Godfrey Hodgson was director of the Reuters' Foundation Programme at Oxford University, and before that the Observer's correspondent in the United States and foreign editor of the Independent. He reported the presidential elections of 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976 for various British and American media, and was co-author (with Lewis Chester and Bruce Page) of the best-selling account of the 1968 campaign, An American Melodrama (Viking Press, 1969). Among his other books are The World Turned Right Side Up: a history of the conservative ascendancy in America (Houghton Mifflin, 1996); The Gentleman from New York: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Houghton Mifflin, 2000); and More Equal Than Others: America from Nixon to the new century (Princeton University Press, 2006).

Recent articles

The United States party conventions open the last phase in an epic election campaign. But the world may have the final say on the result, says Godfrey Hodgson.

(This article was first published on 28 August 2008) 

The party conventions and the choice of vice-presidential running-mate are key events in any United States election. They do not always go according to plan, recalls Godfrey Hodgson.

The overseas journey of the Democratic candidate for the United States presidency is part of a sophisticated strategy to reshape the political agenda as well as win votes at home, says Godfrey Hodgson.

The United States election will turn not on a false polarity between idealism and pragmatism but on the extent of the voters’ hunger for change. Godfrey Hodgson assesses a campaign in fine balance.

The Democrats' presidential candidate must avoid the allure of the conventional wisdom to secure victory in the United States election, says Godfrey Hodgson.