Melanie Kirkpatrick

Senior Fellow

melanie_kirkpatrick

At A Glance:

Melanie Kirkpatrick is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. She is a writer-journalist and former editorial staff member at publications including the Wall Street Journal. 

Biography

Melanie Kirkpatrick is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. She is a writer-journalist based in Connecticut and New York City. She contributes reviews and commentary to various publications, including the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, for which she worked from 1980 to 2009. She is the author of Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad, which World Magazine named the best book of 2012, and Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience.

At the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Kirkpatrick was deputy editor of the editorial page from 2006 to 2009 and a longtime member of the editorial board. As deputy editor, she was responsible for the editorial page's coverage of international issues and oversaw the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal in Asia and Europe, the Far Eastern Economic Review and the US columnists on foreign affairs. She wrote editorials and op-ed articles on foreign affairs.

From 2001 to 2006, she was the editorial page's associate editor, responsible for the Daily Review & Outlook (editorials) column. Before that, she was op-ed editor of the paper. During her career at the Journal, she also oversaw the launch of OpinionJournal.com and other online products, managed the editing and production of books published by the Journal, and served as a member of the board of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund.

Ms. Kirkpatrick was a co-editor of the Journal's series, "Whitewater," a six-volume collection of Journal commentary during the Bill Clinton administration. She was also co-editor of several editions of the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Journal and the Heritage Foundation; the Index evaluates and ranks the world's economies. And she is the author of Princeton-in-Asia: A Century of Service (1998), a privately published history of the nonprofit educational organization.

Ms. Kirkpatrick spent 10 years in Asia, working for the Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong and, prior to that, for a division of Time-Life Books in Tokyo. She received the 2001 Mary Morgan Hewett Award for Women in Journalism from the Friends of the East-West Center in Honolulu. The annual award recognizes a journalist who has demonstrated commitment, hard work, and expanding influence throughout her career.

She received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master's degree in English from the University of Toronto. She was a Gannett Newspaper Foundation Fellow in Asian studies at the University of Hawaii. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; a trustee emerita of Princeton in Asia, an internship program in Asia for young graduates of American universities; and a director of the America for Bulgaria Foundation. She is a member of the Human Freedom Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Ms. Kirkpatrick is married to Hudson Senior Fellow and Trustee Jack David.

Reviews and Coverage:

Events
06
October 2021
Past Event
Sarah Josepha Hale: The Woman Who Made Thanksgiving a Holiday
Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Ann Marie Hauser
Thanksgiving!
06
October 2021
Past Event
Sarah Josepha Hale: The Woman Who Made Thanksgiving a Holiday

Join Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Melanie Kirkpatrick and Vice President of Public Affairs Ann Marie Hauser for a curated conversation on Melanie’

Thanksgiving!
Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Ann Marie Hauser
03
May 2019
Past Event
Seminar on the North Korean Abductions Issue
Featured Speakers:
Nick Eberstadt
Keiji Furuya
Koichiro Iizuka
Hwang Incheol
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Akira Sato
Greg Scarlatoiu
Michael Sneddon
Cindy Warmbier
Ken Weinstein
Takuya Yokota
Lewis Libby
03
May 2019
Past Event
Seminar on the North Korean Abductions Issue

Experts discuss the North Korean abductions issue

Featured Speakers:
Nick Eberstadt
Keiji Furuya
Koichiro Iizuka
Hwang Incheol
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Akira Sato
Greg Scarlatoiu
Michael Sneddon
Cindy Warmbier
Ken Weinstein
Takuya Yokota
Lewis Libby
17
October 2016
Past Event
Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience
Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Kimberley Strassel
17
October 2016
Past Event
Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience

Melanie Kirkpatrick and Kimberley Strassel discuss the Kirkpatrick's book, Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience.

Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Kimberley Strassel
21
September 2012
Past Event
Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad New York Book Launch
Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Adrian Hong
Joseph Kim
Jay Lefkowitz
Default Event Image
21
September 2012
Past Event
Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad New York Book Launch

Hudson Institute marked the New York launch of the highly anticipated volume, __Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railr

Default Event Image
Featured Speakers:
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Adrian Hong
Joseph Kim
Jay Lefkowitz