Margaret Hoover

Early life

Margaret Hoover was born in Colorado, the daughter of Jean (née Williams), a flight attendant, and Andrew Hoover, a mining engineer. She is the great-granddaughter of U.S. President Herbert Hoover (1929–1933).

Hoover received primary education at Graland Country Day School, an independent co-educational day school in Denver. She earned a B.A. in Spanish literature with a minor in political science from Bryn Mawr College in 2001. She also attended Davidson College for two years, but did not earn a degree there. Along the way, Hoover studied Spanish-language literature and Mandarin Chinese. She also studied abroad in Bolivia, Mexico and China.

After graduating from college, Hoover moved to Taipei where she was hired as a research assistant and editor at a Taiwanese law firm. She arrived on the day of the September 11 attacks. Quickly realizing she wanted to be back in the U.S., she returned home in 2002.

Career

Public service

Hoover worked for the George W. Bush administration as associate director of Intergovernmental Affairs. She worked on Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and was Deputy Finance Director for Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid in 2006–07. She also worked as a staffer on Capitol Hill for Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, and as Advisor to the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. Hoover is on the board of overseers at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and on the boards of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association and the Belgian American Educational Foundation. She served on the advisory council of The American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud.{{cite web | url =http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/09/avlon.cpac.gay.rights/index.html | title =Gay group in conservatives' gathering splits GOP | last =Avlon | first =John | date =February 10, 2011 | website =cnn.com | publisher =CNN | access-date =November 16, 2018 | quote =Avlon's wife, Margaret Hoover, serves on the board of GOProud

Political beliefs

Hoover is a Republican, with libertarian beliefs on social issues. Hoover is an advocate for gay rights, including gay marriage, arguing that individual freedom and marriage are conservative values. She has been profiled in The Advocate as "exactly the brand of straight ally we need right now". In 2013, Hoover was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage in Hollingsworth v. Perry.

Hoover is opposed to Donald Trump. Before the 2020 election, she said, "I can't bring myself to vote for Donald Trump", adding that she would "quite likely" vote for Joe Biden instead, as she found the vote a "binary choice".

Political commentator

From 2008 to 2012, Hoover was a Fox News contributor, appearing on Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor. In the branded segment "Culture Warrior", she jousted with O'Reilly on a range of topics from entertainment news to popular culture to Hollywood and politics. In 2012, she became a political contributor at CNN. In 2014, she hosted the Toyota Solutions Studio at the Women In The World conference held at Lincoln Center, where she interviewed several participants. In April 2018, it was announced she would host Firing Line.

''Firing Line with Margaret Hoover'' (PBS TV Series)

Hoover hosts Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, a relaunch of National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr.'s public-affairs television show, Firing Line, although she shares few of Buckley's views on political philosophy or policy positions. The original show aired on PBS for 33 years, the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host. Hoover's show premiered on June 2, 2018, on WNET, which serves the New York metropolitan area, and is the largest PBS market in the country. The New York Times wrote, "Under Ms. Hoover's direction, the discourse is civil and substantive". According to the National Review, "the reincarnation of Firing Line comes at an interesting time, and a needful one". In the run-up to the show's premiere Politico said, "It seems like a great idea, so let's test drive it and see what happens". In May 2019, The Algemeiner named Hoover its Journalist of the Year for her work on Firing Line.

Personal life

Hoover is married to former CNN contributor John Avlon, a former Rudy Giuliani speechwriter, senior columnist for Newsweek, and former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast. They have a son, born in 2013, and a daughter, born in 2015.

Selected works

References

References

1. (November 6, 2009). "Weddings: Margaret Hoover, John Avlon". [[The New York Times]].
2. Allen, Anne Beiser. (January 1, 2000). "An Independent Woman: The Life of Lou Henry Hoover". Greenwood Publishing Group.
3. Hoover, Bob. (July 24, 2011). "Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover defends her great-grandfather: President Hoover". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
4. (November 9, 2018). "Grade 7: Celebrity Alumna Returns to Campus". Graland Country Day School.
5. Ginanni, Claudia. (September 15, 2011). "In American Individualism, Margaret Hoover '01 Advises Republican Party on Attracting Young Voters". Bryn Mawr College.
6. (July 26, 2009). "Margaret Hoover–Cherished Legacy". Woman Around Town.
7. (November 2018). "Famous Davidson College Alumni". Ranker.
8. (July 26, 2011). "Margaret Hoover: A New Generation of Conservatives and the Future of the Republican Party".
9. "Margaret Hoover: A New Generation of Conservatives and the Future of the Republican Party".
10. (July 11, 2018). "Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on their Post-Partisan Marriage". [[The New York Times]].
11. (September 19, 2011). "How Abortion, Legitimate Rape, and Mom-in-Chief Will Affect the Election".
12. Smith, Chris. (March 30, 2007). "Giuliani Loses a Second Bushie". New York Magazine.
13. Norfleet, Gregory. (December 23, 2008). "Great-granddaughter of Hoover engaged to Giuliani speechwriter". West Branch Times.
14. "Hoover Institution Board of Overseers". Hover Institution.
15. (November 6, 2009). "Weddings: Margaret Hoover, John Avlon". The New York Times.
16. "Members of the Board of Directors 2016: Officers". Belgian American Educational Foundation.
17. American Foundation for Equal Rights. "Advisory Council Board". American Foundation for Equal Rights.
18. (September 2, 2020). "Conservative commentator Margaret Hoover says she will 'quite likely' vote for Biden".
19. (July 11, 2018). "Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on their Post-Partisan Marriage". The New York Times.
20. Hoover, Margaret. (June 15, 2011). "The conservative case for gay marriage: GOP is not the party of intolerance". New York Daily News.
21. (July 5, 2011). "A New Conservative Agenda". Advocate.
22. Avlon, John. (February 28, 2013). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay Marriage Brief". The Daily Beast.
23. Hoover, Margaret. (March 12, 2015). "CPAC 2012 moves away from gay conservatives and closer to the politics of hate".
24. Werpin, Alex. (May 9, 2012). "Margaret Hoover Joins CNN as Political Contributor". Adweek Network TV Newser.
25. Bennett, Jessica. (May 16, 2014). "Feminism, One Conference at a Time".
26. Pedersen, Erik. (April 26, 2018). "'Firing Line': PBS Reloads Public-Affairs Show With Host Margaret Hoover". Deadline Hollywood.
27. "Register of the ''Firing Line'' (Television Program) broadcast records". Online Archives of California.
28. Simon, Scott. (June 8, 2018). "William F. Buckley's ''Firing Line'' Returns with Margaret Hoover". National Public Radio.
29. "''Firing Line'' with Margaret Hoover". TV Guide.
30. "WNET Sponsorship". WNET.
31. (February 24, 2004). "WGBH Boston and Thirteen/WNET New York, Two of America's Largest Public Broadcasters, Join Forces to Launch World and Create - Two New Digital Channels Serving Viewers Across the Northeast". Business Wire.
32. Green, Penelope. (July 11, 2018). "Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on their Post-Partisan Marriage".
33. Williamson, Kevin. (June 3, 2018). "A Hoover Restoration". National Review.
34. Hendershot, Heather. (June 1, 2018). "Is America Ready for Kinder, Gentler Political TV?". Politico.
35. Staff, Algemeiner. (May 16, 2019). "Journalists Margaret Hoover, Jackson Diehl Honored at Algemeiner Summer Benefit". The Algemeiner.
36. Norfleet, Gregory. (August 23, 2013). "Jack joins Hoover lineage". West Branch Times.
37. (December 10, 2015). "Hoovers welcome Toula Lou". West Branch Times.