John Maxwell Hamilton
Hopkins P. Breazeale Professor of Journalism Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
John Maxwell Hamilton explores the Intersection of Journalism, Media, and Global Affairs
Areas of Expertise
Biography
As a journalist, Hamilton reported at home and abroad for the Milwaukee Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and ABC radio. He was a longtime commentator for MarketPlace, broadcast nationally by Public Radio International. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and The Nation, among other publications.
In government, Hamilton oversaw nuclear non-proliferation issues for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, served in the State Department during the Carter administration as an advisor to head of the US foreign aid program in Asia, and managed a World Bank program to educate Americans about economic development. He served in Vietnam as a Marine Corps platoon commander and in Okinawa as a reconnaissance company commander.
Research Focus
Media History & International Journalism
Dr. Hamilton’s research focuses on media history and international journalism—foreign correspondence, propaganda, and the evolving relationship between press and state. He uses archival and policy analysis to trace how governments shape news, public diplomacy, and information flows, informing debates on misinformation and democratic accountability.
Education
George Washington University, 1983
Ph.D.
American Civilization
1983
Boston University
M.S.
Journalism
1974
Marquette University
B.A.
Journalism
1969
Accomplishments
Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History
2023
Awarded by the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), this is the highest honor in journalism history, recognizing sustained excellence in the field.
Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award
2023
Presented by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s History Division, this award honors a scholar with a demonstrated record of excellence in media history spanning at least 15 years.
Goldsmith Book Prize
2021
Awarded by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center for the book Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda, recognizing excellence in media, politics, and public policy research.
AJHA Book of the Year Award
2021
Presented by the American Journalism Historians Association for Manipulating the Masses, marking his second win of this award.
Media Appearances
Opinion | Why Biden is in Danger of Replicating Woodrow Wilson’s Propaganda Machine
Politico online
2022-05-05
In an almost offhand fashion last week, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told several congressional committees that his Department of Homeland Security had created a new body, the Disinformation Governance Board (DGB). He offered few specifics as to how it was combating disinformation, and few have come since, apart from his meaningless comment that the DGB would have no “operational authority or capacity.” In short, the message amounted to “There’s nothing to see here or worry about.”
The secrets of the French 75, the world’s most elusive cocktail
The Financial Times online
2022-12-29
This is the story of the most elusive cocktail ever invented, a drink subversive in its potency. The novelist Alec Waugh called it the most powerful in the world. It does not have one recipe, but many. Prepared properly, it can be delightfully refreshing, or it can be rich and complex. Made badly, it is lifeless bilge.
Call It What It Is: Propaganda
Politico online
2020-08-10
There’s a line between government communication and propaganda that Americans have trouble recognizing.
In 2016, we're going to campaign like it's 1916
The Washington Post online
2015-01-02
In the annals of presidential campaign history, Robert Woolley is not especially well-known. Other strategists, from Mark Hanna to Michael Deaver to James Carville to Karl Rove, loom larger in public memory for their contributions to image-making and their successful campaign strategies, or perhaps for the controversies they produced. But as the 2016 presidential cycle begins -- and trust us, it is underway -- every campaign will in part echo what Woolley did for Woodrow Wilson a century ago.
Articles
Good Advice for Democrats
Real Clear Politics2025-05-01
The national election returns last November gave the Democrats a comeuppance. They may not have lost the White House or Congress by large margins, but they cannot take solace in that. The election returns showed support for their party is dangerously eroding among the people on whom they once depended – the young, and black and Hispanic voters – as well as further slippage in support from once thoroughly Democratic blue-collar workers.
Heroes for Hitmen
Real Clear Politics2024-08-08
Even the most principled journalists are whipping boys these days. Former President Donald Trump has called them enemies of the people. Their public standing has fallen with those of many other institutions. But another factor is at work, too. Serious journalists are lumped with partisan commentators on cable news and “reporters” for tendentious online newssheets.
A Patagonian Christmas story
Callaway Climate Insights2023-12-19
Northern Patagonia is an environmentalist’s dream. At the center is Todos los Santos, a sprawling turquoise-hued lake that measures about 20 miles at its widest part. The Rio Blanco pours water into the lake on its east side. The Petrohué Falls at the west end discharges the water at such a great rate that the lake empties five or six times a year. You can jump in the lake with your mouth open,” famed Chilean photographer Guy Wenborne told me. “It’s that clean.”
The Universal Laws of Propaganda: World War I and the Origins of Government Manufacture of Opinion
Journal of Intelligence History2022-03-18
The Great War transformed propaganda as, indeed, it transformed warfare. Over the course of the conflict, from 1914 to 1918, propaganda became, for the first time, a pervasive, systematic instrument of every government that threw troops into battle. The belligerent governments employed similar approaches to shaping mass opinion. This study identifies nine laws of propaganda – that is, seminal characteristics and consequences – that emerged from the war and continue today.
When Propaganda Became a Dirty Word
Journalism History2023-06-08
With the emergence of systematic, pervasive government information programs and the rise of persuasion as a new profession, the words propaganda and publicity became definitional in the twentieth century. This historical qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the New York Times provides a basis for understanding the usage of propaganda and publicity during the years leading up to, during, and after World War I. At the turn of the nineteenth century, propaganda had a benign, narrow meaning. Propaganda became a negative word during World War I.
Media
