Hugh Hewitt

Early life and education

Hewitt was born on February 22, 1956, in Warren, Ohio. He is the son of Marguerite (née Rohl) and William Robert Hewitt. He describes himself as "a descendant of both Ulster and the Republic through a green-orange marriage of immigrants from County Down and County Clare".

Hewitt attended John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Warren, Ohio. He then graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in government in 1978. After leaving Harvard, he worked for David Eisenhower and then as a ghostwriter for Richard Nixon in California and New York, working on Nixon’s books The Real War and Leaders. At Nixon's urging he attended the University of Michigan Law School, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Hewitt received his J.D. degree in 1983, then moved to Washington, D.C., to clerk for Judges Roger Robb and George MacKinnon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1983–84.

Career

Hewitt worked in many posts in the Ronald Reagan administration, including deputy director and general counsel of the Office of Personnel Management, general counsel for the National Endowment for the Humanities, assistant White House Counsel, and special assistant to the attorney general.

In 1989, Hewitt became the executive director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. In 1990, he sparked controversy by proposing screening of researchers wishing to use the library resources. Hewitt suggested refusing admission to researchers deemed "unfriendly" – specifically Bob Woodward, whom he characterized as "not a responsible journalist." John Taylor, a spokesman for Nixon, overturned Hewitt's decision after two days.{{cite book |title=Watergate in American Memory: How We Remember, Forget, and Reconstruct the Past

Hewitt left the Nixon Library in 1990. He hosted a weekend radio talk show for the Los Angeles radio station KFI, where he broadcast until 1995. In the spring of 1992, he began co-hosting L.A. PBS member station KCET's program Life & Times, and remained with the program until the fall of 2001, when he began broadcasting his own radio show. Hewitt received three Emmys for his work on Life & Times on KCET, and also conceived and hosted the 1996 PBS series Searching for God in America.

He has worked as a weekly columnist for the Daily Standard (the online edition of The Weekly Standard) and World. He has appeared on programs such as The Dennis Miller Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live, The O'Reilly Factor, The Today Show and The Colbert Report.

Hewitt also became a professor of law at Chapman University School of Law.{{cite web |access-date = August 11, 2016}} Hewitt founded the journal Nexus Journal of Law and Policy.

In 2019, Hewitt returned to the Nixon Library as president and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, the nonprofit that co-operates the Nixon Library with the National Archives and Records Administration. He succeeded businessman William H. Baribault. On his first day in the job, Hewitt announced that he would split his time between Orange County and Washington, D.C., and open a Nixon Foundation office in Washington.{{cite web |access-date = February 21, 2022}}

In March 2020, after Joe Biden won the South Carolina presidential primary, Hewitt predicted that Biden's victory would be of little benefit to his campaign and that Bernie Sanders would perform strongly on Super Tuesday; after Biden took the lead on Super Tuesday and eventually won the Democratic nomination, Politico named Hewitt's predictions among "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year".

''The Hugh Hewitt Show'' (radio)

Hewitt's nationally syndicated radio show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, is broadcast from Virginia 3 to 6 pm EST on weekdays. The show appears on more than 75 stations{{cite web | access-date = August 11, 2016

''Hugh Hewitt'' (television)

On June 24, 2017, Hugh Hewitt debuted, a half-hour television show which ran on MSNBC in the Saturdays 8 am EST timeslot, but it "failed to deliver satisfactory ratings for the network." On Saturday, June 30, 2018, Hewitt announced that the show had been cancelled, but that he would continue his commentary on the NBC family of networks.{{cite web | access-date=June 30, 2018

Political views

Hewitt has described George Will and Charles Krauthammer as models for his style of punditry. Politico described Hewitt as an "ardent Reaganite".

Foreign policy

In a 2006 interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Hewitt said that in regards to George W. Bush's decisions while President, the War in Iraq would go down as "one of the wisest he has made." In regard to the Syrian Civil War, Hewitt stated that President Donald Trump was making a "major error" in deciding to draw down the number of U.S. troops in the country, over seven years after the beginning of the conflict. Hewitt has advocated for increasing the defense budget in the United States, stating that "any Republicans who vote against higher defense spending should be fired."

