Mary Matalin, political strategist, commentator, and author, will present a lecture titled “Politics, the Presidency, and the Press” on Thursday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m., in Balch Auditorium, Scripps College. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture in the Hampton Living Room, Malott Commons. This is the inaugural lecture of the “Elizabeth Hubert Malott Public Affairs Program,” an annual series established in memory of an alumna from class of 1953. This event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call (909) 607-9372.
Mary Matalin formerly served as assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney. She was the first White House official to hold the two titles simultaneously. The GOP strategist appears frequently as a political commentator and co-hosted the critically acclaimed political talk shows Crossfire and Equal Time. Her three-hour afternoon program on CBS Talk Radio Network, The Mary Matalin Show, highlighted current events and featured distinguished guests. Talkers Magazine listed Matalin as one of The 100 Most Important Talk Show Hosts in America in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Matalin recently appeared on HBO’s K-Street, the new weekly series about the world of powerful political consultants.
Matalin has written for various periodicals including Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times. She co-authored the best-selling political campaign book All’s Fair: Love, War and Running for President (1994) with husband, James Carville, chief campaign strategist for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Her most recent book, Letters to My Daughters (2004), appeared on both The New York Times and The Washington Post best-seller lists and was named a Book of the Month Club selection.
Active in politics since college, Matalin began her political career at the grassroots level in local and statewide campaigns in her native Illinois. After attending Hofstra University School of Law, Matalin served the Republican National Committee (RNC) in Washington, D.C., as national voter contact director for the Reagan-Bush campaign. She held senior positions in the George H. W. Bush 1988 campaign and, upon President Bush’s election, was appointed chief of staff for the RNC.
Mary Matalin now runs Threshold, a conservative publishing imprint at Simon & Schuster. Threshold has published several titles including Mary Cheney’s Now It’s My Turn and most recently, Ed Gillespie’s Winning Right: Campaign Politics and Conservative Policies. Matalin and Carville reside in Virginia with their daughters, Matalin “Matty” Carville and Emerson “Emma” Carville.