Journalist Presents Yale College “Class Day” Address

New Haven, Conn. — Fareed Zakaria (Yale Class of 1986) delivered the Class Day speech on May 27 as part of the Yale College Commencement celebration.

Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International, overseeing all of Newsweek’s editions abroad. He writes a regular column for Newsweek, which also appears in Newsweek International and often The Washington Post. He is a member of the roundtable of ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanapoulos” as well as an analyst for ABC News. And he is the host of a new weekly PBS show, “Foreign Exchange,” which focuses on international affairs.

Zakaria’s most recent book, “The Future of Freedom” (W.W. Norton), was published in the spring of 2003. A New York Times bestseller, it has been translated into 18 languages. He is also the author of “From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s World Role” (Princeton University Press), and co-editor of “The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World” (Basic Books).

Zakaria has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and the webzine Slate. He has won several awards for his columns and essays, in particular for his October 2001 Newsweek cover story, “Why They Hate Us.” In 1999, he was named “One of the 21 most important people of the 21st Century” by Esquire Magazine.

Prior to being at Newsweek, Zakaria was managing editor of Foreign Affairs, the leading journal of international politics and economics. He has also taught international relations and political philosophy at Harvard, Columbia and Case Western universities. He currently serves on the boards of Yale University, the Trilateral Commission and the Council of Foreign Relations, among others.

Zakaria received a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He lives in New York City with his wife, son and daughter.

Previous Class Day speakers have included Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, journalist Anderson Cooper and historian David McCullough, all alumni of Yale.