Adam Clymer (born April 27, 1937 in New York City) is an American journalist.
Born to children's book author Eleanor Clymer (née Lowenton) and Kinsey Clymer, Clymer attended Harvard College, receiving an A.B. in 1958. Clymer's journalism career began when he was in high school; he wrote for the school newspaper and collected sports scores for The New York Times. He did post-graduate work at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In 1960, he joined The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, a job which he followed up with work at The Baltimore Sun and the New York Daily News.
He was with The New York Times from 1977 until July, 2003, and served as its national political correspondent for the 1980 presidential election, polling editor from 1983 to 1990, political editor for George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1988, and chief Washington correspondent from 1999 through 2004.
Clymer covered the 2000 presidential campaign for the Times and wrote several articles that were considered unfavorable by the Bush campaign.
Though successful and well regarded in his field, Clymer worked in relative obscurity until September 4, 2000, when Bush and running mate Dick Cheney appeared at a campaign event at Naperville, Illinois. While on stage prior to the event, Bush said to Cheney, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times." Cheney responded, "Oh yeah, he is, big time." Though the remarks were meant only as private statements, they were picked up by a live microphone, causing a minor campaign controversy. In response, Bush later publicly stated "I regret that a private comment I made to the vice-presidential candidate made it onto the public airwaves. I regret everybody heard what I said."
While he never apologized for the incident, Bush made an attempt to smooth it over, making light of it at the next White House Correspondents' Dinner by referring to Adam Clymer as a "major league ass...et."

Awards

Smith, Hendrick, et.al. (1981). Reagan: The Man, the President. Pergamon Pr. ISBN 0-08-027916-3.
Clymer, Adam (1986). NEW YORK TIMES IN REVIEW 1987. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-8129-1632-8.
Clymer, Adam (2000). Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography. Perennial (HarperCollins). ISBN 0-06-095787-5.
Clymer, Adam (2003). Journalism, security and the public interest: Best practices for reporting in unpredictable times. Aspen Institute, Communications and Society Program. ISBN 0-89843-387-8.