of American society...

Interviews

Thomas Sowell on American Collapse: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Thomas Sowell weighs in on same-sex marriage and judges who legislate from the bench...

Interviews

Thomas Sowell on American Collapse: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, August 16, 2010

Thomas Sowell, author of Dismantling America (Basic Books, 2010), outlines why he believes America is collapsing...

Interviews

American Politics with Michael Barone: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Michael Baronevia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, August 6, 2010

Has the U.S. arrived at another major political inflection point? Michael Barone responds...

Uncommon Knowledge: Michael Barone

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Advancing a Free Society
Friday, August 6, 2010

Peter Robinson interviews Michael Barone, the principal author and editor of The Almanac of American Politics.

Interviews

American Politics with Michael Barone: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Michael Baronevia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, August 5, 2010

Michael Barone explains how political attitudes toward war have dramatically changed in recent decades...

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