Donald Trump

Hewitt moderated several of the 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, where he clashed with Donald Trump. Hewitt said that Trump did not possess "the temperament to be president". In February 2016, Hewitt wrote that, despite being repeatedly publicly insulted by Trump, he would support him should he become the Republican nominee for president. In June 2016, after Trump's controversial remarks concerning Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Hewitt publicly called on the RNC to disendorse Trump as nominee. A week later, Hewitt reversed his position in a Washington Post op-ed. Internal emails showed that a Salem Media executive pressured Hewitt to support Trump, and that the Salem Media executive attributed Hewitt's support for Trump in the aforementioned Washington Post op-ed shortly after to the pressure. Hewitt denied being pressured to change his position on Trump.

On August 3, he publicly floated the idea of replacing Donald with Ivanka Trump on the ticket. On October 8, he called on Trump to drop out of the race after the Access Hollywood tape emerged. Hewitt has said he ultimately voted for Trump.

Hewitt supported Trump's decision to re-shuffle his foreign policy staff in March–April 2018, and place John Bolton and Mike Pompeo in key national security positions. He described John Bolton as "peace-through-strength, [600-ship navy], Reagan conservative" (as compared to Trump's approach, which Hewitt likened to the Great White Fleet). According to Politico, Hewitt emerged "perhaps the most public advocate for Trump's hawkish new national security team at a time when others, even inside his own party, have voiced increasing fears that Trump is surrounding himself with war-minded hawks who may play to the president's worst instincts."

Amid the Trump–Ukraine scandal, which led to the first impeachment of Donald Trump, Hewitt floated a conspiracy theory that the whistleblower complaint that set off the scandal was by a whistleblower who was trying to divert attention from his own involvement in a "Clintons-Obama-Biden collusion debacle". He penned an op-ed about the impeachment inquiry titled, "Impeachment-minded Democrats, welcome to Al Capone's vault. Look familiar?" He said that the FBI had tried a "coup" against Trump and that Democrats were trying "another coup". He described the July 25 phone call in which Trump requested that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigate Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, as a "nothingburger".

In October 2019, Hewitt defended Trump's decision to remove a small contingent of U.S. military forces from Northern Syria where they served as a buffer between Turkey and Syrian Kurds, leaving Kurds vulnerable to attack by Turkish forces.

On his podcast on October 24, 2024, Hewitt, in a phone call with Trump, stated that he had voted for Trump for president in 2024.

Immigration

In a June 2018 interview with then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Hewitt repeatedly pressed Sessions about the morality of the Trump administration's decision to separate undocumented immigrant children from their parents. Hewitt said, "I don't think children should be separated from biological parents at any age, but especially if they're infants and toddlers. I think it's traumatic and terribly difficult on the child."

Personal life

Hewitt has written several books concerning the Christian faith. He has several times accused the Democratic Party of being anti-religion. He attends church regularly. He is married to Betsy Hewitt, whom he married in 1982. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

Books

• • The Queen: The Epic Ambition of Hillary and the Coming of a Second "Clinton Era"* (2015, )
• The Happiest Life: Seven Gifts, Seven Givers, and the Secret to Genuine Success (2013, )
• The Brief Against Obama: The Rise, Fall & Epic Fail of the Hope & Change Presidency (2012, )
• The War Against the West: Crucial Conversations with the Most Informed Experts About Our Enemies, Our Defenses, Our Strategy and Our Leaders in the Long War Against Islamist Extremism (2008, )
• A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney (2007, )
• A Guide to Christian Ambition: Using Career, Politics, and Culture to Influence the World (2006, )
• Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority (2006, )
• Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World (2005, )
• If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It (2004, )
• In, But Not Of: A Guide to Christian Ambition (2003, )
• The Embarrassed Believer (1998, )
• Searching for God in America: The Companion Volume to the Acclaimed TV Series (1996, )
• First Principles: A Primer of Ideas for the College-Bound Student (1987, )

