Elisabeth Bumiller (born May 15, 1956) is an American author and journalist who is the Washington bureau chief for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Early life and education
Bumiller was born in
Aalborg
Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's List of cities in Denmark by population, fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban population of 143,598 (1 July ...
, Denmark, to a Danish mother, Gunhild Bumiller Rose and an American father, Theodore R. Bumiller. Her mother was a nurse and her father an adventure-film photographer and producer. The family moved to
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
, when she was three years old. Bumiller attended
Walnut Hills High School
, streetaddress = 3250 Victory Parkway
, city = Cincinnati
, state = Ohio
, zipcode = 45207
, country = United States
, coordinates =
, type ...
, where she reported for the school newspaper, the ''Walnut Hills Chatterbox''. She graduated in 1974.
Bumiller then attended
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
as an undergraduate in the
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...
, graduating in 1977. She wrote for the ''
Daily Northwestern
''The Daily Northwestern'' is the student newspaper at Northwestern University which is published in print on Mondays and Thursdays and online daily during the academic year. Founded in 1881, and printed in Evanston, Illinois, it is staffed prim ...
''. She received a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
from the
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 ...
in 1979.
Career
Bumiller began her career at the ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami. Her first journalism job in Washington was party reporter for ''
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 n ...
''s "Style" section, where she covered Washington
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...
. In this role, Bumiller followed First Lady
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan.
Reagan was born in Ne ...
to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer.
In 1985, Bumiller moved to India and continued to write for the Style section of the Post. She also wrote her first book, ''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'' ( Ballantine, 1991), described as "examination of daily life for
women in India
The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordinat ...
." In 1989, when her husband
Steven R. Weisman
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
became
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
bureau chief for the ''Times'', the couple moved again to Japan, where Bumiller continued to work for the ''Post'' and also began work on a second book, ''The Secrets of Mariko'' (
Vintage
Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...
, 1996).
In 1992, Bumiller and Weisman moved to New York, where Weisman took up the post as deputy foreign editor for the ''Times''. In 1995, Bumiller joined her husband at the ''Times'', as a general assignment metro reporter.
From fall 1999 until 2001, Bumiller became
New York City Hall
New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...
bureau chief, where she covered the mayoral administration of
Rudolph Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. During this time, Bumiller was a contributor to the "Public Lives" column, which profiled city officials.
In 2001, Bumiller was promoted to White House correspondent for the ''Times'', serving in that role from September 10, 2001 to 2006. Weisman followed her to become the paper's senior diplomatic correspondent for the Times.
Bumiller was criticized by Eric Boehlert and
Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...
for failing to question George W. Bush on the run-up to the Iraq War. Reflecting on a March 6, 2003 presidential press conference before the
invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, Bumiller said: "I think we were very deferential because ... it's live, it's very intense, it's frightening to stand up there. Think about it, you're standing up on prime-time live TV asking the president of the United States a question when the country's about to go to war. There was a very serious, somber tone that evening, and no one wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very serious time." At a panel discussion sponsored by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism in November 2004, Bumiller stated: "You can't just say the president is lying...You can in an editorial, but I'm sorry, you can't in a news column...You can say Mr. Bush's statement was not factually accurate. You can't say the president is lying—that's a judgment call."
Beginning in June 2006, Bumiller took a one-year leave of absence from the ''Times'' to write a biography of
U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Un ...
. During this period, Bumiller was also a Public Policy Scholar at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (or Wilson Center) is a quasi-government entity and think tank which conducts research to inform public policy. Located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Wash ...
(September 2006—February 2007) and a Transatlantic Fellow at the
German Marshall Fund
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union.
Founded in 1972 through a gift from the ...
. Bumiller's book, ''Condoleezza Rice: An American Life'', was published by
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
in December 2007. The book, which was based on ten interviews with Rice as well as interviews from 150 others, portrays Rice catering to Bush's desire to invade Iraq, and it describes her being taken completely by surprise when
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qas ...
won the 2006 Palestinian elections. Jacob Heilbrunn, reviewing the book in ''The New York Times'', wrote that Bumiller "brings a keen eye to Rice, probing not only her tenure as a policy maker and her close ties to George W. Bush, but also her personal and professional past.
In 2008, Bumiller covered the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain for the ''Times''. During the campaign, McCain at times clashed with Bumiller and other ''Times'' writers. From 2008 to early 2013, Bumiller served as Pentagon correspondent; in this role, she traveled with the
Secretary of Defense
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...
and was embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. In May 2009, the ''Times'' published a controversial front-page article by Bumiller citing an unreleased Pentagon report for the proposition that one in seven detainees released from the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Gua ...
"returned to terrorism or militant activity"; this figure was criticized as inflated in a ''Times''
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...
by
Peter Bergen
Peter Bergen (born December 11, 1962) is an American journalist, author, and producer who serves as CNN's national security analyst and as New America's vice president. He produced the first television interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997, w ...
and Katherine Tiedemann, and ''Times''
public editor
A public editor is a position existing at some news publications; the person holding this position is responsible for supervising the implementation of proper journalism ethics at that publication. These responsibilities include identifying and e ...
Clark Hoyt wrote that editors should have taken a more skeptical approach.
Subsequently, Bumiller was named Washington editor. In September 2015, executive editor Dean Baquet of ''The New York Times'' announced that Bumiller would replace Carolyn Ryan as the Washington bureau chief.
Personal life
In fall 1979, Bumiller met
Steven R. Weisman
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
, then the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
correspondent for ''The New York Times'', and the two married in 1983 in an interfaith ceremony at their home in Georgetown. They have two children: a girl born in Japan and their second child, a boy was born after the couple moved to New York in the early 1990s.