On list of Forbes’s “Most Influential Women in Media”

Author, columnist, candidate for governor of California

Those of us who are baby boomers remember a time when political debate was pure. Oh, that’s not to say that politics wasn’t a dirty game—it always has been. But before radio show hosts feigned political outrage for the sake of stirring up antigovernment sentiment, or Capitol Hill operatives launched ad campaigns designed to turn out the base on election day, political debate was engaged in by highly educated, accomplished, erudite, and idealistically thoughtful participants. (Sure, it’s idealistic. But humor me here, it’s a good story.) It was an intellectual remnant of the 1960s revolution that lasted into the 1970s. And for one day, an undergraduate named Arianna Huffington found herself in the middle of it. She learned a lesson from it that stays with her even now.

“In my Cambridge years, as an undergraduate,” she says, “I was in the debating society, and I was chosen to make the opening speech on J. K. Galbraith’s side against Bill Buckley.”

John Kenneth Galbraith was literally a friend of the Kennedys. He was a noted liberal economist who believed in the power of the government to right many of the ills of society and the inequities of the free market. He served under Democratic presidents and published popular books on economics with intellectually progressive arguments that he espoused as a professor at Harvard. His liberal credentials were as tall as he was, which was roughly three inches shy of seven feet.

William F. Buckley, in contrast, was a giant among conservatives. His wit and intelligence made him an almost untouchable opponent in the arena of political discourse on his television show, Firing Line. His libertarian advocacy helped form the foundation of movements within the Republican Party that led to the rise of leaders like Ronald Reagan himself.

“It was one of those debates taped for Buckley’s show,” Arianna recalls. “I spoke, then Galbraith spoke, then Buckley spoke, and he was dripping smoothness and self-assurance, and proceeded to tear Galbraith into elegant little pieces.

“So I was sitting next to Galbraith, and at one point he prodded me to interrupt Buckley and explain in some academic way that the conditions he was describing applied only to the stock exchange and that all other markets were imperfect. Instinctively I knew it wasn’t right because I knew that wasn’t the nature of the debate, but Cambridge Union rules are that if someone stands, the speaker has to give way and allow them to interrupt you. So Buckley gave way, I interrupted him, and I made my point.

“Then Buckley turned to me and said, ‘Madam, I do not know what market you patronize.’ It brought the house down. To this day I’m not sure what he meant, but I was completely humbled. And I thought my days as a Cambridge debater were over.

“The lessons that it taught me were: One, don’t do anything against your better judgment, even if it’s a distinguished professor and you’re a mere undergraduate. And two, it’s never over unless you think it’s over. Don’t lose out on the chance for redemption, a shot at coming back and trying again.”

Reinventing herself is something Arianna is rather well known for. As would be expected by anyone who spoke on the side of John Kenneth Galbraith, she was on the liberal side of most arguments in the 1970s. But later on, further into the 1980s and 1990s, she became a well-known supporter of Republican causes (shewas married for a time to conservative politician Michael Huffington). She was an active and vocal advocate for Newt Gingrich’s revolution and Bob Dole’s candidacy for president in 1996. But in the late 1990s her positions began to change back to her progressive roots. Now she’s a Democrat again who believes in the potential positive power of the government.

Through it all, she tells me her overriding goal has been “to create a more fair and just society, and to care for those in need.” She just stopped believing that the conservative movement could accomplish that. And she’s happy to debate the point, because she believes in it.

Galbraith and Buckley would have been proud.

Arianna Huffington’s Best Mistake, in Her Own Words

One of the big failures—mistakes—in my own life was with my second book. It came after a successful first book.

My first book was on the changing world of women (The Female Woman). For my second book (After Reason) I really wanted to write about the role of political leadership. It was a book that nobody else wanted me to write, but I was really drawn to do it. You can imagine my surprise when it was rejected by publisher after publisher. Thirty-six publishers turned it down before it was finally published.

It was the kind of rejection that brought up all kinds of self-doubt, including fear that I not only was on the wrong career path, but was going to go broke in the process. And I had thoughts like, was the success of the first book a fluke? And I would ask myself in the middle of many a sleepless night, was I even meant to be a writer?

I had used the royalties from my first book to subsidize writing the second; then at some point that money was running out. My choice was that I would have to try to find a real job (and give up on the book), or continue to hope that I could make writing work.

I was living in London at the time, and I remember walking down James Street. And I passed by Barclay’s bank, and something just made me walk into the bank and ask for an overdraft [loan].

I remember meeting this banker there, Ian Bell. It was like in a fairy tale, where you have all these helpful people who suddenly appear, and he was that type of person. And he gave me an overdraft (loan)—I’m sure he still doesn’t know why—but every Christmas I still send him a Christmas card.

The overdraft allowed me to keep myself going while I kept trying to find another publisher. I was writing more letters, and meeting with more publishers in England trying to sell the book. I didn’t have an agent; I didn’t have anybody to represent me. Without an overdraft, I would really have had to take some kind of other job and give up on the book. Instead, it made it possible for me to continue to try to get the book published. And I did.

The book did not do well, but it became like a seed that was planted in my twenties, and finally sprouted in my forties when I became seriously engaged in political life and began writing about it. A lot of what I wrote then became the foundation of my thinking later.

Q. That’s interesting, considering you’re noted for having shifted your political positions.

Yes, but at the heart of my political positions, both when I was a Republican and when I left the Republican Party, was the need to create a more fair and just society, and to care for those in need. When I was a Republican I thought we could best do this through private-sector solutions. Actually the main reason I left the Republican Party was because I realized that it wasn’t happening fast enough. We really needed the raw power of government appropriations.

[Thirty-some years later, her experience informs her politics and her business ventures, including her web site, HuffingtonPost.com.]

I see it as learning from your failures. It goes beyond mistakes, because so often it is that fear of failing that makes us afraid to take risks that may turn out to be the best thing we did.

Jumping in and doing what you love happens in the end only if you overcome the fear of failing.

About Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 12 books. She is also co-host of Left, Right & Center, public radio’s popular political roundtable program, and is a frequent guest on television shows such as Charlie Rose, Real Time with Bill Maher, Larry King Live, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and the Rachel Maddow Show. In May 2005, she launched the Huffington Post, a news and blog site that has quickly become one of the most widely read, linked to, and frequently cited media brands on the Internet. In 2006, she was named to the Time 100, Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. In 2008, she was named Media Person of the Year by I Want Media, and wrote the Introduction to The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an MA in economics. At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.