16 Facts About Jonathan Alter

Jonathan H Alter was born on October 6,1957 and is a liberal American journalist, best-selling author, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011.

Jonathan Alter has interviewed nine of the last ten American presidents either before, during or after their presidencies.

Jonathan Alter is a political analyst for NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC.

In 2013 and 2014, Jonathan Alter served as an executive producer on the Amazon Studios production Alpha House, which starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy.

From 2015 until 2023, Jonathan Alter hosted a radio show with his children, "Jonathan Alter Family Politics," as part of Andy Cohen's 24-hour network, Radio Andy, Channel 102 on Sirius XM.

Jonathan Alter was raised in a Jewish family in Chicago, the son of James Jonathan Alter, who owned a refrigeration and air-conditioning company, and Joanne, who was an elected commissioner of the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago and a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Jonathan Alter's mother was the first woman in the Chicago area to be elected to public office.

Jonathan Alter graduated from Phillips Academy in 1975 and Harvard University in 1979, where he was one of the lead editors on the Harvard Crimson.

Jonathan Alter gained international notice on November 7,2000, the night of the presidential election, when on NBC with Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw, he was the first pundit to predict the months-long recount process.

On NBC's Today Show, Jonathan Alter was the correspondent for several stories about the effect of the Iraq War on returning veterans.

Jonathan Alter sits on the Board of Directors of The 74, an education news website.

In 2008, Jonathan Alter was the commencement speaker at Utica College, and in 2009, at Western Connecticut State University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Jonathan Alter has received honorary degrees from Montclair State University, and William Paterson University.

In 1993, Jonathan Alter was a fellow of The Japan Society, in 1997 he was the Ferris Visiting Professor at Princeton University, in 2009 he was a visiting professor at Arizona State University, in 2016 Jonathan Alter was an Adjunct Professor at Montclair State University and in 2024 he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

Jonathan Alter was an executive producer of the Amazon Studios show Alpha House, starring John Goodman.

Jonathan Alter is a former member of the Board of Directors of DonorsChoose, which allows teachers to post online proposals for classroom materials, and a current board member of The Blue Card, a national Jewish organization assisting Holocaust survivors, the Century Foundation, and the Bone Marrow Foundation.