John McLaughlin | |
---|---|
Born |
John Joseph McLaughlin March 29, 1927 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
Died | August 16, 2016 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
(aged 89)
Education |
Boston College (BA, MA) Columbia University (PhD) |
Known for |
The McLaughlin Group John McLaughlin's One on One |
Political party |
Democratic (Before 1970) Republican (1970–2016) |
Spouse(s) |
Ann Dore (1975–1992) Cristina Vidal (1997–2010) |
Website | Official website |
John Joseph McLaughlin (March 29, 1927 – August 16, 2016) was an American television personality and political commentator. He created, produced, and hosted the political commentary series The McLaughlin Group. He also hosted and produced John McLaughlin's One on One which ran from 1984 to 2013.
John Joseph McLaughlin was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Eva Philomena (née Turcotte) and Augustus Hugh McLaughlin. He grew up in a Catholic family who were second-generation Irish Americans and attended La Salle Academy, Providence. At age 18, he entered Weston College in Weston, Massachusetts, which later became the theological seminary of Boston College, to prepare for the priesthood.
He entered the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church in 1947, was ordained as a priest in 1959, and went on to earn two master's degrees (philosophy and English literature) from Boston College. After his ordination, McLaughlin spent some years as a high school teacher at Fairfield College Preparatory School, a Jesuit prep school in Connecticut. He took time off from teaching to earn a Ph.D. (philosophy) from Columbia University. He wrote his thesis on the Roman Catholic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. He then became a writer and later assistant editor for the Jesuit current affairs publication, America, in New York City. Disagreements with the editor of the magazine led to his departure in 1970 after which he moved back to Providence.