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Maureen Brigid Dowd (; born January 14, 1952) is an American columnist for '' The New York Times'' and an author. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Dowd worked for ''
The 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 Sta ...
'' and '' Time'', writing news, sports and feature articles. Dowd joined ''The New York Times'' in 1983 as a Metropolitan Reporter, and became an op-ed writer in 1995. In 1999, Dowd received a Pulitzer Prize for her series of columns on the
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was a sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Their sexual relationship lasted between 1995 and 1997. Clinton ended a televised speech in ...
.


Early life and career

Dowd was born the youngest of five children in Washington, D.C. Her mother, Margaret "Peggy" (), was a housewife, and her father, Mike Dowd, worked as a Washington, D.C. police inspector. In 1969, Dowd graduated from Immaculata High School. In 1973, she received a
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in English from the
Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S ...
. Dowd entered journalism in 1974 as a dictationist for the ''Washington Star'', where she later became a sports columnist, metropolitan reporter, and feature writer. When the ''Star'' closed in 1981, Dowd worked for '' Time''. In 1983, Dowd joined '' The New York Times'', initially as a metropolitan reporter. Dowd began serving as correspondent in the ''Times'' Washington bureau in 1986. In 1991, Dowd received a Breakthrough Award from Columbia University. In 1992, she became a Pulitzer Prize finalist for national reporting, and in 1994 she won a Matrix Award from New York
Association for Women in Communications The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) is an American professional organization for women in the communications industry. History Theta Sigma Phi The Association for Women in Communications began in 1909 as Theta Sigma Phi (), an ho ...
.


''New York Times'' columnist

Dowd became a columnist on ''The New York Times'' op-ed page in 1995, replacing
Anna Quindlen Anna Marie Quindlen (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist. Her '' New York Times'' column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a r ...
. Dowd was named a Woman of the Year by '' Glamour'' magazine in 1996, and won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize, for distinguished commentary. She won The Damon Runyon Award for outstanding contributions to journalism in 2000, and became the first Mary Alice Davis Lectureship speaker (sponsored by the School of Journalism and the Center for American History) at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. In 2010, Dowd was ranked No. 43 on '' The Daily Telegraph''s list of the 100 most influential liberals in America; in 2007, she was ranked No. 37 on the same list. Dowd's columns have been described as letters to her mother, whom friends credit as "the source, the fountain of Maureen's humor and her Irish sensibilities and her intellectual take." Dowd herself has said, "She is in my head in the sense that I want to inform and amuse the reader." Dowd's columns are distinguished by an acerbic, often
polemical Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
writing style. Her columns display a critical and irreverent attitude towards powerful, mostly political, figures such as former Presidents
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and Bill Clinton. Dowd also tends to refer to her subjects by nicknames. For example, she has often referred to Bush as "W." and former Vice President
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...
as "Big Time". She has called former President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
" Spock" and "Barry.” Dowd's interest in candidates' personalities earned her criticism early in her career: "She focuses too much on the person but not enough on policy." Dowd, who perceives her columns to be an exploration of politics,
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
, and gender-related topics, often uses popular culture to support and metaphorically enhance her political commentary. In a ''Times'' video debate, she said of the
North Korean government In the North Korean government, the Cabinet is the administrative and executive body. The North Korean government consists of three branches: administrative, legislative, and judicial. However, they are not independent of each other, but all br ...
, "you could look at a movie like '' Mean Girls'' and figure out the way these North Koreans are reacting; you know it's like high school girls with nuclear weapons—they just want some attention from us, you know?" Dowd's columns have also been described as often being political cartoons that capture a caricatured view of the current political landscape with precision and exaggeration. For example, in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election Dowd wrote that Democratic candidate "Al Gore is so feminized and diversified and ecologically correct that he's practically lactating," while referring to the
Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...
as the "mommy party.” In a ''Fresh'' ''Dialogues'' interview years later, she said of Gore:
"I was just teasing him a little bit because he was so earnest and he could be a little righteous and self important. That's not always the most effective way to communicate your ideas, even if the ideas themselves are right. I mean, certainly his ideas were right but he himself was—sometimes—a pompous messenger for them."
In January 2014, Dowd said she ate about one-quarter of a cannabis-infused chocolate bar, while touring the legalized recreational cannabis industry. She said she was later told she should have only eaten one-sixteenth, which was not in the instructions on the label. She then described her negative experiences with legal cannabis in a June 3, 2014 ''New York Times'' op-ed. In September 2014, Dowd followed up on this story with another ''New York Times'' op-ed, this time describing a discussion of using consumable cannabis with her "marijuana Miyagi" Willie Nelson. On March 4, 2014, Dowd published a column about the dominance of men in the film industry in which she quoted
Amy Pascal Amy Beth Pascal (born March 25, 1958) is an American film producer and business executive. She served as the Chairperson of the Motion Pictures Group of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Co-Chairperson of SPE, including Sony Pictures Televis ...
, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. According to
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
, "leaked emails from Sony" suggested that Dowd had promised to provide the draft column to Pascal's husband, Bernard Weinraub, prior to the column's publication. BuzzFeed said the column "painted Pascal in such a good light that she engaged in a round of mutual adulation with Dowd over email after its publication." Both Dowd and Weinraub have denied that Weinraub ever received the column. On December 12, 2014, ''Times'' public editor Margaret Sullivan concluded, "While the tone of the email exchanges is undeniably gushy, I don't think Ms. Dowd did anything unethical here." In August 2014, it was announced that Dowd would become a staff writer for '' The New York Times Magazine.'' Her first article under the new arrangement was published more than a year later.


