Bennett, Wm

the only guy to make it into the pension plan? (lott?)
he did fine, even with gambling--eg regnery <ul data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%09%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (2003)</li></ul>sued by kamala? crap online charters?K12 was launched in 2000 by Ronald Packard, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and William Bennett, U.S. secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan, with seed money from Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison and disgraced junk bond king Michael Milken.an ah 12 22Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Bill Bennett wasn’t the least bit shy about expressing his socially conservative views. Bennett, who served as secretary of education under President Donald Reagan and was President George H.W. Bush’s drug czar, repeatedly said that without God, morality and family values, America was lost — which was a recurring theme in his books and on his radio show. And when it came to President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs, Bennett’s message was one of scathing condemnation, not forgiveness.But in an <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/hypocrisy-thy-name-is-gop/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">article published by the conservative website The Bulwark</a> on December 6, journalist/author Jill Lawrence stresses that the strict moral code Bennett was preaching 30 or 35 years ago fell by the wayside when he allied himself with former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.On November 29, Lawrence notes, Simon & Schuster published a 30th anniversary edition of Bennett’s “The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories,” first released in 1993. Morality was the dominant theme of Bennett’s Clinton-era books, which also included 1995’s “The Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey” and 1998’s “The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals.” But morality, Lawrence writes, is something that Bennett obviously doesn’t demand from his ally Trump.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/another-woman-herschel-walker-abortion" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Another woman is stepping forward with a new Herschel Walker abortion claim</a>“A true updated ‘Book of Virtues’ would be called ‘The Death of Virtue,’” Lawrence writes. “That is Donald Trump’s most egregious legacy to the Republican Party. Herschel Walker, the GOP candidate in today’s Georgia Senate runoff, is Trump’s latest ‘protégé,’ and Bennett himself is a bewildering embodiment of the conservative journey from preachy self-righteousness to mind-boggling hypocrisy and opportunism.”In the late 1990s, Bennett repeatedly said that Clinton was unworthy of the Oval Office because of his extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But Bennett was happy to set his strict moral code aside when he allied himself with the thrice-married Trump, who has a long history of adultery and extramarital affairs — including one with adult film star Stormy Daniels (who, according to Trump’s former personal attorney <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/nyregion/stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-documents.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Michael Cohen</a>, was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/6/18253467/trump-michael-cohen-checks-legal-stormy-daniels" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">paid hush money</a> to keep quiet about her affair with Trump).“There are so many ironies,” Lawrence writes. “Where to begin? How about the 1998 Clinton impeachment stemming from an extramarital affair? The leading Republicans investigating and impeaching him were publicly priggish while behaving badly in private. As for Bennett: By 2016, he was celebrating Trump, a man unacquainted with all ten of Bennett’s yardsticks for good character, and still vilifying the Clintons…. A day before Trump was inaugurated, Bennett said he saw in Trump ‘a lot of what I saw in Ronald Reagan.’”Bennett, Lawrence notes, “became a Trump adviser and enabler.”READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/election-workers-death-threats" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Most political violence in America is coming from the 'far right' — not the left: conservative</a>“By December 2020,” Lawrence explains, “he was casually spewing election denier claptrap — the kind that seems to worry his publisher — about a ‘fixed’ election controlled by ‘Democratic operatives,’ rife with ‘systematic corruption’ and ‘statistical anomalies.’ Bennett was close enough to Trump that they spoke on the morning of January 6 — before Trump’s speech inciting the mob that marched on the Capitol — but Bennett told CBS’ Robert Costa he couldn’t ‘recall’ what was said.”Lawrence continues, “He now says Trump should not run in 2024 — not because of Trump’s desperate attempts to keep power after the 2020 election, and not because Trump is the last person children should emulate, but because Trump can’t win.”READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/this-evangelical-pastor-is-fighting-back-against-mean-spirited-vulgar-christian-nationalism-report" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Mean-spirited, vulgar grab for power': This evangelical pastor is fighting back against Christian nationalism</a>=Shires ATI Colorado backer trump?<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett</a>they never die:
<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J._Bennett">Western Skies Coalition Launches Website Coalition dedicated to promoting issues that make America great

