Host Christopher Matthews Lectures December 12 at SSU

SALISBURY, MD--Christopher Matthews, the host of Hardball, one of the highest-rated programs on CNBC, and Washington Bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner, will speak at Salisbury State University on Sunday, December 12, at 6:00 p.m. in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center. His topic is "Winston Churchill: Man of the Century." Admission is free and the public is cordially invited to attend.

Matthews "has this way of zeroing in on what everybody is talking about," said Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. "People either love it or hate it."

A nationally syndicated columnist, Matthews has covered the opening of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, the historic peace referendum in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and three U.S. presidential elections. In 1997 and 1998, his digging in the National Archives produced a series of Examiner scoops on the Nixon presidential tapes.

Matthews is the author of two best-selling books. Hardball, a political primer, has become assigned reading at colleges and high schools across the country since its debut on the best- seller lists in 1988.

In 1996, he authored Kennedy & Nixon, The Rivalry That Shaped Post-War America which chronicles the early friendship and historical rivalry between these two political giants. The Arts & Entertainment network produced a one-hour documentary based on Matthews' book.

A graduate of Holy Cross College, Matthews did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina and served with the U.S. Peace Corps in Swaziland. He learned politics as an aide to Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, a presidential speech writer for Jimmy Carter and long-time administrative assistant to Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr.

Matthews is married to Kathleen Matthews, news anchor for ABC's Washington affiliate, WJLA. They have three children.

Matthews appearance is sponsored by SSU's Collegiate Conservative Society and the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business. For more information contact Dr. Robert Dombrowski in the Perdue School at 410-543-6316.