John Maxwell Hamilton

John Maxwell Hamilton
Born (1947-03-28) March 28, 1947 (age 77)
Aurora, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationJournalist, public servant, and educator
Alma materMarquette University
Boston University
George Washington University
Notable worksManipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda; Entangling Alliances: How The Third World Shapes our Lives
Notable awardsDonald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award in 2023, Freedom Forum's Administrator of the Year Award in 2003, Goldsmith Prize
Website
faculty.lsu.edu/johnhamilton/biography.php

John Maxwell Hamilton (born March 28, 1947) is a journalist, public servant, and educator. He is the Hopkins P. Breazeale Professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University, a Global Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for RealClearPolitics.

Career

Hamilton is the author or coauthor of eight books and editor of many more. Two of his most recent books are Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda[1] and Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting.[2] Each of them won the Goldsmith Prize among other awards. His other books include Edgar Snow: A Biography[3] and the lighthearted Casanova Was A Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books.[4] The French 75[5], the story of a cannon, a cocktail, and propaganda appeared in 2024.

As a journalist, Hamilton reported in the United States and abroad for the Milwaukee Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and ABC radio. He was a longtime commentator for MarketPlace, broadcast nationally by Public Radio International.[6] His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, Foreign Affairs, and The Nation, among other publications.

In government, Hamilton oversaw nuclear non-proliferation issues for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, served in the State Department during the Carter administration as special assistant to the head of the U.S. foreign aid program in Asia, and managed a World Bank program to educate Americans about economic development.[citation needed] He served in Vietnam as a Marine Corps platoon commander and in Okinawa as a reconnaissance company commander.[citation needed]

In his twenty years as an LSU administrator, Hamilton was founding dean of the Manship School and the university's executive vice-chancellor and provost.[7] While he was dean, the Manship School created a doctoral degree devoted to media and public affairs, and launched the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and a related opinion research facility. The number of majors more than doubled as did the size of the faculty and staff; the school's endowment more than sextupled.[citation needed]

In the 1980s, Hamilton established a foreign news project for the Society of Professional Journalists and for the American Society of Newspaper editors. The National Journal said in the 1980s that Hamilton shaped public opinion about the complexity of U.S.-Third World relations probably "more than any other single journalist."[citation needed] For many years, Hamilton was on the board of the Lamar Corporation, the largest outdoor advertising company (by number of outdoor signs) in the United States.

In 2023, Hamilton won the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award for excellence in journalism history, given by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s History Division, and the Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History, the highest honor of the American Journalism History Association.[8] He received the Freedom Forum's Administrator of the Year Award in 2003.[7] He has received funding from the Carnegie and Ford Foundations, among others. In 2002 he was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He has served twice as a Pulitzer Prize jurist. Hamilton is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Overseas Press Club. Hamilton serves on the board of the International Center for Journalists, of which he is treasurer.[9]

Hamilton earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Marquette and Boston University respectively, and a doctorate in American Civilization from George Washington University.[citation needed]

Awards

Publications

  1. The French 75
  2. Main Street America and the Third World[13]
  3. Entangling Alliances: How The Third World Shapes our Lives[14]
  4. Edgar Snow: A Biography[3]
  5. Hold the Press: The Inside Story on Newspapers (with co-author George Krimsky)[15]
  6. Casanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities About the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books[4]
  7. Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of American Newsgathering Abroad[2]
  8. The Washington Post, "Happy 100th birthday, information warfare: How World War I led to modern propaganda and surveillance"
  9. The Washington Post, "In 2016, we're going to campaign like its 1916"
  10. The Conversation, "Why you should care about the 'Third Dimension' of government information"
  11. The Conversation, "The sinking of the Lusitania: how the British won American hearts and minds"
  12. The New York Times, "All the President's Propaganda"
  13. Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda[1]
  14. Public Service or Propaganda? How Americans Evaluate Political Advocacy by Executive Agencies[16]
  15. The Natural History of the News: An Epigenetic Study[17]
  16. Herbert Corey’s Great War: A Memoir of World War I by the American Reporter Who Saw It All[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Hamilton, John (2020). Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda. LSU Press.
  2. ^ a b Hamilton, John (2009). Journalism's Roving Eye: a history of American Foreign Reporting. LSU Press. p. 655. ISBN 9780807134740.
  3. ^ a b Hamilton, John (2003). Edgar Snow: A Biography. LSU Press. p. 384. ISBN 9780807129128.
  4. ^ a b Hamilton, John (2000). Casanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities About the Writing , Selling, and Reading of Books. LSU Press. p. 351. ISBN 9780807125540.
  5. ^ Hamilton, John (2024). "The French 75". LSU Press.
  6. ^ "LSU Manship School of Mass Communication". 2017-01-03. Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  7. ^ a b "LSU Manship School of Mass Communication". Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  8. ^ a b "LSU Manship School's John Hamilton Honored for Media History Excellence by AEJMC". www.lsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  9. ^ "Board of Directors". International Center for Journalists. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  10. ^ "Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda - Goldsmith Awards". 2021-03-23. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  11. ^ Chapman, Llewella (2022-05-02). "Culbert Family Book Prize for Publications on Media History dealing with Propaganda, Mass Persuasion and Public Opinion: Winner 2022". Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  12. ^ "Big news for Journalism's Roving Eye!". LSU Press Blog. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  13. ^ Hamilton, John (1988). Main Street America and the Third World. Seven Locks Press. p. 220. ISBN 9780932020642.
  14. ^ Hamilton, John (1990). Entangling Alliances: how the Third World shapes our lives. Seven Lock Press. p. 204. ISBN 9780932020826.
  15. ^ Hamilton, John (1997). Hold the Press: The Inside Story on Newspapers. LSU Press. p. 216. ISBN 9780807121900.
  16. ^ Hamilton, John (2020). "Public Service or Propaganda? How Americans Evaluate Political Advocacy by Executive Agencies". Social Science Quarterly. 101: 144–160. doi:10.1111/ssqu.12736. S2CID 210592413.
  17. ^ Hamilton, John (2017). "The Natural History of the News: An Epigenetic Study". Journalism. 18 (4). Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism: 391–407. doi:10.1177/1464884915625630. hdl:2429/58229. S2CID 147991067.
  18. ^ Hamilton, John Maxwell; Finn, Peter (2022). Herbert Corey's Great War: A Memoir of World War I by the American Reporter Who Saw It All. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807177952.