George Will

George Frederick Will, 73, is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Have I piqued your interest yet? Well, there is more. He has been called ‘perhaps the most powerful journalist in America’ by the Wall Street Journal.. You get the picture, don’t you? George Will, in many ways, is both heads of a coin at the same time – there is the unflinching respectability that comes with being America’s most revered conservative journalist, then there is the inevitable criticism that is doled out at him, and finally, there is that disastrous first marriage. To put it all in one sentence, this man can single-handedly make sure that the gossip columnists of the country are fed and clothed for quite some time.

Education

George Fredrick went to the University laboratory high school before joining Trinity University for his Bachelor of Arts degree. He later went to the University of Oxford where he studied philosophy and politics before joining Princeton University for his masters and Ph.D. His education provided him with an important background to leverage on in his career as a journalist.

Career

George Frederick Will has one of the most illustrious careers in the history of U.S. as a journalist. He has worked for several media stations and his articles are some of the widely read in America. George worked as a member of the staff in the office of Senator Gordon. Owing to his resourceful background in philosophy and politics, he was employed in Madison College of Michigan to teach political philosophy. He later moved to the University of Toronto to teach the same. 

His journalism career began when he scripted as a writer for the Washington Post. He later becomes a columnist where he wrote two articles on weekly basis for this paper in 1974. He then moved to the Newsweek in 1976 where he was hired as an editor. Making a two columns weekly write-up, he managed the contributions till 2011. After two years working for the Newsweek, he joined the National Review, where he worked as an editor.

While still contributing as a columnist for different papers, he also worked in television. George aired the Argonsky and Company as the commentator. During the same period, he simultaneously worked for NBC where he hosted the program meet the Press. Other than NBC, he worked for ABC as a news analyst. He continued working for the ABC News Channel until today, analyzing news and hosting This Week show.

His columns are influential in America attracting a very wide readership from the start of his writing. He has written different columns for more than 450 media stations, making him one of the most respected journalists in America. His articles are unique owing to the style of writing and his allusion to the baseball game

Controversies in his career

During his time as a columnist and television commentator, he has made a number of comments that have elicited controversy.  For instance, his comments regarding the global sea warming infuriated the environmentalist. By his scoffing of a report by a climate research center that the situation on global sea warming was getting worse, he opened a wave of condemnation. He also drew controversy with the medical fraternity after claiming that the Ebola virus could be spread through sneezing, in one of is columnist articles. This was at the height of epidemic's outbreak in West Africa. In 1980’s he was accused of supporting Governor Reagan during a presidential debate, a move which did not auger well with Jimmy Carter.

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Awards

In his life as a journalist, he has scooped several awards for his epic performance. He received the coveted “Pulitzer Prize” for his outstanding ability to contribute articles on different issues in 1977. He also won the “The National Headliners’ Award” in 1978 for being an exceptional columnist. Moreover, he won the “Silurian award” in 1980 and again in 1991 for his epic editorial abilities.

Personal Life

Will was married to his ex-wife, Madeleine, for 22 years, and he has three children – Jonathan, Geoffrey and Victoria – from that union. The two met when Madeleine was 16 and working in her parents’ cafeteria near Trinity College, where George was a 20- year-old scholarship student. He was captivated by her ‘unusual self-possession’ – as put by Will himself – and they started dating soon after. It took a while, however, for Madeleine to go from girlfriend to wife, as a result of George’s academic pursuits that spanned two continents. But finally, in 1967, the couple were married, followed by a makeshift honeymoon during which they drove from West Hartford to Michigan State, where he had a teaching job. The Wills have come a long way from there – as a result of a series of twists and turns of fate, which involved George being recruited by a Republican Senator in 1970 and later, trying his hand at writing – to being two of the most recognizable faces in Washington.

For quite some time, the Wills were one of the power couples of Washington – he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and President Reagan’s buddy, while she handled various high-profile jobs in the government! Although they had enough reasons to be mired in sorrow as far as their personal life was concerned – the couple’s eldest son, Jonathan, was born with Down’s syndrome – they were, for the most part, happy with their marriage, and for a long time, they had nothing but praises for each other – after all, 22 years of togetherness should amount to something, shouldn’t it?

But then, by 1989, the marriage fell apart. His first marriage that ended in a divorce that was pretty much a train-wreck.  There have been speculations regarding the reason for the split, the most prominent one being his alleged affair with Lally Weymouth, daughter of Washington Post’s owner Katherine Graham. Although both of them denied that their relationship was romantic, Will left his wife and children and bought a million dollar house a few blocks away from the one he had left, and was treated to the unforgettable vision of his office furniture dumped on his front lawn along with a note that said, “Take it somewhere else, Buster”, from his soon-to-be-divorced wife.

Eventually, the scandal died down, although a lot of dirt was thrown at Will. Since then, Will has found love again with Mari Maseng, who is a Republican adviser. The couple married in 1991 and has a son together. They live in Washington, D.C.

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