</a>Denver, Colo. (October 10, 2007) – Today, Western Skies Coalition

established a strong presence on the Internet by launching an

interactive, information-packed website at

www.WesternSkiesCoalition.org. Western Skies Coalition, a 501(c)(4)

tax-exempt organization, is dedicated to promoting issues that make

America great: protection of individual freedom; a pro-growth economic

agenda; a strong national defense strategy; and the preservation of the

environment.

“Working with policy experts and a strong grassroots network, our

goal is to educate elected officials and promote policies through

broadcast media, mail and the Internet,” said Sean Tonner, president of

Western Skies Coalition. Former Colorado Governor Bill Owens and Former

U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett are two of the noted members of

the constantly growing Western Skies Coalition’s Executive Committee.

The website includes discussions and white papers on topics such as tax

reform, immigration, health care, energy and U.S. competition, as well

as recent news stories and contribution information. “Launching this

site is the first step toward bringing important policy information to

citizens of the West,” Tonner said.=ACTAIn the past 20 years this core group of funders has, by many reports, built and strategically linked an impressive array of almost 500 think tanks, centers, institutes and "concerned citizens groups" both within and outside of the academy. It is particularly telling to observe the funding sources of these organizations during the first 10-15 years of their existence, when their ideological identities were being established. A small sampling of these entities include <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=51" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the Cato Institute,</a>the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=153" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Heritage Foundation,</a> the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=19" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Enterprise Institute,</a>the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=198" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Manhattan Institute,</a> the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=311" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Hoover Institution,</a> the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=72" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Claremont Institute,</a> the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=16" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Council of Trustees and Alumni, </a><a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=207" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Middle East Forum, </a><a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1374" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Accuracy in Media,</a> and the<a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=242" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">National Association of Scholars,</a> as well as Horowitz's <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=63" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Center of the Study of Popular Culture.</a>The absence of formal organizational linkages between the entities within these networks creates an illusion of independent analytical voices reaching similar conclusions about strategic policy issues, a technique known in the public relations industry as “astroturfing.” This network has developed an enormous capacity to generate “data” consistent with the targeted political agenda and world views of its core group of funders to quickly and redundantly represent these issues in the mainstream press by what appear to be the voices of independent analysts and to translate these viewpoints into public policy that serves the focused ideological agenda of this core group of funders. The Bradley Foundation under Michael Joyce's leadership has even established a publishing house, <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=98" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Encounter Books,</a> to ensure that grantees like Horowitz have a quasi-academic outlet for their viewpoints.The degree of interconnectedness within this network of organizations is considerable but almost invisible to the casual observer. For example, when ACTA’s president, Anne Neal, introduced herself to the Select Committee on Academic Freedom in Higher Education in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, she presented ACTA as “a bipartisan network of college and university trustees and alumni across the country dedicated to academic freedom.”Full disclosure should have required some mention of the fact that ACTA (see funding sources above), which changed its name from the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=434" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">National Alumni Forum</a> in 1998, was established by the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=177" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Intercollegiate Studies Institute</a> in 1994. