Chris Matthews hosts Hardball with Chris Matthews, a nightly hour of in-depth political analysis and fiery debate on MSNBC. Matthews also hosts The Chris Matthews Show, a syndicated weekly news program produced by NBC News and distributed by NBC Enterprises. Mr. Matthews is also a frequent commentator on NBC’s Today and has reported for NBC’s Dateline.
A television news anchor with remarkable depth and breadth of experience, Matthews has distinguished himself as a broadcast journalist, newspaper bureau chief, Presidential speechwriter, and best-selling author. Matthews covered the opening of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa and the historic peace referendum in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his digging in the National Archives produced a series of San Francisco Examiner scoops on the Nixon presidential tapes. In March 2004, he received the David Brinkly Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism from Barry University.
Matthews worked for 15 years as a print journalist, 13 of them as Washington Bureau Chief for The San Francisco Examiner (1987 – 2000), and two years as a national columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, which was syndicated to 200 newspapers by the United Media.
Prior to that, Matthews spent 15 years in politics and government, working in the White House for four years under President Jimmy Carter as a Presidential Speechwriter and on the Government Reorganization Project, in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senator Frank Moss (Utah) and Senator Edmund Muskie (Maine), and as the top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. for six years.
Matthews is the author of four best-selling books, including American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions (2002), a New York Times best seller. His first book, Hardball (1988) is required reading in many college-level political science courses. Kennedy & Nixon (1996) was named by The Readers Digest “Today’s Best Non-fiction” and served as the basis of a documentary on the History Channel. Now, Let Me Tell What I Really Think (2001) was another New York Times best seller.
A graduate of Holy Cross College, Mr. Matthews did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Matthews also worked for two years as a trade development advisor with the U.S. Peace Corps in the southern African nation of Swaziland.
Matthews is married to Kathleen Matthews, award-winning news anchor for the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. They have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline.