Chris Matthews Biography Quotes 32 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Christopher John Matthews was born on December 17, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Raised in a large Irish Catholic family and steeped in the civic life of his hometown, he developed an early fascination with government and public service. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1967, a formative period during which he honed the blend of political curiosity and historical perspective that would define his later work. Soon after college he joined the Peace Corps, serving in Swaziland (now Eswatini) from 1968 to 1970. The experience sharpened both his interest in global affairs and his appreciation for practical problem-solving in public life.

First Steps in Public Service and Politics
Returning to the United States in the early 1970s, Matthews took a brief post with the United States Capitol Police, a close-at-hand look at the institution he had admired from a distance. He then moved into congressional staff work, learning legislative procedure and political strategy from the inside. Those years exposed him to the crosscurrents of national politics and to figures whose instincts and tactics he would later dissect on air and in print.

His transition to national-level politics led him to the White House, where he worked during the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Speechwriting and communications placed him near the center of power, teaching him the discipline of message-making and the real constraints that shape governing. The Carter years, including their successes and crises, provided him with a lasting sense of the difference between campaigning and governing.

Top Aide to Tip ONeill
In the 1980s Matthews became a top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. Tip ONeill. Working for ONeill during the Reagan era put him at the very fulcrum of Washington rivalry and negotiation. ONeill, steeped in the traditions of the House, relied on Matthews and other close advisers for strategy, messaging, and the steady navigation of divided government in a time of ideological contrast with President Ronald Reagan. The relationship with ONeill profoundly shaped Matthews view of politics as a human, face-to-face craft in which trust, leverage, and memory matter as much as ideology.

Journalism and Writing
After his years in government, Matthews moved into journalism with unusual authority about how Washington actually works. He served as Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner and later wrote columns for the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting across multiple administrations and building a reputation for translating insider dynamics for a broad audience. His reporting drew on relationships forged on Capitol Hill and in the White House, and it brought him into regular contact with figures such as George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Newt Gingrich, among many others.

He became equally known for his books, which sought to explain both the rules and the personalities of American politics. Hardball: How Politics Is Played told by One Who Knows laid out the maxims of power he had observed and practiced. Kennedy & Nixon explored a defining rivalry. Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think and American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions distilled his commentary on the national character and its leaders. Later works, including Life's a Campaign, Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked, and Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit, reflected his enduring interest in the Kennedy legacy and in eras when political combat still allowed for deal-making and respect across the aisle.

Television and Hardball
Matthews achieved his widest influence on television. Hardball with Chris Matthews, which ran on MSNBC for more than two decades beginning in 1997, became a nightly forum for political argument and analysis. His style was rapid, competitive, and insistent; he pressed guests to declare their premises and to defend them. He interviewed presidents and would-be presidents, questioned strategists and reporters, and often convened partisans from both sides of the aisle. In 2002 he launched The Chris Matthews Show, a nationally syndicated Sunday roundtable produced by NBC News that continued through 2013, drawing regular panelists from top newspapers and networks.

Among the most memorable cultural moments of his on-air life came during the 2008 campaign, when, reacting to a speech by Barack Obama, Matthews spoke of feeling a thrill up my leg, a phrase that became a shorthand for the fervor of that political moment and a frequent point of critique from opponents. He engaged repeatedly with figures such as Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Joe Biden, and Mitt Romney, and his rolodex included journalists like Andrea Mitchell and the late Tim Russert, with whom he shared a commitment to the rituals of political television.

Controversies and Departure from Television
The same aggressive style that made Matthews a force on television also brought controversy. Critics argued that he interrupted guests too frequently or framed issues in overly combative terms. Over the years he apologized for remarks that were received as dismissive or sexist, including comments about women in politics. In early 2020 he faced renewed criticism following on-air comments comparing Bernie Sanders's Nevada caucus victory to the fall of France in 1940, a comparison for which he apologized. Soon afterward, amid broader concerns about past behavior raised publicly by female guests and colleagues, he announced his retirement from Hardball on air in March 2020. The departure closed a chapter in which he had been one of cable news most recognizable political interlocutors.

Personal Life
Matthews married Kathleen Matthews, a prominent Washington broadcaster who later joined Marriott International as a communications executive and became active in Maryland Democratic politics, including service as chair of the Maryland Democratic Party and a run for Congress. Their marriage placed him in a household attuned to both journalism and public life, and they raised three children together. Family and work overlapped in a city where politics is both profession and culture, and his home life grounded a career spent in the glare of national debate.

Legacy and Influence
Chris Matthews brought to journalism the perspective of a participant who had worked the levers of power and then stepped back to explain them. His years with Tip ONeill and his time near President Jimmy Carter gave him a sense of the human stakes of politics; his biographies of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and his study of Richard Nixon's rivalry with the Kennedys, showed his fascination with the personalities that shape history. On television he made argument itself a form of public service, insisting that politicians and analysts say what they mean and accept the consequences of their logic. Even as tastes in political media shifted and his style drew controversy, the core contribution of his career remains clear: he helped generations of viewers understand politics as a practiced craft, a negotiation among ambitious people, and a continuing test of Americas capacity for self-government.

Our collection contains 32 quotes who is written by Chris, under the main topics: Justice - Leadership - Meaning of Life - Freedom - Faith.

Other people realated to Chris: Ann Coulter (Journalist), Howard Fineman (Journalist), Thomas P. O'Neill (Politician), Darrell Hammond (Comedian), Zell Miller (Politician), David Shuster (Journalist)