Tony Snow

Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow (born June 1, 1955) is the White House Press Secretary-designate for the George W. Bush administration. He will assume his new duties when outgoing Press Secretary Scott McClellan vacates the post, becoming the third individual to serve in that position under President Bush. He is a former FOX News anchor and talk show host.

Snow has also served as a talk show host on the Fox News Radio network, the host of the Saturday edition of Weekend Live on Fox News Channel, and as the host of FOX News Sunday from 1996 to 2003. Prior to his appointment as Press Secretary he made frequent appearances guest hosting The Rush Limbaugh Show and providing commentary on National Public Radio.

Earlier in his career Snow worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and as Deputy Assistant to the President for Media Affairs.

Early life and family

Snow was born in Berea, Kentucky and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating from Princeton High School in Sharonville, Ohio, Snow obtained his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Davidson College in 1977. He also studied philosophy and economics at the University of Chicago during the 1978-79 academic year. He taught physics and geography in Kenya, and was a substitute teacher in Cincinnati, teaching everything from calculus to art. He also worked as an advocate for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in North Carolina.

He is an avid musician. He plays the flute, saxophone and guitar, and belongs to a cover band, Beats Workin', which features fellow Washington-area professionals. Beats Workin' has played publicly with a number of bona fide rock stars, including Snow's friends Skunk Baxter (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. He was featured on an episode of VH1 Classic's "Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp."

In 1987, he married Jill Ellen Walker. They have a son and two daughters as well as several pets, including three dogs, a cat and three guinea pigs. Snow and his family live in Virginia.

In February 2005, Snow revealed that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He returned to work in April 2005. (In 1973, Snow's mother had died of colon cancer.)

Career

Snow alongside President George Bush and outgoing press secretary Scott McClellan

Snow began his journalism career in 1979 in newspapers as an editorial writer for The Greensboro Record in North Carolina, next working as an editorial writer at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia (1981-82), editorial page editor of The Daily Press in Newport News (1982-84), deputy editorial page editor of The Detroit News (1984-87) and editorial page editor of The Washington Times (1987-91). Also, The Detroit News published his commentary from 1993 to 2000, and he was a Counterpoint Columnist for USA Today from 1994 to 2000.

Snow also wrote a syndicated column for Creators Syndicate between 1993 and 2000. As a nationally syndicated columnist, his commentaries appeared in more than 200 newspapers nationwide. Snow won numerous awards during his print career, including citations from the Virginia Press Association, the Detroit Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The Associated Press and Gannett.

He has appeared on radio and television programs worldwide including The McLaughlin Group, the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Face The Nation, Crossfire, and Good Morning America. Prior to the 1994 elections, Snow was the writer, correspondent and host of a PBS news special, The New Militant Center, which anticipated some of the upsets that shook the political establishment.

In 1991, Snow took a sabbatical from journalism to work in the White House for President George H. W. Bush, first as chief speechwriter (Deputy Assistant to the President for Communications and Director of Speechwriting) and later as Deputy Assistant to the President for Media Affairs (1992-1993).

From 1996 to 2003, he served as the first host of FOX News Sunday, a Sunday morning interview and roundtable program produced by Fox News but airing on affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company.

Snow served as the primary guest host of Rush Limbaugh's program from the mid-1990s on. He was also a frequent commentator on National Public Radio. Snow's own Tony Snow Show on Fox News Radio premiered in late 2003. It ended when he became White House Press Secretary in April 2006.

In April 2006, he was named White House Press Secretary to replace Scott McClellan in the George W. Bush administration. His appointment to the position was formally announced on April 26, 2006.

Although Snow's coming from a news media background was seen by some as unusual, the position of White House Press Secretary has often been filled by individuals from news media backgrounds:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Stephen T. Early, a United Press International reporter and Associated Press correspondent;
• Harry S. Truman appointed J. Leonard Reinsch, a radio man; Jonathan W. Daniels, a newspaper man who was in the Franklin Roosevelt Administration in multiple agencies and boards just prior to becoming White House Press Secretary; Charles Griffith Ross, a newspaper man who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932; Early; Joseph Short, a newspaper man; and Roger Tubby, a reporter and editor turned Democratic National Committee spokesman before becoming White House Press Secretary;
• Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed James C. Hagerty, a New York Times reporter;
• John F. Kennedy appointed Pierre Salinger, a reporter and editor;
• Lyndon B. Johnson appointed George Christian, a reporter for International News Service;
• Gerald Ford appointed newspaper veteran Jerald terHorst and NBC News correspondent Ron Nessen to the post;
• Ronald Reagan appointed Larry Speakes, a newspaper man, and Marlin Fitzwater, a newspaper man;
• George H.W. Bush retained Fitzwater.

His selection as press secretary has been cast in both positive and negative light by advocates and critics of the President. Bush acknowledged Snow's prior criticisms during the announcement of his appointment, stating that Snow was "not afraid to express his own opinions".

Snow will begin his new press secretary duties upon McClellan's departure from the post on May 8, 2006.

Career timeline

Print

• USA Today Columnist, 1994-2000
• The Detroit News Columnist, 1993-2000
• The Washington Times Editorial Page Editor, 1987-91
• The Detroit News Deputy Editorial Page Editor, 1984-87
• The Newport News Daily Press Editorial Page Editor, 1982-84
• The Virginian-Pilot Editorials writer, 1981-82
• The Greensboro Record Editorials writer, 1979
• Council on Foreign Relations

Radio

• The Tony Snow Show
• Rush Limbaugh
• National Public Radio

Television

• Weekend Live
• Fox News Sunday 1996-2003

External links

• Tony Snow outline at NNDB
• Beats Workin' the official page of Snow's band
• Tony Snow 1995 lecture from the website of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University
• Fox News Sunday sign off
• FNC's Tony Snow Has Colon Cancer February 15, 2005
• Tony Returns to the Microphone! April 21, 2005
• Staff Overhaul Continues at White House, from The New York Times
• President Announces Tony Snow as Press Secretary from the White House website