Molly Ivins

Background

Nationally syndicated columnist Molly Ivins grew up in Houston and attended the St. John’s School. She studied history as an undergraduate at Smith College and earned her MA in journalism at Columbia University, spending her summers in Houston as an intern at the Houston Chronicle. After working the police beat as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, Ivins returned to Texas and became coeditor of the Texas Observer in 1970. She went on to work at The New York Times, eventually becoming the Rocky Mountain bureau chief, or, as she described it, “I was the bureau and the chief.” She left The Times in 1982 to write a column for the Dallas Times Herald and later the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Her column was syndicated in 1992. Her insight into Texas politics became particularly poignant with the election of George W. Bush, or “Shrub” as she called him, about whom she quipped, “The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be President of the United States, please pay attention.” She’s published six bestsellers, including Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America and Who Let the Dogs in? Incredible Political Animals I Have known. Her syndicated column appeared in about 350 newspapers and her work appeared in publications such as Esquire, Harper’s, The Atlantic, The Nation, as well as on National Public Radio. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 and died in her Austin home on January 31, 2007. This public appearance was one of her last. The past speaker page shares her podium presentation as well as the Q&A with the audience.