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

Economic Headwinds with Lazear & Boskin : Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Michael J. Boskin, Edward Paul Lazearvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Following the worst recession since WWII, why does the economic recovery seem so weak? Where, in particular, are the jobs? Michael Boskin and Edward Lazear respond...

Hoover senior fellows Michael Boskin and Edward Lazear discuss the dangers of th

Economic Headwinds with Lazear and Boskin

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Michael J. Boskin, Edward Paul Lazearvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Boskin and Lazear take on the economy, discussing the explosion of deficit spending and the unprecedented increase in the money supply. Following the worst recession since WWII, why does the economic recovery seem so weak? Where, in particular, are the jobs? As a matter of pure economics, what do we need to do? As a matter of practical politics, how can we do it? (36:35) Video transcript

Interviews

Economic Headwinds with Lazear & Boskin: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Michael J. Boskin, Edward Paul Lazearvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Michael Boskin and Edward Lazear discuss the pitfalls of the monetary explosion occurring under the Bernanke Federal Reserve...

Interviews

Economic Headwinds with Lazear & Boskin : Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Michael J. Boskin, Edward Paul Lazearvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, July 5, 2010

Michael Boskin and Edward Lazear, former chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisors, describe the dangers of the soaring levels of spending and debt that are occurring under the Obama administration...

“Markets Are Hard to Appreciate”

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Hoover Digest
Friday, July 2, 2010

Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker is convinced that Americans don’t really want to go backwards on economic liberty. By Peter Robinson.

Interviews

Ronald Reagan with Steyn & Long: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Rob Long, Mark Steynvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, June 25, 2010

Is the Reagan Era over? Mark Steyn and Rob Long weigh in...

Interviews

Ronald Reagan with Steyn & Long: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Rob Long, Mark Steynvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, June 24, 2010

Mark Steyn and Rob Long respond to Reagan’s time-tested notion that government planning and welfare only beget more government planning and welfare...

Interviews

Ronald Reagan with Steyn & Long: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Rob Long, Mark Steynvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mark Steyn and Rob Long discuss Reagan, the Constitution, and what Steyn terms “the persistence of the monarchical urge...”

Uncommon Knowledge: Rob Long & Mark Steyn on Reagan’s opposition to socialized medicine

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Advancing a Free Society
Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Watch Peter Robinson interview Rob Long & Mark Steyn on Reagan’s opposition to socialized medicine, including archived audio recording of Reagan on the subject.

Interviews

Ronald Reagan with Steyn & Long: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinson with Rob Long, Mark Steynvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Mark Steyn and Rob Long reflect on Ronald Reagan’s stand against socialized medicine...

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