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

In the News

American Exceptionalism and Tocqueville’s America

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, March 16, 2012
In the News

Decision 2012: Above the fray with Michael Barone

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Interviews

Foreign Policy with Condoleezza Rice: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Condoleezza Ricevia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, March 2, 2012

Condoleezza Rice discusses her reaction to Osama bin Laden’s death and rates the foreign-policy performance of the Obama administration...

Interviews

Foreign Policy with Condoleezza Rice: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Condoleezza Ricevia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, March 1, 2012

Condoleezza Rice talks Russia and China...

Interviews

Foreign Policy with Condoleezza Rice: Chapter 3 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Condoleezza Ricevia Uncommon Knowledge
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Condoleezza Rice discusses the Middle East, the Israelis and Palestinians, and the Arab Spring...

Interviews

Foreign Policy with Condoleezza Rice: Chapter 2 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Condoleezza Ricevia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Condoleezza Rice answers critics about the Bush administration’s handling of North Korea and the Iran nuclear program...

Interviews

Foreign Policy with Condoleezza Rice: Chapter 1 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Condoleezza Ricevia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, February 27, 2012

Condoleezza Rice discusses 9/11 and the early stages of the Iraq War...

In the News

Uncommon Knowledge special edition: Newt Gingrich

by Peter M. Robinsonvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, February 17, 2012
Interviews

Obamacare & the Supreme Court with Richard Epstein & John Yoo: Chapter 5 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Richard A. Epsteinvia Uncommon Knowledge
Friday, January 27, 2012

Richard Epstein and John Yoo discuss the rule of law in our time and the future...

Interviews

Obamacare & the Supreme Court with Richard Epstein & John Yoo: Chapter 4 of 5

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Richard A. Epsteinvia Uncommon Knowledge
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Law professors and constitutional scholars Richard Epstein and John Yoo speculate about Supreme Court decisions in 2012 and censorship and the FCC...

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