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute in turn evolved from William Bennett’s <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=525" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Madison Center for Educational Affairs</a> and the Institute for Educational Affairs founded by Irving Kristol, Michael Joyce’s mentor, and William Simon, the first president of the John M. Olin Foundation. Bennett and Kristol also sit on ACTA’s Board of Directors. The remarkably consistent record of funding across all of the incarnations of this organization and the high degree of redundancy with Horowitz’s own, highly partisan Center for the Study of Popular Culture is not consistent with Neal’s definition of ACTA as an independent, non-partisan organization.Another example illustrative of the quietly incestuous nature of this network is presented by an article by the Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young. The article is entitled <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/04/11/liberal_bias_in_the_ivory_tower?mode=PF" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">“Liberal bias in the ivory tower”</a> and by all appearances is an independent opinion piece written by a regular Globe columnist. At the end of the article Young identifies herself as “a contributing editor at Reason Magazine.” What is undisclosed in the article is that Reason Magazine is the publication of the Reason Foundation, whose <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=286" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">funding sources</a> are virtually the same as those funding Horowitz’s "Academic Bill of Rights" project and Neal’s ACTA.Young’s premise for the article is stated in her opening sentence: “Yet another study has come out documenting what most conservatives consider to be blindingly obvious: the leftwing tilt of the American professoriate.” <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/03/30/politics" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The study that she references</a> was conducted by Stanley Rothman, now emeritus professor at Smith College; S. Robert Lichter, emeritus professor at George Mason University; and Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto, and was published in the online journal Forum. This study was also cited by Neal in her testimony in Pennsylvania. Young does not inform her readers that Rothman is director of the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1012" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Center for the Study of Social and Political Change,</a> a center with funding sources that are remarkably redundant with Horowitz’s Center for the Study of Popular Culture. Lichter is also president of the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=573" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Center for Media and Public Affairs,</a> which again has funding sources that are redundant with those referenced earlier.In addition, a recent article in <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2515" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting</a> is highly critical of Lichter’s research methodology. Another example of such conflicted interests is provided by Professor Thomas Reeves. When Reeves writes in strong support of Horowitz’s proposals on the <a href="http://hnn.us/articles/1731.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">History News Network,</a>he fails to note that he is a spokesman for the California Association of Scholars, a branch of the National Association of Scholars (see funding sources above) and that he is director of the <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=368" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Wisconsin Policy Research Institute,</a> which was, again, brought into being by the Olin and Bradley Foundations.This manufactured drumbeat against “academic bias” is amplified by <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200310140905.asp" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Stanley Kurtz</a> of the Hoover Institution (see funding sources above), <a href="http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_3_college_follies.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Heather MacDonald,</a> a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute (see funding sources above), and <a href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006149" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brian C. Anderson,</a> editor of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal and a former research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (see funding sources above).The relentlessness with which columnists and experts with direct funding relationships with Olin, Scaife, Bradley, Koch and Coors level charges of academic bias and assert the need for legislative reform of higher education is remarkable. The goal of this narrowly focused and ideologically driven public relations campaign can only be understood in terms of its fostering of a political climate in which federal regulatory “reform” of what is universally recognized as the finest system of higher education in the world, will be tolerated.Indeed, as has been discussed, such regulatory oversight may already be in the offing. The academy stands today as one of the last spaces in America where the democratic ideas that shape the social, economic and political fabric of the nation can be openly and independently debated on the basis of their merits and without coercion or distortion from vested economic and political interests. It is certainly in the national interest that it remain such.==William J. Bennett is co-director of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Empower_America" title="Empower America">Empower America</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=EMPOWER.org" title="EMPOWER.org" class="mw-redirect">EMPOWER.org</a>. He was formerly Secretary of Education under <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> and Director of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Drug_Control_Policy&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Drug Control Policy (page does not exist)">National Drug Control Policy</a> under <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_Herbert_Walker_Bush" title="George Herbert Walker Bush">George Herbert Walker Bush</a>. He is married to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Elayne_Bennett" title="Elayne Bennett">Elayne Bennett</a>.

