Peggy Noonan Biography

Peggy Noonan

Working as a waitress, Noonan attended Fairleigh Dickinson University at night, earning a BA in English. Raised a Democrat, Noonan grew disenchanted with the antiwar movement and the student counterculture, gradually becoming a conservative. In 1974 she began writing news at radio station WEEI, then the CBS affiliate in Boston. Noonan later became a producer at CBS TV, in New York, where she wrote and produced Dan Rather's daily radio commentary. In 1984 Noonan became a speechwriter and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. Later she was named chief speechwriter for Vice President George Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign. After Bush's defeat, she returned to New York to write. She is the author of several books, What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era, (1990); Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, (1994); On Speaking Well, (1998); The Case Against Hillary Clinton, (2000); and John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father (2005). In addition, Noonan is a contributing editor for The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and Good Housekeeping.