As a rising young Washington journalist during the 1980s, John Podhoretz worked behind the scenes at the White House. He wrote speeches first for President Ronald Reagan and later for George Bush. He returned to the White House in 1992 to research a book idea, and the result was Hell of a Ride, a witty, insightful, and revealing prose documentary about the activities of the White House staff during the reelection campaign of George Bush. Podhoretz is also a noted columnist and contributor to Washington Times, New York Post, U.S. News & World Report, American Spectator, and television's Insight. In 1994 and 1995, with the backing of telecommunications mogul Rupert Murdoch, Podhoretz helped to launch a conservative Washington magazine, Standard.

Podhoretz's first job after college was at Time where he stayed for 18 months as a reporter and researcher. He eagerly moved to Washington D.C. to accept a position as a cultural critic with the Washington Times. Podhoretz was wholeheartedly attracted to the conservative atmosphere that permeated the city of Washington during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. During those years, Washington seemed like Mecca of sorts to the neo-conservative Podhoretz, still an impressionable young man in his early 20s. Washington of the 1980s was the "...red hot center of the United States for people on the right," he wrote. After three years with the features department of the Washington Times he migrated to television's Insight, a weekly news magazine, and then worked for U.S. News & World Report. At age 27 he secured a position as a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.

In 1989 Podhoretz continued to write speeches for Reagan's successor, President George Bush. Shortly thereafter Podhoretz became a special assistant to the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), William Bennett, otherwise known as the Drug Czar. As Bennett's assistant, Podhoretz officially served on the White House staff. Podhoretz's tenure with the Bush White House staff lasted only five months, after which he left the job to return to journalism. During his time in the White House Podhoretz was inspired to accumulate his memoirs of Bush's mid-level White House staff, and two years later he left the Times once again in to write his first book, Hell of a Ride. Over the course of 11 months Podhoretz visited the White House regularly. There he interviewed scores of young staffers who lived and worked in the environment of the Bush administration, in order to get a clear picture of their activity, feelings, and attitudes.

Podhoretz is a FOX News Channel contributor, a twice-weekly columnist for the New York Post, a weekly columnist for National Review Online, a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard magazine and a consulting editor at ReganBooks.