Bennett is one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="Project for the New American Century">Project for the New American Century</a> (<a href="http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm" rel="nofollow">PNAC Letter</a>) sent to President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Jefferson_Clinton" title="William Jefferson Clinton" class="mw-redirect">William Jefferson Clinton</a>.<a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/2003/special_reports/pnacletter.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.channel4.com/news/2003/special_reports/pnacletter.html" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>

Bennett is senior advisor and founder of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Victory_Over_Terrorism" title="Americans for Victory Over Terrorism">Americans for Victory Over Terrorism</a>, serves on the advisory council of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Security_Policy" title="Center for Security Policy">Center for Security Policy</a> (CSP), is the Washington Fellow for the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Claremont_Institute" title="Claremont Institute" class="mw-redirect">Claremont Institute</a>, and a distinguished fellow in cultural policy studies at the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heritage_Foundation" title="Heritage Foundation">Heritage Foundation</a>. He is also on the National Advisory Council for the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Free_Enterprise_Foundation" title="Free Enterprise Foundation">Free Enterprise Foundation</a>.

He also served as Chair of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities" title="National Endowment for the Humanities">National Endowment for the Humanities</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J._Bennett#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2></div>

<ul><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#Tobacco">1 Tobacco</a></li><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#Salem_Radio">2 Salem Radio</a></li><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#Moral_quandries">3 Moral quandries</a></li><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#SourceWatch_resources">4 SourceWatch resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#References">5 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#External_links">6 External links</a></li></ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

</a><h2><a name="Tobacco" id="Tobacco">Tobacco</a></h2>

<a name="Tobacco" id="Tobacco">Through the </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Association_of_State_Boards_of_Education&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Association of State Boards of Education (page does not exist)">National Association of State Boards of Education</a> (NASBE), William Bennett helped the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_Institute" title="Tobacco Institute">Tobacco Institute</a> promote an early youth smoking prevention program called "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Helping_Youth_Say_No" title="Helping Youth Say No">Helping Youth Say No</a>."

The Institute drafted letters, pamphlets and press releases containing

his words of praise for the program to help promote it nationally. It is

now known whether Bennett was aware he was assisting the Tobacco

Institute at the time, since the Institute arranged to implement the

program through NASBE for cover. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rwg52f00" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rwg52f00" rel="nofollow">[2]</a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zgk62f00" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zgk62f00" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/evq52f00" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/evq52f00" rel="nofollow">[4]</a>

Such programs were later exposed as a strategy the industry devised to

help forestall legislated actions against tobacco, like smoking

restrictions and tax increases.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J._Bennett#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

</a><h2><a name="Salem_Radio" id="Salem_Radio">Salem Radio</a></h2>

<a name="Salem_Radio" id="Salem_Radio">Since 2004, Bill Bennett has hosted the "Morning in America" radio show, which is syndicated by the </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Salem_Radio_Network" title="Salem Radio Network">Salem Radio Network</a>."<a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=40" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=40" rel="nofollow">[5]</a>

Salem's website states: <a href="http://ir.salem.cc/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=salm&script=410&layout=9&item_id=511494" class="external autonumber" title="http://ir.salem.cc/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=salm&script=410&layout=9&item_id=511494" rel="nofollow">[6]</a>

<dl><dd>Bennett's show launched April 4, 2004, on 66 radio stations. The first guests were <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rush_Limbaugh" title="Rush Limbaugh">Rush Limbaugh</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Donald_Rumsfeld" title="Donald Rumsfeld" class="mw-redirect">Donald Rumsfeld</a>, Pittsburgh Steelers coach <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Cowher&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bill Cowher (page does not exist)">Bill Cowher</a>, Former New York Governor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mario_Cuomo" title="Mario Cuomo">Mario Cuomo</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pat_Sajak" title="Pat Sajak">Pat Sajak</a>, former <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton">Bill Clinton</a> attorney and D.C. lawyer <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bob_Bennett" title="Bob Bennett">Bob Bennett</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tim_Russert" title="Tim Russert">Tim Russert</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Naomi_Judd&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Naomi Judd (page does not exist)">Naomi Judd</a> and author/commentator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_Will" title="George Will">George Will</a>.</dd></dl>

According to his biography on the Salem radio website, "Bennett

studied philosophy at Williams College (B.A.) and the University of

Texas (Ph.D.) and earned a law degree from Harvard. He is the ...

