Everyone has to start somewhere. Tucker’s journalism career kicked off when he became a fact-checker for a national conservative journal called Policy Review — then published by The Heritage Foundation, but currently belongs to the Hoover Institution.
Carlson is proud of his beginning. He utilized those years to sharpen his investigative skills and learn from his more experienced colleagues. This would help climb the ranks in the news industry. As you will come to see, he has surely come a long way since then!
We Don’t Need No Education
Carlson attended St. George’s School, a private Episcopal boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island. After graduation, he continued his studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he majored in history. His interest in journalism would spark further down the road. Although Carlson did get a formal college education, in 2018 he caused an uproar (which you’ll find he does quite often) after he posed the question “Is College Worth it?”, on his Fox News segment Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Carlson stated that obtaining a college degree has become "crushingly expensive" and added, "More students are failing, yet almost nobody fails. ... Colleges barely teach, yet every year they increase their fees.” While his comments did receive backlash from advocates of higher learning, there were many people, college-educated included, that agreed with his words.
High School Sweet Hearts
Carlson married Susan Andrews in 1991. On a Mother’s Day episode of the Fox News segment “Fox and Friends”, they told viewers how they’ve known each other since the 10th grade, at St George’s School. He said that they have been together for more than three decades so it was hard to imagine what it would be like not being together.
The Carls ons have four children together — two daughters and two sons. In an interview, Tucker Carlson referred to their kids as his “little angels”. On television, he may have a tough persona at times, but he’s really a devoted family man who enjoys spending time with his wife and children.
From Fact Checker to Writer
As a reporter, he traveled around the world to the most talked-about locations, contributing to magazines and newspapers such as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Weekly Standard, Reader’s Digest, Esquire, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and The Daily Beast. Quite an impressive list!
The publications appreciated his take on current events and international affairs, especially those that favored more conservative political views.
Age Is Nothing But a Number
In 2000, Carlson was hired by CNN where he stayed until 2005. He started off as co-host of “The Spin Room”, becoming the youngest anchor ever hired by the network. In 2001 he became the co-host of “Crossfire”, presenting the political views of the ‘right’. His co-host, Paul Begala illustrated the opinions of the ‘left’. At the time, he also hosted the weekly public affairs program on PBS, “Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered”.
As implied in the name of the show — The ‘Spin’ Room — Carlson had a talent for flipping any topic, no matter how controversial, so that it would agree with his conservative views. At times, liberal viewers wondered if he really believed the things he said in his exchanges with Begala or was he simply skilled at playing devil’s advocate.