Peggy Noonan: In Her Own Words

On her Emmy nomination:

“I was nominated for an Emmy for best writing for the first network special on 9-11. It was called, ‘America, A Tribute to Heroes.’ I was called by CBS and asked to volunteer my time and of course I said, ‘absolutely.’ I wound up scripting what Tom Cruise said, and Julia Roberts. I was really grateful CBS asked me to take part. Later, at the Emmys in Los Angeles, I saw one of the other writers—[Rep.] Barney Franks’ sister Ann, who worked for Clinton in the White House. It was so nice to see her and know we’d worked together—a bipartisan moment in a painful time.”

On Margaret Thatcher calling the former Soviet Union the “evil empire” in front of Gorbachev during Reagan’s funeral:

“She didn’t bother writing around his presence. She was just going to tell the truth and talk about Reagan’s importance to history, period. If Gorbachev was in the audience, great. If Gorbachev was not in the audience, great. She was not going to not tell the truth, which was a perfect metaphor for her—and Reagan’s approach to Gorbachev. But I’m sure Gorbachev understood…. [He] lives in California. Just read that the other day.”

On Washington:

“Every time I go down to Washington it’s a changed city. It’s actually different from the more sleepy little town I knew in 1984. It is so much more sophisticated and cosmopolitan. The women dress so much better— to my disappointment. One of the things that made Washington so distinctive was that it was refreshingly dowdy. It was like seeing the sort of women who dress up in [church] in England. That’s how Washington women looked. I just loved that lovely dowdiness. Now they’re chic and hip and rock.”

Future projects:

“I hope someday to do a small book on Robert Bolt, to my mind a great man, the screenwriter of Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago and A Man for all Seasons. He did work that I consider to have been heroic in its size and integrity.”

Author

  • Peggy Noonan

    Peggy Noonan is a writer. She is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where her weekly column, Declarations, has run since 2000. She is also the author of eight books on American politics, history and culture, including the bestsellers “What I Saw at the Revolution,” and “When Character Was King.” She is one of ten historians and writers who contributed essays on the American presidency for the book, “Character Above All.” Noonan was a special assistant and speechwriter for president Ronald Reagan. In 2010 she was given the Award for Media Excellence by the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, and has taught at Yale University. Before entering the Reagan White House, Noonan was a producer and writer at CBS News in New York, and an adjunct professor of Journalism at New York University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there, in Massapequa Park, Long Island, and in Rutherford, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford. She lives in New York City.

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