Jules Joseph Witcover (born July 16, 1927) is an American journalist, author, and columnist.
Biography
Witcover is a veteran newspaperman of 50 years' standing, having written for ''
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
'', the now-defunct ''
Washington Star
''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Star ...
'', the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. Together with
Jack Germond
John Worthen Germond (January 30, 1928 – August 14, 2013), known as Jack Germond, was an American journalist, author, and pundit whose career spanned over 50 years. Germond wrote for the ''Washington Star'' and the ''Baltimore Sun'', and was ...
, Witcover co-wrote "Politics Today," a five-day-a-week syndicated column, for over 24 years.
Witcover was born in
Union City, New Jersey
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589,[Newhouse Newspapers
Advance Publications, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns ...]
in 1954. He was reportedly steps away from where
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
was shot in 1968. He was also one of the reporters featured in the 1972 book on campaign journalism, ''
The Boys on the Bus
''The Boys on the Bus'' (1973) is author Timothy Crouse's seminal non-fiction book detailing life on the road for reporters covering the 1972 United States presidential election.
The book was one of the first treatises on pack journalism ever t ...
'', and eventually came to be seen as a "journalistic institution," according to media critic
Howard Kurtz
Howard Alan Kurtz (; born August 1, 1953) is an American journalist and author best known for his coverage of the media.
Kurtz is the host of Fox News's ''Media Buzz'' program, the successor to ''Fox News Watch''. He is the former media writer fo ...
.
As of 2018, Witcover writes three columns a week, distributed by
Tribune Content Agency
Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media Se ...
.
His most recent book is ''The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power.'' Published in 2014,
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
described the work as a “valuable book of American history.” Other work includes ''Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Nixon & Agnew'', Public Affairs (2007), and ''Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption''. In March 2008, his history of
campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform may refer to:
* Reform of campaign finance
Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referen ...
, "The Longest Campaign," appeared on the
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to c ...
's ''The Buying of the President 2008'' website. ''Joe Biden: A Life Of Trial And Redemptions'' 2020 update includes 4 additional chapters, picking up where the original version left off and covers Biden's successful presidential campaign.
Witcover married author and
H.L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
scholar
Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Marion Elizabeth Rodgers is a scholar, author, and editor recognized as the foremost authority on H. L. Mencken.
Mencken scholarship
Rodgers became interested in Mencken while researching Sara Haardt, who had attended Goucher College from whence ...
on June 21, 1997. He is a graduate of
Columbia College (1949) and
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
(1951).
Books written with Germond
*''Blue Smoke & Mirrors: How Reagan Won and Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980'', Viking Press (1981)
*''Wake Us When It's Over: Presidential Politics of 1984'', Macmillan (1985)
*''Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency 1988'', Warner Books (1989)
*''Mad As Hell: Revolt at the Ballot Box 1992'', Warner Books (1992)
Books written solo
*''The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power'', Smithsonian Books (2014)
*''Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption'', William Morrow & Company (2010, paperback 2019, updated 2020)
*''Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Nixon & Agnew'', Public Affairs (2007)
*''The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat'', Johns Hopkins Press (2005)
*''Party of the People: A History of the Democrats'', Random House (2003)
*''No Way to Pick a President: How Money and Hired Guns Have Debased American Elections'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1999)
*''The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America'', Warner Books (1997)
*''Crapshoot: Rolling the Dice on the Vice Presidency'', Crown Publishers (1992)
*''The Main Chance: A Novel'', Viking Press (1979)
*''Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976'', Viking Press (1977)
*''White Knight: The Rise of Spiro Agnew'', Random House (1972)
*''The Resurrection of Richard Nixon'', Putnam (1970)
*''85 Days: The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy'', Putnam (1969) (A 20th-anniversary edition was printed by Quill in 1988 with a new introduction by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and epilogue by the author)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witcover, Jules
1927 births
Living people
The Washington Post people
The Baltimore Sun people
American male journalists
American columnists
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni