Opening Convocation: Jonathan Capehart '89

Carleton’s Opening Convocation is an annual all-college assembly celebrating the beginning of the academic year and recognizing academic achievement. This year’s address will be given by Jonathan Capehart (Carleton Class of 1989). Some days in Washington DC, Jonathan Capehart appears to be everywhere. There's his editorial in the day's Washington Post, several appearances throughout the day on MSNBC, and a few media-centric parties at night.  After growing up in New Jersey, Capehart went on to study political science at Carleton, where he took a few classes taught by the late Senator Paul Wellstone. His career started out at NBC’s Today show, but in 1993 he joined the editorial board of the New York Daily News (at the time, the youngest-ever member), spending the rest of the decade at that newspaper. Capehart and the Daily News editorial board won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their series on the Apollo Theater in Harlem. In 2000, he left the Daily News to become a national affairs columnist for Bloomberg News and then worked as a policy adviser to Michael Bloomberg in his successful campaign for mayor of New York City. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, Capehart realized he wanted to return to journalism and even called his previous employer to ask about writing a column. Before too long, he had returned to the New York Daily News as deputy editorial page editor. Capehart is currently a member of the Washington Post editorial board where he writes about politics and social issues.