From being born in the Soviet Union and escaping to the US with his mother as a kid, advising two Republican presidential candidates on foreign policy, pursuing a decorated writing career as a journalist and a book author, ultimately breaking-up with the GOP to acting as a CNN analyst and a “Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow” at the Council on Foreign Relations, Max Boot has had many facets in his life that have been deemed worthy of extensive coverage.

However, unlike many articles, this article will try to explore Boot’s obscure personal life from the angle of what is known in public. 

Who is Max Boot?

Max Boot is a foreign-policy analyst, best-selling author, and journalist who has written for various outlets such as The Washington Post. He was once called one of the “world’s leading authorities on armed conflict” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019. 

Family, Wife, and encounter with the 9/11

Boot’s public image has rarely gotten coverage about his personal life lately. 

But in the early 2000s, he was known to be living with his “wife and three children” in Larchmont, New York. An article by Berkely publishing in 2001 also provides testimonies from Max and his “wife” Jeannette related to their respective 911 experiences. 

According to the article, Max then worked at the Wall-Street Journal that happened to be a street away from the fallen World Trade Center. 

The article that focuses on Berkley’s alumni’s encounters with the 9/11 also states how Boot was on his way to work when the police ordered the subway he was in to evacuate. After witnessing the south tower’s collapse from half a mile away from ground zero, he ran to his office instead.

“A huge ball of debris, ash, and smoke came racing down. And everyone was running like Indiana Jones was running away from the huge boulder...There was chaos everywhere — I heard sirens, and people were walking around like ghostly figures covered in soot and ash,” retrospected Max.

On the other hand, Jeannette—who also attended UC Berkely like Max and graduated the same year in 1991—got worried about Max’s life and even feared that he was no longer alive.

As it turns out, Max tried to contact her soon after reaching his office, but all the phone lines were dead. The two could only talk after two hours of the incident that also took away one of Max’s close friend’s life.

Soon after getting in touch, the pair relocated to their home in Westchester before Max worked on a plan to cover the magazine’s story on 911 with his team. 

Recalling the incident to Berkely, Max stated that it was the first time he had to cover not-someone else’s tragedy but their own and related how he had to compartmentalize to work under such unusual circumstances.

“I wasn’t at all surprised...I know he was thinking what the story angle was since the minute it happened because that’s his job,” Jeannette said.

At the time, Jeannette worked at a law firm outside of downtown New York. 

Max Boot Reported Second Marriage

Harbinger Student Media has an archived article titled, ‘US Foreign Policy in the Trump Era” by Max Boot at PAWAC.’

In the article, the author wrote that Max attended the 2019’s presentation organized by Peoria Area World Affairs Council with his “wife, Dr. Sui Li Terry.”

The article has also linked PAWAC’s coverage of the presentation in the form of a Youtube video. 

In the video, former intelligence officer “Dr. Sui Mi Terry” is also introduced as his wife and expert on Korean issues.