Paul Gigot, 2006

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Gigot is one of five individuals honored by the Society as a 2006 Wisconsin History Maker.

The Wisconsin Historical Society celebrated the lifetime achievements of Paul Gigot, along with four other individuals with Wisconsin ties, during its first annual History Makers Gala in Milwaukee on Tuesday, May 23, 2006. Gigot was the recipient of The Lucius W. Neiman Award for Distinction in Journalism and Communications. A Wisconsin History Maker is a living individual who has recently made significant contributions to history in the state, across the nation or around the world.

Paul Gigot is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has traveled the world as a reporter, editor and political columnist. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1955, and soon after his family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Gigot's career in journalism began in seventh grade when he started his own newspaper, chronicling middle school life. He graduated from Abbot Pennings High School, and then attended Dartmouth College, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He graduated summa cum laude in 1977. Gigot worked at The National Review before winning a foundation grant that sent him to Asia to work for the Far Eastern Economic Review.

In 1980 he joined the Chicago bureau of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), covering banking and real estate. Two years later the newspaper sent Gigot to Hong Kong as its Asia correspondent. While there he won an Overseas Press Club award for his reporting on Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Gigot became the first editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia in 1984.

Gigot briefly left the WSJ in 1986 to serve as a White House Fellow at the White House and Treasury Department. He returned to the newspaper in 1987 as a political columnist. Gigot's column, "Potomac Watch," won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2000. During this time, he also became a regular political analyst on "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS.

On September 17, 2001, Gigot became the editorial page editor for The Wall Street Journal, overseeing its U.S., Asia, Europe and online editions. Gigot also became the moderator for the pubilc affairs series "The Journal Editorial Report," the newspaper's television program on PBS.