Al Eisele '58 Biography

Albert Eisele was the editor-at-large of The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering Congress that he helped start in 1994. He stepped down as editor in 2005. He was involved in journalism, government, academia and business for four decades. 

Eisele, 70, was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication during the 2007 fall semester, and a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in early 2007.

A former Fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, he reported from more than 70 countries, most recently Iraq and Kuwait in 2005 and Japan and Turkey in 2006. He was a winner of the American Political Science Association Award for Distinguished Reporting of Public Affairs for coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, and was nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize.

He was a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch before joining the Washington bureau of Knight-Ridder Newspapers in 1965. In 1976, he was named press secretary to Vice President Walter F. Mondale, and served in that position until 1981. In 1982, he helped start the non-partisan Center for National Policy, and from 1983-89, was assistant to William C. Norris, founder and CEO of Control Data Corp. In 1989, he founded Cornerstone Associates, an international consulting firm that brought Soviet President Gorbachev to Minnesota in 1990. In 1991, he was an observer for the National Democratic Institute during Polish Prime Minister Lech Walesa's reelection campaign. 

He was the author of ALMOST TO THE PRESIDENCY, an acclaimed dual biography of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Eugene McCarthy. He also worked on a biography of the late Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston and a memoir of his more than 40 years in the nation’s Capital. As a literary agent, he was instrumental in furthering the careers of several best-selling authors, including mystery writer Steve Thayer and Larry Millett, a St. John’s alumnus who wrote four Sherlock Holmes-comes-to-America novels.

His articles appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Cleveland Plaindealer, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Commonweal and many other publications. He also provided political commentary for radio and television, and frequently spoke on American politics and government in the U.S. and abroad.

A native of Minnesota, he was a St. John’s graduate, a former member of the Board of Regents and a recipient of the Walter Reger Alumni Award. He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and was a pitcher in the Cleveland Indians baseball organization for three-and-a-half seasons. He and his wife, a graduate of the College of St. Catherine, have two daughters.