Mark Shields
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Shields (born May 25, 1937 in Weymouth, Massachusetts) is an American political pundit who appears frequently on CNN and PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as a commentator.
Shields graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959. He honorably served in the United States Marine Corps before beginning his career in Washington, D.C., in 1964. In fact, he has had two distinct careers over the last 40 years.
The first career for Shields was as a Washington insider. Originally he was a legislative assistant to Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin. By age 31, he was running Robert Kennedy's California campaign for president in 1968 (see U.S. presidential election, 1968). He later worked on presidential campaigns for Democrats Sargent Shriver and Edmund Muskie.
After 15 years, Shields transitioned into the media. He joined the editorial board of the Washington Post in 1979. The next year, he began writing a column that is now syndicated nationally.
Shields has appeared on television, first on the MacNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS and Evans, Novak, Hunt, & Shields and The Capital Gang on CNN. Currently, he appears on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer opposite David Brooks of The New York Times. Previously, his counterparts included David Gergen and Paul Gigot. Shields is the godfather of journalist Judy Woodruff's oldest son, who suffers from severe spina bifida.
