Andrew Cockburn is a journalist, author, and filmmaker. He is currently the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine.

Cockburn’s politics are left-of-center as he has expressed support for increased economic regulations, opposition to military intervention in the Middle East, and concern over alleged voter suppression of racial minorities. However, Cockburn is also skeptical of the Democratic Party and is an outspoken critic of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Career

Books

Andrew Cockburn has written seven books concerning military history and international affairs. They include:¹

• The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine
• Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship
• One Point Safe
• Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein
• Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession
• Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy
• Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins

Film and Television

In 1987, Cockburn became senior producer and chairman of the board at Blackwater Production, a documentary filmmaking company. In 2008, he became CEO of Table Rock Films. In 2009, Cockburn wrote and produced the documentary film American Casino, about how the 2008 financial crisis impacted the working class. The film was produced by Blackwater Production and distributed by Table Rock Films. ²³

In 1997, Cockburn wrote and produced the Hollywood film Peacemaker. ⁴

Cockburn has appeared on “The Daily Show,” “Democracy Now!,” and “PolitiKing with Larry King.” ⁵

Journalism

In 2013, Cockburn became the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine. He has also been published in the Guardian, the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, and the Daily Beast. ⁶

Opinion on Joe Biden

Andrew Cockburn is an outspoken critic of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. In March 2019, Cockburn wrote “No Joe!” for Harper’s in response to widespread speculations that Biden would run for president. Cockburn called Biden’s legislative record “disastrous,” especially regarding civil rights legislation early in his career and tough-on-crime legislation in the 1980s and 1990s. ⁷ Cockburn then appeared on “Democracy Now!,” a left-of-center television news show, to discuss the article. ⁸

On May 4, 2019, Cockburn was a guest on This Is Hell, a news podcast, for an episode entitled, “The Hollow Centrist: Joe Biden’s Four Decades Working Against the Working Class.” ⁹

On September 19, 2019, Cockburn published a piece for the Spectator entitled “Joe Biden’s Fractious Relationship with the Truth,” in which Cockburn portrayed Biden as a consummate politician unafraid to lie to curry favor. Cockburn also refers to an anonymous source who claims that allegations of Biden’s senility are false, but that Biden’s mental speed has been slowing for years. ¹⁰

Family

Andrew Cockburn is the son of Claud Cockburn, a prominent journalist and a leading member of the British Communist Party. ¹¹ Claud was best known for his opposition to the British government’s policy of appeasement and his coverage of the Spanish Civil War, both of which were believed to be Communist propaganda efforts by critics. Historian D.C. Watts noted that Claud’s writing on appeasement aligned closely with Soviet foreign policy goals. ¹² According to George Orwell, Claud’s work on the Spanish Civil War was filled with inaccuracies and some blatant lies to downplay the strength of the nationalist forces to entice more foreign aid for the Soviet Union-backed Republicans. In one instance, Claud claimed to have witnessed a battle which never took place. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell outright accused Claud of being an agent of the British Communist Party, and by extension, of the Soviet Union. ¹³

Cockburn has four siblings. The late Alexander Cockburn was a journalist who edited CounterPunch and wrote for The Nation and The Week. Alexander was an open Marxist and later identified as an anarchist. ¹⁴ Another brother, Patrick Cockburn, is also a journalist who has worked for The Independent and the Financial Times, and is best known for his reporting on the Iraq War. ¹⁵

Andrew Cockburn has three children. His daughter Olivia Wilde is an actress and director. ¹⁶ His other daughter Chloe Cockburn is the criminal justice program officer at the  , a grantmaking foundation funded and managed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna. She is also the director and a board member of the Bia-Echo Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking foundation focused on environmentalist and pro-abortion advocacy. ¹⁷ His third child, Charles Cockburn, is a graduate of Stanford University. ¹⁸

1. “Andrew Cockburn.” Prabook. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://prabook.com/web/andrew.cockburn/3757349.
2. “Andrew Cockburn.” IMDB. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0168285/.
3. “Andrew Cockburn.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-cockburn-5031565/.
4. “Andrew Cockburn.” IMDB. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0168285/.
5. “Andrew Cockburn.” IMDB. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0168285/.
6. “Andrew Cockburn.” Muck Rack. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://muckrack.com/andrew-cockburn/articles.
7. Cockburn, Andrew. “No Joe!.” Harper’s Magazine. March 2019. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/joe-biden-record/.
8. “As Joe Biden Hints at Presidential Run, Andrew Cockburn Looks at His “Disastrous Legislative Legacy.” Democracy Now. March 13, 2019. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/13/as_joe_biden_hints_at_presidential.
9. “The hollow centrist: Joe Biden’s four decades working against the working class.” This is Hell. May 4, 2019. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://thisishell.com/interviews/1054-andrew-cockburn.
10. Cockburn, Andrew. “Joe Biden’s fractious relationship with the truth.” The Spectator. September 21, 2019. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://spectator.us/say-aint-joe-biden/.
11. “National Archives: Francis Claud Cockburn – Security File.” The National Archives. December 31, 1940. Accessed October 4, 2020.
12. Watt, Donald Cameron. “Rumors as Evidence.” Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. 2004. Accessed October 4, 2020.
13. “Claud Cockburn.” Spartacus Educational. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://spartacus-educational.com/SPcockburn.htm.
14. “Five Days that Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond.” C-SPAN. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.c-span.org/video/?161120-1/five-days-shook-world-seattle-beyond.
15. “Patrick Cockburn.” Independent. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/author/patrick-cockburn.
16. “Olivia Wilde’s son is ‘hard’ on his younger sister.” AP News. June 15, 2017. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/20068bf24e354960ac39da3d21d82a5f.
17. “Chloe Cockburn.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloecockburn/.
18. “Olivia Wilde and Brother Charlie Cockburn Practice Social Distancing during Stroll around Silverlake,” Daily Mail. March 26, 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8154227/Olivia-Wilde-brother-Charlie-Cockburn-practice-social-distancing-stroll-Silverlake.html.