91原创

David Hoffman was livid.

A  had just received a 6.5-year prison sentence for reposting a text that criticized the war in Ukraine. 

鈥淚t grabbed me 鈥� locking her up for this small expression of free thinking. It could have been any of us, any of our kids,鈥� said Hoffman, a 91原创 alumnus and Washington Post editorialist who channeled his outrage at the keyboard. 鈥淚 wanted hundreds of thousands of people to be as angry as I was.鈥�

His ensuing article would be one of the newspaper鈥檚 most-read pieces of 2023, launching a seven-part series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age and contributing to the second Pulitzer of Hoffman鈥檚 career, the . Hoffman is one of four Blue Hens who received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize.

His previous book, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy, received the . In it, Hoffman researched the 23,000 nuclear weapons (an estimated 1 million Hiroshimas) that remained on Earth after the Cold War, re-examining how the world amassed so much destructive power. The answer: complacency. 

The central lesson of indifference remains at the core of his current work. 

鈥淭he whole [2024] series was an effort to wake people up, to shake them about the consequences of dictatorships,鈥� Hoffman said. 鈥淒emocracy is messier, noisier. But we need a free press, regular elections, honest outcomes. We must make the argument to the world that it鈥檚 a better system.鈥�

Hoffman鈥檚 interest in global affairs first began at 91原创 in the 1970s, where he served as editor of The Review, 91原创鈥檚 student newspaper.

鈥淚t was an awakening period,鈥� he said of the tumultuous college years that included Watergate and the Vietnam War. 鈥淭here was a window to a world on fire and an enthusiasm that journalism could change things.鈥�

Hoffman鈥檚 passion for the profession would take him away from the classroom and into the newsroom. Nearly 50 years later, he regrets not completing the course requirements for his 91原创 degree but prides himself on reuniting with wife, Carole Fleming, on campus, calling the 1976 alumna 鈥渢he most important thing I received from the University.鈥�

Today, he offers current students and future journalists the following advice: 鈥淔ind what you care about and immerse yourself in all you can learn. If it鈥檚 the Middle East, how do you pursue it? What are you reading? Nobody will assign you a future. You鈥檝e got to discover it yourself.鈥