Jon Meacham
Named “one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business” by The New York Times, Jon Meacham is Editor of Newsweek and the bestselling author of Franklin and Winston and American Gospel.
Meacham is responsible for all day-to-day editorial operations of Newsweek and Newsweek.com. He has written cover stories on the controversy over Mel Gibson’s The Passion, guns in America, the sexual abuse scandals of the Roman Catholic Church and modern depictions of World War II in Hollywood movies. His cover story on Ronald Reagan, “American Dreamer,” was a sweeping and intimate tribute to one of the most popular yet controversial presidents.
Meacham’s Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, brought him national acclaim. TIME magazine declared it “masterful” and The Washington Post proclaimed it “a memorable achievement.” Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two great leaders who piloted the free world to victory in World War II. “The powerful emotional connection between Roosevelt and Churchill and how they confronted tyranny and terror is an incredibly contemporary story that yields important lessons for leaders today on a personal, political and diplomatic level,” says Meacham. “I don’t think you can understand the art of leadership or the way we live now without grasping the nature of the Roosevelt-Churchill friendship."
His latest book, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation, is also a New York Times bestseller. “In these polarized times,” wrote USA Today, “Meacham’s book provides an enlightening look at how the founding fathers discovered ways to tame but not extinguish the fires of faith.” Meacham is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 2004 he was named one of the most powerful men under 38 by Details magazine. A contributing editor for The Washington Monthly, he also has written for The New York Times Book Review and The Los Angeles Times Book Review. In 2001, he edited Voices in Our Blood: America’s Best on the Civil Rights Movement.
Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he was imbued at a young age with a deep appreciation for history and current affairs. After graduating summa cum laude from The University of the South, he worked as a reporter for The Chattanooga Times. He soon became an editor of The Washington Monthly and two years later a National Affairs writer for Newsweek. In 1998, at the age of 29, he became Managing Editor, supervising the magazine’s coverage of politics, international affairs and breaking news.
An eloquent speaker and a skilled raconteur, Meacham understands important issues and events in all of their complexity and how they impact our lives. He is a favorite guest on Imus in the Morning and has appeared on such programs as The Charlie Rose Show, The Today Show, The O’Reilly Factor and The Colbert Report.
