Bush, the Democrats and Politics in 2002: Times journalist Richard Berke to speak at Wheaton

Award-winning journalist Richard L. Berke, national political correspondent and senior writer for The New York Times, will speak at Wheaton on Monday, April 1.

Hosted jointly by the Wheaton political science department and The New York Times, Berke plans to discuss the Bush administration's relationship with the Democrats in 2002. Berke covers national politics and has been a reporter or an editor at the Washington bureau of the Times since 1986. He covered the 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns, with beats including Congress and the White House.

Before joining the Times, Berke was with the Baltimore Evening Sun from 1981 until 1986, where he eventually became chief Washington correspondent after covering Congress, the White House and government agencies, as well as Baltimore City Hall.

In May 1999, Berke was appointed to the Senior Advisory Board of the Institute of Politics of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He was also a fellow at the Institute of Politics in 1997 and taught a course in covering American politics. In 2001, he was a visiting lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1997, 1999 and 2001.

In 1999, Berke was named by Brill's Content magazine as one of the most influential 25 people in American media. He has made frequent television and radio appearances on such programs as Nightline, the Today show, Good Morning America, Washington Week in Review and CNN's Inside Politics.

The discussion will be held on Monday, April 1, 2002 at 7 p.m. in the Holman Room of Mary Lyon Hall. A reception will follow the discussion.

The Holman Room is wheelchair accessible. For directions to Wheaton, go to www.wheatoncollege.edu/about/directions or call 508-286-5602.