Alter, Jonathan 1957–

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Alter, Jonathan 1957–

(Jonathan Hammerman Alter)

PERSONAL: Born October 6, 1957, in Chicago, IL; son of James M. and Joanne Alter; married Emily Lazar. Education: Harvard University, A.B. (cum laude), 1979.

ADDRESSES: Home—NJ. Office—Newsweek, 444 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Journalist and writer. Speechwriter at the White House, Washington, DC, 1978; Save the Dunes Council, Washington, DC, lobbyist, 1979–80; Washington Monthly, editor, 1981–82; Newsweek, New York, NY, 1983–, began as associate editor, became editor, then senior editor and columnist. Also contributing correspondent for NBC News, appearing on Today, NBC Nightly News, and news specials; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Ferris Visiting Professor of Press and Politics; consultant to Federal Aviation Administration.

AWARDS, HONORS: Lowell Mellet Award, 1987, for media criticism; Gerald Loeb Award, 1987, for distinguished business reporting; National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 1993, 2002, and 2004; National Headliner Award, 1993, for consistently outstanding feature column; Clarion Award, Women in Communications, 1994, for best magazine opinion column; John Bartlow Martin Award, 2001, for reporting on the death penalty; two National Headliner Awards for special column on one subject, for a series of columns on life after 9/11; New York State Bar Association Media Awards; Mentoring USA Award, for encouraging mentoring.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Charles Peters) Inside the System, Volume V, Prentice-Hall, 1984.

The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author, with Michael Calabrese and Ronald Brow-stein, of Selecting a President, 1980.

SIDELIGHTS: Jonathan Alter is an award-winning journalist and author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. The book focuses on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first one-hundred days as president of the United States. Roosevelt took office in the midst of the Great Depression, and Alter outlines how his presidency altered the face of the U.S. federal government and the public's relationship with it. The author also discusses the general state of the country during the 1930s and provides background on Roosevelt's life. In a review in the New York Times, Ted Widmer wrote: "The result is a most readable book—not quite a biography or a detailed policy study, but a reflection on the way that Roosevelt reinvented the presidency during his first hundred days in office, through bold policy innovations, brilliant speeches and broadcasts and a personal connection with the American people that has not been equaled since." Widmer also commented that the author's "account has a refreshing buoyancy, not unlike its protagonist." New York Law Journal contributor Franklin D. Ormsten referred to The Defining Moment as an "excitingly told story." Jay Freeman, writing in Booklist, commented that Alter's "superbly researched and well-written work serves as a vital reminder of the importance of leadership."