Matthews, a Philadelphia native, is a Roman Catholic of Irish descent who graduated from La Salle College High School and The College of the Holy Cross. He did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served in the Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970 as a trade development advisor.
Matthews is married to Kathleen R. Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C before accepting a position as an Executive Vice President with J.W. Marriott. The couple has 3 children: Michael, Thomas and Caroline. He was the commencement speaker at the University of South Carolina on May 5, 2006,
where his wife was awarded an Honorary Doctorate; the next day his wife was the commencement speaker, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. On May 20, 2006, Chris Matthews delivered the commencement address at Fordham University in The Bronx where he was also awarded an honorary degree. On May 20, 2007, he gave the commencement address at Villanova University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Matthews was also the commencement speaker at Loyola College in Maryland during their 2001 graduation ceremony.
His brother is Jim Matthews, who is a Republican county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In 2006, he unsuccessfully ran for Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania on a ticket with Lynn Swann.
Matthews has worked for four Democratic politicians. He was a presidential speechwriter for four years during the administration of Jimmy Carter. Among his efforts was Carter's infamous "malaise" speech, though the word "malaise" did not actually appear in the official transcript. He served as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill for six years. He worked in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie before losing to Pennsylvania Congressman Joshua Eilberg in a U.S. House of Representatives Democratic primary in 1974.
Matthews was raised in a conservative Irish Catholic household. As a young man he was a Goldwater Republican who was inspired to become a Democrat by Eugene McCarthy's pro-civil rights and anti-Vietnam war platforms. Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am. ... I voted for George W. Bush in 2000", according to Media Matters for America.
Matthews worked as a print journalist for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, DC Bureau Chief for The San Francisco Examiner (1987 – 2000), and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle.
In 1997, Matthews was given his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is presently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests whom Matthews will not hesitate to interrupt, often to disagree (i.e., playing "hardball" and forcing them to answer his questions). Matthews has been accused of having panels of guests that skew to the right by liberal media watchdogs (). In contrast, conservative watchdog groups accuse Matthews of taking Democratic Party positions (). Matthews was singled out for his particularly misleading accounts of presidential candidate Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign ().
In 2002, The Chris Matthews Show began airing in syndication. The show is formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who serves as the moderator.
Matthews is the author of four books on politics and history. The first, Hardball: How Politics is Played, led to the creation of his signature TV show. The second, Kennedy and Nixon, detailed the friendship of the two future political adversaries from the 1940s through the 1960 election.
The third, Now Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, is the first where he discusses his real political views on various issues. His fourth book, American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions, is a history of famous and/or influential Americans and how they rose from humble and/or immigrant origins. His latest book, to be published in October of 2007, is titled Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success. Life in Brief:
- Being born on Dec 17, Chris is a Sagittarius.
- his ethnicity: White.
- his mother's name: Mary Teresa Shields.
- his father's name: Herb Matthews.
- Brothers : Herb, Jim, Bruce, Charlie.
Chris Matthews had studied at La Salle College High School, Wyndmoor, PA (in 1963) and then he attended the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (in 1967).
Chris dated Kathleen Matthews (wife).
Famous Why : Hardball with Chris Matthews.