Chairman and co-founder of the education company <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K12,_Inc.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="K12, Inc. (page does not exist)">K12, Inc.</a>." <a href="http://ir.salem.cc/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=salm&script=410&layout=9&item_id=616729" class="external autonumber" title="http://ir.salem.cc/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=salm&script=410&layout=9&item_id=616729" rel="nofollow">[7]</a>

</a><h2><a name="Moral_quandries" id="Moral_quandries">Moral quandries</a></h2>

While authoring several books on creating a more "moral" America, Bennett was a gambling fanatic.

<a name="Moral_quandries" id="Moral_quandries">His moral positioning became even more questionable when he discussed

abortion and crimes rates on his syndicated radio program "Morning in

America," on September 28, 2005: </a><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006" class="external autonumber" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006" rel="nofollow">[8]</a>

<dl><dd>CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot

about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund

Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent

months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade,

the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last

30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And

the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be,

too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women?

No.</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not

argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I

mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book

Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know,

they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is

that abortion is up. Well --</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.</dd></dl>

<dl><dd>BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is

either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't

know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime,

you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black

baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be

an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but

your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching,

extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.</dd></dl>

</a><h2><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources">SourceWatch resources</a></h2>

<ul><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><li><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources"></a><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a name="SourceWatch_resources" id="SourceWatch_resources" /><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Kuo" title="David Kuo">David Kuo</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_J._DiIulio_Jr." title="John J. DiIulio Jr.">John J. DiIulio Jr.</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="Project for the New American Century">Project for the New American Century</a>, PNAC</li></ul>

</a><h2><a name="References" id="References">References</a></h2>

<ol class="references"><a name="References" id="References" /><li id="cite_note-0"><a name="References" id="References"></a><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a name="References" id="References" /><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/chairmen.html" class="external text" title="http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/chairmen.html" rel="nofollow">NEH Chairmen</a>, National Endowment for the Humanities, accessed August 30, 2007.</li><li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_J.Bennett#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> Landman Ling Glantz,<a href="http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/6/917?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=landman&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT" class="external text" title="http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/6/917?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=landman&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT" rel="nofollow">Tobacco

Industry Youth Smoking Prevention Programs: Protecting the Industry and

Hurting Tobacco Control, American Journal of Public Health, June 2002,

Vol 92, No. 6</a></li></ol>

</a><h2><a name="External_links" id="External_links">External links</a></h2>

<ul><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><li><a name="External_links" id="External_links"></a><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links" /><a name="External_links" id="External_links">Phil Wilayto,, "</a><a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=37" class="external text" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=37" rel="nofollow">Milwaukee Genesis. Where George W. Bush's 'Faith-Based' initiative really comes from</a>", Media Transparency, March 11, 2001.</li><li>Joshua Green, "<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0306.green.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0306.green.html" rel="nofollow">The Bookie of Virtue</a>", Washington Monthly, June 2003.</li><li>John Smith, "<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/May-07-Wed-2003/news/21266047.html" class="external text" title="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/May-07-Wed-2003/news/21266047.html" rel="nofollow">Bennett's Bottom Line on Gambling Out of Balance in More Than One Way</a>", Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 7, 2003.</li><li>Bill Bennett, "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006" class="external text" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006" rel="nofollow">Transcript of September 28, 2005 "Bill Bennett's Morning in America" radio show</a>", <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Media_Matters_for_America" title="Media Matters for America">Media Matters for America</a>. ("(Y)ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down...."</li></ul>

