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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Recent Commentary

Analysis and Commentary

Neither Moderate Nor Centrist

by Peter M. Robinson with Thomas Sowellvia Forbes
Friday, March 6, 2009

"To see what is in front of one's nose," George Orwell famously asserted, "needs a constant struggle."

In the News

The World According to John Bolton: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, March 6, 2009

John Bolton critiques the U.N., the State Department, and the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama...

In the News

The World According to John Bolton: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, March 5, 2009

According to John Bolton, if Iran gets nuclear weapons, the power-shift in the region will be fundamental, calamitous, and “irreversible.”...

In the News

The World According to John Bolton: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, March 4, 2009

John Bolton says Vladimir Putin is clearly focused on reasserting Russian hegemony, a troubling development that invites a strong U.S. response...

In the News

The World According to John Bolton: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, March 3, 2009

John Bolton describes the various policy mistakes made by the U.S. in dealing with the “criminal” regime in North Korea...

ohn Bolton served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the departments of State and Justice.

The World According to John Bolton

by Peter M. Robinsonwith John R. Boltonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, March 2, 2009

“Were we right to go to war in Iraq?” With this question as a point of departure, Peter Robinson explores with Ambassador Bolton our foreign policy successes and failures during the Bush years and assesses the current challenges from the usual suspects: North Korea, Russia, and Iran. Bolton sees a power shift in the Middle East that would be fundamental, calamitous, and irreversible should Iran get nuclear weapons. (36:26 ) Video transcript

In the News

The World According to John Bolton: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, March 2, 2009

John Bolton reflects on the war in Iraq — from success to failure to success...

In the News

Ferguson and Long on Obama, Lincoln, and More: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, February 20, 2009

Ferguson and Long comment on the various expectations attached to Barack Obama’s presidency...

Analysis and Commentary

Paul Samuelson Vs. Milton Friedman

by Peter M. Robinson with Arnold Beichman, Robert J. Barro, John B. Taylorvia Forbes
Friday, February 20, 2009

Challenging Samuelson on Keynes, government intervention and market regulation...

In the News

Ferguson and Long on Obama, Lincoln, and More: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ferguson and Long draw distinctions between the Reagan way and the Obama way...

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