Controversial portrayals of Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

Dowd has been accused of
sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
by
Clark Hoyt Clark Hoyt is an American journalist who was the public editor of ''The New York Times'', serving as the "readers' representative." He was the newspaper's third public editor, or ombudsman, after Daniel Okrent and Byron Calame. His initial two-ye ...
, then-public editor of '' The New York Times''. A 2017 study which examined sexualized shaming of Monica Lewinsky in mainstream news coverage stated that in Dowd's extensive writings about Lewinsky, she repeatedly "mocked and disparaged her." A 2009 study of sexism towards Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the 2008 election observed that Dowd had disparaged Palin as a "Barbie" over her pageantry past. Other commentators have criticized Dowd for having an obsession with Bill and, especially, Hillary Clinton. During the 2008 Democratic primary, Dowd published an article titled "Can Hillary Clinton Cry Herself Back to the White House?", which a 2016 study said " ervesto reinforce the stereotype that tears and visible emotions are feminine traits and signs of weakness". Dowd also published a column where she likened former Senator Clinton to the " Terminator", a ruthless cyborg where "unless every circuit is out, she'll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave"; in 2013 Jessica Ritchie, a research assistant at the University of Leicester, argued that portrayals such as these sought to portray Clinton and her presidential bid as improper and unnatural. According to then-public editor of ''The New York Times'' Clark Hoyt, Dowd's columns about Clinton were "loaded with language painting her as a 50-foot woman with a suffocating embrace, a conniving film noir dame and a victim dependent on her husband". A 2014 analysis by the advocacy group ''
Media Matters Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Res ...
'' of 21 years of Maureen Dowd's columns about Hillary Clinton found that of the 195 columns by Dowd since November 1993 containing significant mentions of Clinton, 72 percent (141 columns) were negative towards Clinton. During the 2016 presidential election, Dowd penned a ''New York Times'' op-ed, titled "Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk." Dowd argued that Donald Trump held dovish foreign policy beliefs, citing his purported opposition to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. However, prior to the publication of the op-ed, it had been reported that Trump did in fact support the invasion, and there were no statements on the record opposing it. Throughout Trump's presidency, critics of his foreign policy referenced the Dowd op-ed, claiming that many of the actions taken by Trump were entirely inconsistent with the narrative put forth by Dowd. During the
2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: ** ...
, Dowd wrote a column about
Geraldine Ferraro Geraldine Anne Ferraro (August 26, 1935 March 26, 2011) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee ...
, which originally—and incorrectly—stated that the last time a man and a woman ran on the Democratic ticket was the Mondale–Ferraro ticket, which led Clinton to joke that "either
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgi ...
and hehad a very vivid shared hallucination four years ago or Maureen had too much pot brownie before writing her column again". The ''New York Times'' later corrected the column to say that 1984 was the last time a male Democratic presidential candidate chose a woman as his running mate.


Personal life

Dowd formerly dated
Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Em ...
, the creator and producer of '' The West Wing''. She has also been briefly connected with actor
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
and is an ex-companion of her fellow ''New York Times'' columnist John Tierney.


Honors

In 2004, Dowd received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...
presented by Awards Council member
Neil Sheehan Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan (October 27, 1936 – January 7, 2021) was an American journalist. As a reporter for ''The New York Times'' in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified '' Pentagon Papers'' from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles rev ...
at the International Achievement Summit in Chicago. In 2012,
NUI Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...
awarded her an honorary doctorate. Pulitzer Prize Awards: 1999 Commentary Piece 1992 National Reporting


Bibliography

* * *


See also

* New Yorkers in journalism


References


External links


Dowd's columns
at ''The New York Times''

''The New York Times'' video, July 17, 2006 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowd, Maureen American columnists American political writers 1952 births Living people American feminist writers Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners The New York Times columnists American women columnists Time (magazine) people Catholic University of America alumni American political commentators Journalists from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers