Chris Matthews ranks up there with the Wolf Blitzed and Christiane Amanpours of the news and reporting landscape. However, he is much more than just another news head who loves to sit in front of the camera and talk to any and everybody. Matthews is also an author of 8 books as of 2018 and has served in many capacities including the United States Peace Corps and the US Capital Police.
He even had a stint as a politician and also tried to run for a seat in the House of Representatives albeit unsuccessfully. Today, Chris is known mostly for his work on Hardball With Chris Matthews on MSNBC.
Who is Chris Matthews of MSNBC?
Born Christopher John Matthews on December 17, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his life has been an interesting series of events. Chris was born to Herb and Mary Teresa who also has a younger son Jim Matthews. Raised Catholic, Matthews did his high schooling at La Salle High School, finished from the College of the Holy Cross in 1967 and went on to study Economics for his graduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A year after Holy Cross, Chris spent time in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970. He served the United States Peace Corps in the capacity of a trade development adviser.
Next, Chris Matthews – who is of Democratic allegiance – moved on with the US Capitol Police before serving for a while as a member of staff for a few Democrats in Congress. He himself would take a chance at a seat in the House of Reps in 1974. After failing at the election primaries he worked in President Jim Carter’s administration as a speechwriter, and as Chief of Staff to Tip O’Neill for six of his ten years as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Besides his work as a speechwriter for President Carter, Chris Matthews has a lot of experience as a writer. While at Washington, he served in print media as the Bureau Chief for the San Francisco Examiner, a post he held for 13 years starting in 1987. He also had his own column on the San Francisco Chronicle for two years. In his writings, he covered historical events like South Africa’s transition from the Apartheid era, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and every US Presidential election since 1988.
As a journalist and news personality, Matthews was the host and subsequently, the moderator of NBC’s weekend half-hour news and political show,The Chris Matthews Show. He stayed in this role from September 2002 to July 2013. The reason for stepping aside from the show was to enable him to focus on his own weeknight show Hardball with Chris Matthews which he had started in 1997 which went from being aired on America’s Talking to MSNBC.
The political commentator cum talk show host has also penned 8 best sellers. His first published text, Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America, came in 1996. Since then it has been followed by seven other books with the latest, Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit, coming in 2017. Arguably his best book was Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero published in 2011. It stayed on the New York Time’s bestseller list for 12 consecutive weeks. It was also lauded by many punishings like The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and The Christian Science Monitor.
He has also received a deluge of honorary degrees from more than 30 academic institutions in the United States. They include Howard University, University of Rochester, Washington University in St. Louis, New England School of Law, and his Alma mater, College of the Holy Cross.
His Wife
Over the years, Chris Matthews has had his fair share of controversies. This includes his being called a misogynist for some of the comments he made on television as a guest and an anchor and also the accusation that came out in 2017 about the 1999 sexual harassment claims made by an assistant producer against Matthews.
Still, it seems amidst all these, the newsman has managed to keep his home and marriage together. He married his wife, Kathleen Matthews in 1980. Kathleen used to be a news head herself and worked for ABC’s affiliate network WJLA-TV. Subsequently, she gave it up for an executive position at Marriott International. The union of Chris and Kathleen has produced three children, two boys, Michael and Thomas, and a girl, Caroline.
What is his Salary Per Year and Net Worth?
Hosting The Chris Matthews Show for 11 years was undoubtedly a big money spinner for the newsman. However, in 2013, he signed an even bigger contract extension with MSNBC to keep the money rolling in. Matthews banks at least $5 million a year from his show hosting duties alone. Factor in the royalties trickling in from his book sales and the figure gets a lot bigger. According to many online sources, the Philadelphia native has a net worth of $16 million.
