Shorenstein history

Initially, that role was taken by the Institute of Politics, founded in 1966 with a mandate to inspire young people to careers in public service.

Joan had been inspired to go into political journalism by Washington Post reporter David Broder, who was an IOP Fellow in 1969 when Joan was a graduate student at Harvard.

Jonathan Moore was a member of the first group of IOP fellows and was chosen to be the institute’s director in 1974.

On March 10, 1985, Joan Shorenstein Barone died of cancer at the age of 38.

On September 27, 1986, the Shorenstein Center officially opened for business.

In 1989 the Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics was inaugurated with a panel discussion in the Forum featuring R. W. Apple Jr., Benjamin C. Bradlee and John King Fairbank.

The first occupant of the Bradlee Chair in Government and the Press is Thomas E. Patterson, who arrived at Harvard from Syracuse University in 1996.

He received the Democratic National Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

Gibbs won the National Magazine Award for her cover story in Time’s black-bordered September 11, 2001, special issue.

In 2002, the Regional Oral History Office of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley completed a life history interview with Mr.

In December 2013, the Kennedy School announced an ambitious new fellowship in honor of Walter Shorenstein and a name change for the Center.

Nancy Gibbs became Director of the Shorenstein Center in April of 2018.