This article may include <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/bennett_william_j.html" class="external text" title="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/bennett_william_j.html" rel="nofollow">information from Tobacco Documents Online</a>.
= Madison Center for Educational Affairs
The Right's Attack on AcademiaSo how does all this relate to the attack on academic freedom which Foner and Gilmore complained about?It turns out that many of the most important attacks are part of a campaign organized by conservative foundations, as a study by report by the National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) found. In a section entitled, "Targeting the Academy" the report discusses right-wing attacks on academia, including "political correctness" campaigns, efforts to use alumni contributions to advance a conservative agenda, efforts to take over or de-fund the National Endowment for the Humanities and to de-fund the National Endowment for the Arts. These attacks follow the pattern outlined in the Powell memo -- attack the patriotism of liberals and attempt to convince trustees of colleges and universities to remove them, replacing them with ideological "conservatives."(4)The FSFG supports organizations like Accuracy in Academia, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the National Association of Scholars, the Madison Center for Educational Affairs (their "Collegiate Network" links over 70 student newspapers), the Institute for Educational Affairs and others. These organizations work to transform academia toward the right's ideological agenda.<div>---</div><div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 22.4px;">The now-defunct Madison Center for Educational Affairs emerged from a merger between the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Institute_for_Educational_Affairs" title="Institute for Educational Affairs" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Institute for Educational Affairs</a>and the Madison Center. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Madison_Center_for_Educational_Affairs#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a>According to a report by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/People_for_the_American_Way" title="People for the American Way" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People for the American Way</a>, "Simon and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Neoconservative" title="Neoconservative" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">neoconservative</a> ideologue <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Irving_Kristol" title="Irving Kristol" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Irving Kristol</a> founded the Institute for Educational Affairs (I.E.A.). Its purpose is to seek out promising Ph.D. candidates and undergraduate leaders, help them to establish themselves through grants and fellowships and then help them get jobs with activist organizations, research projects, student publications, federal agencies, or leading periodicals. I.E.A. received start-up grants of $100,000 from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_M.Olin_Foundation" title="John M. Olin Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Olin</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Scaife_Foundations" title="Scaife Foundations" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Scaife</a>,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/JM_Foundation" title="JM Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">J.M.</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Smith_Richardson_Foundation" title="Smith Richardson Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Smith Richardson</a> foundations, as well as substantial contributions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coca-Cola" title="Coca-Cola" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dow_Chemical" title="Dow Chemical" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dow Chemical</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ford" title="Ford" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ford</a> Motor Co.,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/General_Electric" title="General Electric" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">General Electric</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kmart" title="Kmart" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">K-Mart</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mobil" title="Mobil" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Mobil</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nestl%C3%A9" title="Nestlé" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nestle</a> corporations." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Madison_Center_for_Educational_Affairs#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[2]</a><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">In 1990, I.E.A. merged with the Madison Center, founded in 1988 by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_Bennett" title="William Bennett" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">William Bennett</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Allan_Bloom" title="Allan Bloom" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Allan Bloom</a> (author of The Closing of the American Mind), and Harvard professor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Harvey_Mansfield&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Harvey Mansfield (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Harvey Mansfield</a> to become the Madison Center for Educational Affairs(M.C.E.A.); its current president, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Horner" title="Charles Horner" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Charles Horner</a>, was the associate director of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_Information_Agency" title="United States Information Agency" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States Information Agency</a> under <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>. Between 1988 and 1991, eight <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">conservative</a> foundations pledged in excess of $1.5 million.</dd></dl><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Recognizing the importance of campus newspapers in the dissemination of its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Right-wing" title="Right-wing" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">right-wing</a> agenda, I.E.A. established the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Collegiate_Network" title="Collegiate Network" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Collegiate Network</a> of right-wing student publications. Unlike many student publications, the member newspapers are far less reliant on university funding for their existence. As noted earlier, 70 student papers belonged to the network by 1994; researcher Sara Diamond notes that the ultraconservative Dartmouth Review was its first member. Beyond that, however, the Network provides substantive content guidance to the student newspapers; the editor-in-chief of the Network-sponsored Stanford Review acknowledged as much in most direct terms, saying that the Network staff "help us form our opinions." In 1990, M.C.E.A. spent more than $300,000 on its network activities alone, and $1 million on all its projects. THEEL</dd></dl><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">M.C.E.A. has also joined in efforts to recruit minority students to the cause of conservatism. In 1990, the M.C.E.A. established a project to recruit minority students supportive of its conservative agenda. One of the participants at the founding conference was <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Supreme_Court" title="Supreme Court" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Supreme Court</a> Justice <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clarence_Thomas" title="Clarence Thomas" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Clarence Thomas</a>," the report stated.