Margaret Hoover

Margaret Claire Hoover (born 1977) is a political commentator, political strategist, media personality, gay rights activist and author. She is the author of the book American Individualism: How A New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party published by Crown Forum in July 2011. Her work is committed to renewing the Republican Party to enable it to connect with a new generation of Americans, even as it remains true to the principles of individual freedom and fiscal conservatism and continues to champion a robust U.S. foreign policy. 

In an interview with Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote, "Hoover is an engaging personality with timely advice for Republicans. Her book and her message, if seen as a way to expand rather than divide the party, are helpful guides to candidates and political operatives. And frankly, the Republican Party of New York, among the most incompetent and unproductive of the GOP’s state parties, might do well to get her on the ballot somewhere in 2012."

She is a great-granddaughter of former U.S. President Herbert Hoover and her work is committed to publicizing Herbert Hoover's dynamic legacy as a humanitarian and pioneer of the international non-governmental organization among his many achievements, and appeared in a PBS documentary "Landslide" in 2010.

Professional Overview

Ms. Hoover worked in the White House in the administration of George W. Bush where she was the Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.  She worked on President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004 and was Deputy Finance Director to Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid in 2006-2007. She also worked as a staffer on Capitol Hill for Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and as Advisor to the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Daily News, The Daily Beast and FoxNews.com. 

In October 2011 she debated Howard Dean and Jeff Maddrick in an IQ Squared Debate at New York University over the sustainability of current entitlement obligations to a new generation of Americans.

She is on the Board of Overseers at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and on the boards of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association and the Belgian American Educational Foundation. Hoover serves on the Advisory Council of The American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud.

Media Personality

On television Hoover comments on a range of issues from American politics to pop-culture. A Fox News Contributor, she is a "Culture Warrior" on Bill O'Reilly's top-rated show, The O'Reilly Factor. Ms. Hoover has co-hosted The View on ABC, and appeared as a guest on NBC’s The Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, CBS’s The Early Show, CNN, MSNBC, HBO "Real Time with Bill Maher", and PBS. She has also appeared on CSPAN interviewing Clifton Truman Daniel about his book "Dear Harry, Love Bess".

Education

Ms. Hoover received a B.A. in Spanish Literature with a minor in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College in 2001. She also attended Davidson College for two years, where she was a member of Warner Hall.

Personal life

Hoover was born in Colorado and is married to John Avlon, who is a former Rudy Giuliani speechwriter, a CNN contributor, and a senior columnist for Newsweek and the Daily Beast.

Advocate For Gay Rights

She is an advocate for gay rights, including freedom to marry, arguing that individual freedom and marriage are conservative values.  She testified before the Maryland State Senate on behalf of freedom to marry in January 2011, took an active role in the 2012 battle to win marriage in New York state, and has lobbied New Hampshire legislators encouraging them not to repeal freedom to marry.  She has been profiled in the Advocate as "exactly the brand of straight ally we need right now". She is on the Advisory Board of The American Foundation for Equal Rights, the non-profit organization funding the Prop 8 Trial (Perry v. Schwarzenegger), and served on the Advisory Council of GOProud a group that advocates within the conservative movement for gay conservatives and their allies.

Bibliography

• American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party, Margaret Hoover, 2011, Crown Forum (ISBN 978-0307718150)

External links

• Official Website For Margaret Hoover