References

References

1. (7 January 2014). "The Happiest Life: Seven Gifts, Seven Givers, and the Secret to Genuine Success". Thomas Nelson.
2. "Atty. Hewitt Obituary – Ohio – Tributes.com". tributes.com.
3. "Hugh Z Hewitt". ancestry.com.
4. Hewitt, Hugh. "Opinion | The free world needs Boris Johnson". The Washington Post.
5. [http://www.warrenjfk.com/?page=alumgolden Golden Eagle Alumni Award] John F. Kennedy Catholic School
6. The Richard Nixon Foundation. (2019-03-25). "Hugh Hewitt Named Nixon Foundation President".
7. [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/nomination-hugh-hewitt-be-deputy-director-the-office-personnel-management Nomination of Hugh Hewitt To Be Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management], The American Presidency Project. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
8. (2019-03-27). "Conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt to become president of the Richard Nixon Foundation".
9. (January 28, 2016). "Hugh Hewitt Doesn't Care for Billionaires". The New York Times.
10. Purdum, Todd S.. (September 15, 2015). "Donald Trump's Grand Inquisitor". Politico.
11. Trinidad, Elson. (2014-09-02). "January 1992 - KCET's Signature News Program 'Life & Times' Debuts".
12. Hindman, Matthew. (2009). "The Myth of Digital Democracy".
13. (1996-07-05). "'Life' Host Goes on Search for 'God in America'".
14. "Summary: Blog: Review and Analysis of Hugh Hewitt´s Book". BusinessNews Publishing.
15. (2015-01-07). "April 2006".
16. "Faculty Profile".
17. (2004). "The California Republic: Institutions, Statesmanship, and Policies".
18. Stanton, Zack. (December 29, 2020). "The Worst Predictions of 2020". [[Politico]].
19. [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-hewitt-larry-elder-salem-879432 Hugh Hewitt, Larry Elder in Salem Radio Network Shake-Up] Hollywood Reporter. March 30, 2016.
20. Battaglio, Stephen. (June 22, 2017). "Conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt gets a show in MSNBC's weekend expansion". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. Kilkenny, Katie. (2018-06-30). "MSNBC Cancels Conservative Host Hugh Hewitt’s Show".
22. (November 2024). "Hugh Hewitt quits the Washington Post after storming off newspaper's live show | CNN Business".
23. "Hugh Hewitt is wanted man as go-to GOP pundit". USA TODAY.
24. (2006-03-21). "Anderson Cooper 360 degrees - CNN.com - Transcripts".
25. "Hugh Hewitt - In withdrawing from Syria, Trump makes a major error".
26. (March 22, 2015). "Any Republicans who vote against higher defense spending should be fired".
27. (December 15, 2015). "Blitzer, Hewitt contain GOP's barroom brawl". Politico.
28. "Everything you need to know about CNN's GOP debate". CNN.
29. "Some Rare Praise for Trump's National Security Purge". Politico.
30. Hewitt, Hugh. (February 28, 2016). "Six reasons Trump is still better than Clinton". Washington Examiner.
31. (June 16, 2016). "Hugh Hewitt Decides To Back Donald Trump After All". The Huffington Post.
32. Darcy, Hadas Gold and Oliver. "Salem executives pressured radio hosts to cover Trump more positively, emails show". CNNMoney.
33. (August 4, 2016). "Trump supporter Hugh Hewitt floats replacing Donald with Ivanka to win over #NeverTrumpers". The Week.
34. (October 8, 2016). "Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt calls on Trump to quit". Politico.
35. (November 9, 2016). "Dear President-Elect Trump... The Hugh Hewitt Show". The Hugh Hewitt Show.
36. Friedman, Uri. "Trumpism: Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Stick". The Atlantic.
37. Levitz, Eric. (2019-09-26). "GOP Divided Over How Enthusiastically to Cover for Trump's Corruption on Ukraine".
38. Spinelli, Dan. "Trump and his right-wing allies are losing their minds over the whistleblower complaint".
39. Kleefeld, Eric. (October 4, 2019). "Hugh Hewitt descends further into pro-Trump fever swamps as mainstream media continue to legitimize him".
40. Hewitt, Hugh. (September 26, 2019). "Impeachment-minded Democrats, welcome to Al Capone's vault. Look familiar?". The Washington Post.
41. Román, Gabriel San. (2019-10-09). "OC's Own Hugh Hewitt Cheers Trump's Abandonment of Kurdish Forces".
42. Hugh Hewitt. (2024-10-24). "Former (and Future) President Trump on Chairman Xi, VP Harris, and the Closing Days of Campaign 2024".
43. Rosenberg, Eli. (2018-06-05). "Sessions defends separating immigrant parents and children: 'We've got to get this message out'". The Washington Post.
44. (July 2014). "Why Church is Essential to a Happy Life: An Interview with Hugh Hewitt".