Learn something new! The Olam Tikvah Membership Committee is proud to present a new monthly series called OT Talks to bring you fascinating stories and interesting ideas from our members. Enjoy a 15 minute talk, followed by moderated Q&A.

This month, join us for our inaugural talk, "A Veteran White House Correspondent's Unique Jewish Experiences Covering Six Presidents" with Peter Maer.

Longtime Olam Tikvah member Peter Maer will share some of his many unique Jewish experiences from assignments covering presidents from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama. The veteran CBS News White House Correspondent will take the audience aboard Air Force One to President Reagan’s first trip to the Soviet Union. He will share his inspirational story of smuggling Jewish prayer books into Moscow aboard the presidential jet for secret delivery to a Refusednik family. He will recall the historic scene aboard Air Force One as President Clinton led the US delegation to the funeral of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. He also served as the broadcast network reporter when President Obama traveled to Israel. You will also hear about the day he discussed some Yiddish philosophy with President George H. W. Bush.

Peter Maer covered every political convention, campaign, and election since 1980.

He received the 2019 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom award from Interfaith Alliance. He was inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists Media Hall of Fame and St. Louis Media Hall of Fame. He received the St. Louis Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a member of the CBS News team honored with an Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of the 9/11 attacks for his description of being evacuated from the White House. He played a leading role in the network’s Murrow Award-winning coverage of the Clinton impeachment trial. Maer also won a Murrow award for feature reporting. He is a five-time recipient of the prestigious Merriman Smith Award for Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure. He was honored with Overseas Press Club citations for his coverage of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit.

Prior to becoming a network correspondent, he worked as a reporter at radio stations in St. Louis, Nashville, and Atlanta. A native of Granite City, Illinois, Maer is a graduate of Southern Illinois University. He has twice served as the school’s commencement speaker. He is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from SIU.

Peter and his wife Elizabeth have been members of Olam Tikvah for more than 40 years. They are the proud parents of Jonathan Maer and Beth Maer Magden and grandparents of Joshua, Levi, and Orli Maer, and Shira and Talia Magden.

Did you miss it? Watch the Talk here.