Background
Stephens was born in New York City, the son of Xenia and Charles J. Stephens, a former vice president of General Products, a chemical company in Mexico.
Stephens was born in New York City, the son of Xenia and Charles J. Stephens, a former vice president of General Products, a chemical company in Mexico.
In his adolescence he attended boarding school at Middlesex School in Massachusetts. After graduation, Stephens studied political philosophy at the University of Chicago.
He works for The Wall Street Journal as the foreign-affairs columnist and the deputy editorial page editor, responsible for the editorial pages of the Journal"s European and Asian editions. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post. Stephens began his career at the Journal as an op-ed editor in New York and later worked as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels.
In 2006 he took over the “Global View” column from George Melloan when he retired.
In 2009 he was named deputy editorial page editor following the retirement of Melanie Kirkpatrick. From 2002 to 2004 he was editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed at age 28—the youngest person ever to fill the role.
In 2005 Stephens was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also a frequent contributor to Commentary magazine.
Stephens authored the book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder (), released in November 2014.
The book presents the case that America has been retreating from its role as the “world’s policeman” in recent decades, and that this trend will lead to ever greater world problems.