The Washington Post

Charles Krauthammer, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, began writing a weekly column for The Washington Post in January 1985.

Krauthammer also won the 1984 National Magazine Award for essays

Meg Greenfield, editorial page editor of The Washington Post, calls Krauthammer's column "independent and hard to peg politically. It's a very tough column. There's no 'trendy' in it. You never know what is going to happen next."

A column, notes Krauthammer, is not just political philosophy. "Much of it has to do with common sense. One of my many missions is putting up a first-line defense against the various enthusiasms of the age – everything from the nuclear freeze to identity politics to the 'recovered memory' movement – which tend to roll over the culture at regular intervals."

Krauthammer was born in New York City and raised in Montreal. He was educated at McGill University, majoring in political science and economics, Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. in 1975). He practiced medicine for three years as a resident and then chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In 1978, he quit medical practice, came to Washington to direct planning in psychiatric research for the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to the New Republic. During the presidential campaign of 1980, he served as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined the New Republic as a writer and editor in 1980. He also writes essays for Time and the Weekly Standard. In 1997, the Washingtonian magazine named him among the top 50 most influential journalists in the national press corps.

Krauthammer lives in suburban Washington with his wife Robyn, an artist, and their son.