Peter M. Robinson

Research Fellow
Biography: 

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's video series program, Uncommon Knowledge™.

Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life (Regan Books, 2003); It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP, (Warner Books, 2000); and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA (Warner Books, 1994; still available in paperback).

In 1979, he graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he majored in English. He went on to study politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University, from which he graduated in 1982.

Robinson spent six years in the White House, serving from 1982 to 1983 as chief speechwriter to Vice President George Bush and from 1983 to 1988 as special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan. He wrote the historic Berlin Wall address in which President Reagan called on General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

After the White House, Robinson attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. (The journal he kept formed the basis for Snapshots from Hell.) He graduated with an MBA in 1990.

Robinson then spent a year in New York City with Fox Television, reporting to the owner of the company, Rupert Murdoch. He spent a second year in Washington, D.C., with the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he served as the director of the Office of Public Affairs, Policy Evaluation, and Research. Robinson joined the Hoover Institution in 1993.

The author of numerous essays and interviews, Robinson has published in the New York Times, Red Herring, and Forbes ASAP, the Wall Street Journal, and National Review Online. He is the editor of Can Congress Be Fixed?: Five Essays on Congressional Reform (Hoover Institution Press, 1995).

In 2005, Robinson was elected to serve as a Trustee of Dartmouth College.

Robinson lives in northern California with his wife, their children and their dog, Crusoe.

His research papers are available at the Hoover Institution Archives.

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Recent Commentary

Interviews

Political Culture with Thomas Sowell: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Thomas Sowell talks about the embarrassment society feels when talking about love, but not sex...

In the News

Political Culture with Thomas Sowell: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
In the News

Political Culture with Thomas Sowell: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Thomas Sowellvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, October 31, 2011
In the News

Larry Arnn and Our Founding Documents: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, October 21, 2011
In the News

Larry Arnn on the Declaration and Constitution: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, October 20, 2011
In the News

Larry Arnn on the Declaration and Constitution: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
In the News

Larry Arnn on the Declaration and Constitution: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
In the News

Larry Arnn on the Declaration and Constitution: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, October 17, 2011
Analysis and Commentary

The GOP's Immigration Fixation

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Wall Street Journal
Friday, October 14, 2011

Net illegal immigration has fallen to near zero. So why does the issue feature prominently in the presidential race...?

The GOP’s Immigration Fixation

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Advancing a Free Society
Friday, October 14, 2011

The fight for the Republican presidential nomination has produced a spectacle that seems truly odd.

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