About Bob Merry
Robert W. Merry, publishing executive and author, is President and Editor-in-Chief of Congressional Quarterly Inc., the Washington-based publishing company that specializes in news and information on Congress, politics and public policy. He is the author of Taking On the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop – Guardians of the American Century (Viking, 1996). The New York Times called it “rich and fascinating …. a sensitive portrait, executed with … critical acumen.” The book won an Ambassador Award from the New York-based English Speaking Union. Merry’s Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy and the Hazards of Global Ambition, was published by Simon & Schuster in June 2005. His third book, A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent, will be published by Simon & Schuster on November 3.
Mr. Merry, born March 5, 1946, in Tacoma, Washington, received a bachelor’s degree in editorial journalism from the University of Washington, where he served as editor of the campus Daily and won two major awards for student journalism. Following three years in the Army as a language-qualified counterespionage agent in West Germany, he received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Mr. Merry began his career at the Denver Post, where he covered the Colorado Senate and local politics. After two years there, he became a national political correspondent for the now-defunct National Observer, a Dow Jones newspaper. When it folded in 1977, Mr. Merry moved to the Washington bureau of The Wall Street Journal, where he covered a wide range of subjects. As a labor reporter, he wrote about national politics and President Carter’s wage-price program. As a congressional correspondent in the early 1980s he covered President Reagan’s tax and budget initiatives and the 1983 Social Security bill. He covered the 1984 presidential campaign and spent two years as a White House reporter. During this time, Mr. Merry made numerous appearances on public-affairs television programs, including Meet the Press, Face the Nation, CNN’s Newsmakers, Good Morning America and C-SPAN.
Mr. Merry joined CQ in 1987 as Managing Editor and in 1990 was promoted to Executive Editor. He became President and Editor-in-Chief in January 1997. He is recognized as a leading innovator in electronic journalism and digital publishing. B2B Business magazine named him a top “Media Business Innovator” for 2009. Mr. Merry sits on the boards of directors of CQ and its parent company, Times Publishing Co. of St. Petersburg, FL. He currently is serving as chairman of the Software and Information Industry Association. He is a member of Washington’s prestigious Cosmos Club and has served twice as a Pulitzer Prize juror. Mr. Merry lives with his wife, Susan, in McLean, Virginia.