Thomas Friedman Biography

(Journalist & Author)

Birthday: July 20, 1953 (Cancer)

Born In: Minneapolis, MN

Thomas Friedman is a 3-times Pulitzer Prize winner and is a regular contributor of columns on foreign affairs and columns for ‘The New York Times’. He is known for supporting a negotiation armistice between Israel and the Palestinians, renewal of the Arab world, ecological matters and globalization, while sometimes remarking on their potential pitfalls to the United States economy and society. His books address various aspects of international politics and major shifts in the future world order, from a centrist, liberal perspective on American political spectrum. Friedman is the proud recipient of numerous awards. He is the author of six bestselling books, among them ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ and ‘The World is Flat’ are some of his best-known works. He began his long and illustrious career as a general assignment financial reporter and has since then, grown exponentially. He is a regular guest on popular TV shows like ‘Meet the Press’, ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Charlie Rose’. He also hosted his own documentaries including, ‘Straddling the Fence’, ‘Addicted to Oil’ and ‘Searching for the Roots of 9/11’, all of which, were aired on the Discovery Channel. Apart from his career as a writer and columnist, he also served as a visiting lecturer at Harvard University.
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Quick Facts

Also Known As: Thomas Loren Friedman

Age: 70 Years, 70 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Ann Friedman

father: Harold Friedman

mother: Margaret Friedman

siblings: Shelly - Jane

children: Orly Friedman - Natalie Friedman

Writers Journalists

City: Minneapolis, Minnesota

U.S. State: Minnesota

More Facts

education: St. Louis Park High School, St. Louis Park, MN (1971) - BA Mediterranean Studies, Brandeis University (1975) - MA Philosophy and Modern Middle East Studies, Oxford University (1979),

awards: 1983 - Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the war in Lebanon
1988 - Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Israel
2002 - Pulitzer Prize for his commentary illuminating the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat
- George Polk Award

Childhood & Early Life
Thomas Friedman was born on July 20, 1953 in Minneapolis, to Harold and Margaret Friedman. He has two older sisters; Shelly and Jane.
He attended Hebrew school until his ‘Bar Mitzvah’. He then studied at St. Louis Park High School, where he wrote articles for his school’s newspaper. He was enamored by Israel after a trip to the country in 1968.
From a very young age, he wanted to become a professional golfer and even was a transport assistant at a local country club in 1970.
He studied at the University of Minnesota and then at Brandeis University from where he graduated with a degree in Mediterranean Studies, in 1975. After graduating from there, he studied at St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.
He earned an M. Phil in Middle Eastern studies from the university, while he was studying there on a Marshall scholarship.
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Career
He joined the London bureau of United Press International and was dispatched after a year to Beirut where he lived from 1979 to 1981, to cover a war.
He was finally recruited by ‘The New York Times’ in 1981 and was again sent to Beirut at the beginning of the 1982 to cover Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
In 1984, he was transferred to Jerusalem where he was appointed as the Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the next four years.
He authored one of his best-selling books, ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ in 1989. In the next couple of years, he extensively covered Secretary of State, James Baker during the running of U.S. President, George H.W. Bush.
In 1992, after Bill Clinton was sworn in as President, he was made the ‘Times’ White House correspondent. Two years later, he penned more written works on economics and foreign policy and appeared as the foreign affairs correspondent for ‘The New York Times’, the next year.
In 1999, he authored the book, ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’, in which he has given his opinions on globalization.
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, he began channeling his energies on writing more about the Middle East and terrorism. He was presented with several awards this year for his extensive coverage of the situation and his columns, all of which was collected and published in the book, ‘Longitudes and Attitudes’, which released the following year.
In 2002, he met Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and personally asked him to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, following which the prince proposed the ‘Arab Peace Initiative’.
He was an ardent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and stated that the formation of a self-governing state in the Middle East would make sure that other countries nearby would ease up and look for reform.
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From 2003 to 2007, he created a number of documentaries including ‘Searching for the Roots of 9/11’, ‘The Other Side of Outsourcing’, ‘Does Europe Hate Us?’, ‘Addicted to Oil’, ‘Green: The New, Red, White and Blue’.
He penned one of his greatest works, ‘The World is Flat’, in 2005, which served as an addition for the initial book, ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’.
In 2008, he wrote, ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’, a book that suggested answers on global warming and ways for the United States to recover financial importance in the world.
In 2010, he wrote a number of columns supporting the politics of deep-seated centrism. The subsequent year, it was stated that, President Obama ‘sounded out’ Friedman vis-à-vis the concerns in the Middle East. The same year he authored, ‘That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back’.
Major Works
‘The World Is Flat’ was published on April 5, 2005 and became an international best-seller. By the next year, it had sold more than two million copies worldwide and even won the ‘Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award’.
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Awards & Achievements
He won the Pulitzer Prize for his extensive coverage of the war in Lebanon for the category of ‘international reporting’ in 1983.
In 1988, he won the Pulitzer Prize for ‘reporting on international affairs’ for his coverage of Israel.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for the third time in 2002 for his coverage on the worldwide impact of terrorist threat.
In 2005, he was made the member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Personal Life & Legacy
He married economist, Ann Bucksbaum in November 1978. They have two daughters; Orly and Natalie Friedman. The family currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland.
He is an avid fan of golf.
Trivia
This prominent Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author caddied for the famous golf player, Chi Chi Rodriguez when he was a young boy.
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See the events in life of Thomas Friedman in Chronological Order

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- Thomas Friedman Biography
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