Thomas Oliphant is an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

who was the

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

correspondent and a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''.

Life and career

Oliphant was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He graduated from

La Jolla High School La Jolla High School (LJHS) is a public high school in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. Opened in 1922, LJHS is the second-oldest campus in San Diego Unified School District. It is accredited by the Western Association of School ...

in California and in 1967 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

.Tom Oliphant Biography
, Website of the United States Embassy to Poland, accessed February 13, 2010 In 1968, he joined the ''Boston Globe''. During his career with the newspaper, he served as its Washington

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

and reported on ten

Presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

The Boys on the Bus ''The Boys on the Bus'' (1973) is author Timothy Crouse's seminal non-fiction book detailing life on the road for reporters covering the 1972 United States presidential election. The book was one of the first treatises on pack journalism eve ...

, Timothy Crouse's account of the 1972 United States presidential campaign, included Oliphant as one of the prominent journalists among "the boys" covering the campaign. Oliphant was one of three editors who managed ''The Globe'' coverage of

school desegregation In the United States, school integration (also known as desegregation) is the process of ending race-based segregation within American public, and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, work which won a 1975

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

, and he was a finalist in 1980 in the category of Editorial Writing. He also received a writing award from the

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of m ...

. In March 2005, Oliphant suffered a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in an ...

. His account of the experience and his recovery appeared in The Globe on June 5, 2005. At the end of 2005, he was one of 32 ''Globe'' staff members who accepted a

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

buyout package from the

New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media corporation that publishes ''The New York Times'' and its associated publications such as ''The New York Times International Edition'' and other media properties. The New York Times Company's ...

, the owner of ''The Globe''. Oliphant has been a frequent guest on

television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...

programs, including ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...

'' on ABC-TV, ''

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations since October 20, 1975. It airs seven nights a week, and ...

'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, ''

Face The Nation ''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and Sunday morning talk show, morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and Television broadcasting, television network. Created by Frank Stanton (executive), Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Fa ...

'', the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' show, ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' and ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987 to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012 to September 6, 2021. On November 1, 1999, the original incarnation was repla ...

''. His last appearance on

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer ( ; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS News Hour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a debate ...

's program was on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, when he discussed the legacy of

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

. Oliphant was also a regular guest on

The Al Franken Show ''The Al Franken Show'' was the flagship talk show of the former talk radio network, Air America Radio. Hosted by Al Franken, it featured commentary and interviews arguing for liberal positions on the issues of the day, and comically pok ...

, where he appeared as a guest host in August 2006. Oliphant is married to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

reporter

Susan Spencer Susan Spencer is an American television news reporter and correspondent for '' 48 Hours Mystery and CBS Sunday Morning''. Spencer was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She graduated from Michigan State University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in ...

Don Imus controversy

In April 2007, Oliphant became involved in controversy arising from some vulgar remarks that

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

host

Don Imus John Donald Imus Jr. ( ; July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show '' Imus in the Morning'' was aired on various stations and di ...

made regarding

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

players on the

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

team. On April 9, 2007, Oliphant was a guest on the Imus' morning radio show in the midst of the developing controversy. Imus had apologized for his comment before that show, and Oliphant explained his decision to appear on the show to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', saying "He said he screwed up and he was sorry." On that evening's ''NewsHour with Jim Lehrer'', Oliphant was critical of Imus' remarks, calling them "inexcusably horrible", but said, "I don't think he should be fired."Columnists React to Don Imus' Remarks About Rutgers Players
PBS Newshour transcript, April 9, 2007; accessed February 13, 2010 Oliphant, after declaring solidarity with Imus, announced that he would no longer appear on television or radio until Imus was reinstated to both his radio show and the MSNBC simulcast.

Books

* (co-author with Curtis Wilkie) ''The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK's Five-year Campaign'' (May 9, 2017) * (co-author) '' Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game'', (2013)
''Utter Incompetents. Ego and Ideology in the Age of Bush''
(2007)

Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

. * ''Praying for

Gil Hodges Gilbert Raymond Hodges (born Hodge; April 4, 1924 – April 2, 1972) was an American first baseman and manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his 18-year career for the History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Broo ...

: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers'', (2005) * (co-author) ''All by Myself: The Unmaking of a Presidential Campaign'', (1989)

References

External links

* * Articles and columns written by Thomas Oliphant through December 2005 are available for a fee on the
Boston Globe
' website.
The Kerry I Know
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliphant, Thomas Living people The Boston Globe people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard University alumni Place of birth missing (living people)