Eleanor Clift
Eleanor Clift (born July 7, 1940) is an American political journalist and television pundit recognized for her longstanding career in Washington reporting and commentary.[1] She began at Newsweek in the 1960s as a secretary before advancing to reporter roles, including coverage of Jimmy Carter's gubernatorial tenure in Atlanta, and later served as a contributing editor from 1994, focusing on political power dynamics and women's influence in politics.[2][3] Clift has contributed columns to The Daily Beast on policy and partisan conflicts, appeared as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group, and provided analysis for MSNBC, often espousing liberal viewpoints amid mainstream media discourse.[4][5][6] She has covered every U.S. presidential election since 1976, co-authored books on politics with her late husband Tom Brazaitis, such as War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics, and remains active in public speaking on electoral and cultural topics.[6][5][7] While praised for her insider perspectives, Clift's commentary has drawn criticism for partisan leanings, reflecting broader patterns of ideological alignment in legacy journalism outlets.[8]Early Life and Education
Childhood and Family Background
Eleanor Clift was born Eleanor Roeloffs on July 7, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents who were German immigrants from the North Sea island of Föhr, located between Germany and Denmark.[9][10] As the youngest of three children, she had two brothers who were 10 and 16 years her senior, creating a significant age gap that positioned her somewhat as an only child within the family dynamic.[9] Clift's early years unfolded in an urban environment amid the tail end of the Great Depression and the onset of World War II, with her family relocating from Brooklyn to the Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens during her childhood.[10][11] This working-class immigrant household emphasized resilience and adaptation, reflecting the broader socioeconomic challenges faced by many European newcomers in mid-20th-century New York, though specific family values or direct wartime impacts on her upbringing remain sparsely documented in her own accounts.[9] Her lingering New York accent, traceable to these formative locales, underscores the cultural imprint of her roots.[10]Formal Education and Early Influences
Eleanor Clift attended Hofstra University for one year and later Hunter College, both in New York, but departed from each without earning a degree.[12] Her formal academic pursuits were brief and inconclusive, reflecting a pattern common among some mid-20th-century women who prioritized early workforce entry over extended higher education amid limited professional prospects.[13] Lacking a college credential, Clift's intellectual formation drew from practical immersion rather than structured coursework, as she later recounted dropping out and leveraging basic office skills like typing to access media environments.[13] This self-directed path aligned with the 1960s transition for many young women, where formal barriers in male-dominated fields such as journalism often necessitated alternative gateways like administrative roles. Her early exposure to newsroom dynamics through such entry points foreshadowed a career built on on-the-job learning over academic pedigree. The era's ferment—encompassing civil rights activism and nascent second-wave feminism—provided contextual influences, though Clift's public reflections emphasize pragmatic adaptation over ideological awakening; she has described entering journalism with scant prior knowledge, driven by opportunity rather than doctrinal commitment.[13] These elements collectively oriented her toward political reporting, where empirical observation supplanted theoretical training in shaping her analytical approach.Journalistic Career
Initial Roles and Rise at Newsweek
Eleanor Clift joined Newsweek in 1963 as a secretary to the national affairs editor at the age of 22.[13] She initially worked in administrative and research capacities in the New York office before relocating to the Atlanta bureau in 1966.[14] There, Clift transitioned to reporting, covering Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter's administration from 1971 to 1975 and his subsequent bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976.[2][3] Following Carter's victory in the November 1976 presidential election, Clift moved to Washington, D.C., and was appointed Newsweek's White House correspondent in early 1977.[15] In this role, she provided ongoing coverage of presidential campaigns for the magazine, beginning with the 1976 race and continuing through subsequent elections.[11] Clift held the White House position until 1985, when she briefly served as White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.[1] She returned to Newsweek the following year as congressional and political correspondent, a role she maintained for six years while reporting on legislative developments and national politics.[2][15] In June 1992, amid Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, Clift was promoted to deputy Washington bureau chief and contributed to Newsweek's election team, tracking the Democratic nominee from the primaries through his January 1993 inauguration.[3][16] She advanced to contributing editor in September 1994, focusing on Washington power dynamics.[3]Key Assignments and Reporting Milestones
Clift began her significant reporting on national politics in Newsweek's Atlanta bureau, where she covered Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, including his unexpected rise from Georgia governor to Democratic nominee.[17][15] Following Carter's victory, she relocated to Washington, D.C., to report on his administration as Newsweek's White House correspondent, providing on-the-ground accounts of key events such as the 1977 inauguration and early policy initiatives like energy reform efforts.[17][18] Her career featured extensive long-form coverage of every subsequent presidential election, from Ronald Reagan's 1980 reelection bid through Joe Biden's 2020 contest, often embedding with campaigns to document candidate strategies and voter dynamics.[7][19] In particular, she contributed to Newsweek's 1992 election team analysis of Bill Clinton's primary challenges and general election matchup against George H.W. Bush, culminating in reporting on Clinton's January 20, 1993, inauguration amid economic and social policy transitions.[15][16] Clift participated in the magazine's post-election special project teams for the 1984, 2000, 2004, and 2008 cycles, focusing on empirical dissections of electoral data and turnout patterns.[19] Appointed deputy Washington bureau chief in June 1992, Clift oversaw coverage of partisan policy clashes, including budget battles and healthcare reform debates under the Clinton administration, emphasizing factual timelines of legislative negotiations over interpretive commentary.[3][1][16] This role highlighted her emphasis on verifiable beats, such as tracking congressional responses to executive actions, though specific story breaks attributed solely to her reporting remain undocumented in primary journalistic records.[20]Publications and Authorship
Clift co-authored War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics with Tom Brazaitis in 1996, published by Scribner, which examines the strategic interpersonal dynamics and power plays in Washington through profiles of eight influential congressional figures, emphasizing how relationships beyond formal roles shape legislative outcomes. The book highlights tactics akin to political warfare without violence, drawing on Clift's reporting access to illustrate behind-the-scenes negotiations.[5] In 2009, Clift published Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics with Basic Books, a personal account alternating between her husband Tom Brazaitis's final weeks battling metastatic kidney cancer in 2006 and the concurrent Terri Schiavo right-to-die case, critiquing shortcomings in U.S. end-of-life care systems and policy debates on euthanasia and family decision-making.[21] The narrative underscores empirical failures in hospice integration and political polarization over medical ethics, based on Clift's direct experiences and contemporaneous reporting.[22] Other notable works include Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling (1999, Turner Publishing), which analyzes barriers to female presidential candidacy with a focus on Hillary Clinton's prospects, advocating structural changes in political institutions to promote women leaders.[23] Clift also authored Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment (2003, Wiley), part of the Turning Points in History series, detailing the suffrage movement's key activists and legislative battles leading to women's voting rights in 1920, supported by primary historical records and biographical data.[24]| Title | Year | Publisher | Central Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (co-authored with Tom Brazaitis) | 1996 | Scribner | Political strategy and relationships in Congress |
| Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling | 1999 | Turner Publishing | Challenges and paths for women in U.S. presidential politics |
| Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment | 2003 | Wiley | Women's suffrage campaign and ratification efforts |
| Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics | 2009 | Basic Books | Personal grief, cancer care, and end-of-life policy controversies |