</dd></dl><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">References</h2><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Madison_Center_for_Educational_Affairs#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=525" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Madison Center for Educational Affairs</a>, Media Transparency, accessed December 2007.</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Madison_Center_for_Educational_Affairs#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> People for the American Way, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=2057" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Buying a movement: Conservative University Programs and Academic Associations</a>", undated, accessed May 2004. (Used with the permission of People For the American Way (or People For the American Way Foundation).</li></ol></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-style: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Academia" title="Category:Academia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Academia</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Foundations" title="Category:Foundations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Foundations</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Right_wing" title="Category:Right wing" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Right wing</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:United_States" title="Category:United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States</a></li></ul></div></div></div>wiki 12/17 looks a bit like teddyWilliam John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">American</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism" style="background: none;">conservative</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundit(expert)" class="mw-redirect" title="Pundit (expert)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pundit</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician" title="Politician" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">politician</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_theorist" class="mw-redirect" title="Political theorist" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">political theorist</a>, who served as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Education" title="United States Secretary of Education" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Secretary of Education</a> from 1985 to 1988 under President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>. He also held the post of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy" title="Office of National Drug Control Policy" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy</a> under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" title="George H. W. Bush" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>. In 2000, he co-founded <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K12(company)" title="K12 (company)" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">K12</a>, a publicly traded online education company.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Life_and_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Life and career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Political_viewpoints" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Political viewpoints</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Books" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Books</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Writing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4Writing</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Radio_and_television_programs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Radio and television programs</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Controversies</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Gambling" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.1Gambling</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Radio_show_abortion_comment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.2Radio show abortion comment</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Life and career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Life and career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Bennett was born July 31, 1943<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn" title="Brooklyn" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brooklyn</a>, the son of Nancy (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_at_birth" class="mw-redirect" title="Name at birth" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">née</a> Walsh), a medical secretary, and F. Robert Bennett, a banker.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> He moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a>, where he attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzaga_College_High_School" title="Gonzaga College High School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gonzaga College High School</a>. He graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_College" title="Williams College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Williams College</a>, where he was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_Alpha_Society" title="Kappa Alpha Society" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kappa Alpha Society</a>, and went on to earn a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate" title="Doctorate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ph.D.</a> from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Austin" title="University of Texas at Austin" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Texas at Austin</a> in Political Philosophy. He also has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">J.D.</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Harvard Law School</a>.From 1979 to 1981, he was the executive director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Humanities_Center" title="National Humanities Center" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">National Humanities Center</a>, a private research facility in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina" title="North Carolina" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina</a>. In 1981 President Reagan appointed him to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chair_of_the_National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities" title="Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">chair</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities" title="National Endowment for the Humanities" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">National Endowment for the Humanities</a>, where he served until Reagan appointed him Secretary of Education in 1985. Reagan originally nominated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Bradford" title="Mel Bradford" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mel Bradford</a> to the position, but due to Bradford's pro-Confederate views Bennett was appointed in his place. This event was later marked as the watershed in the divergence between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservative" class="mw-redirect" title="Paleoconservative" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">paleoconservatives</a>, who backed Bradford, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative" class="mw-redirect" title="Neoconservative" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">neoconservatives</a>, led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Kristol" title="Irving Kristol" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Irving Kristol</a>, who supported Bennett. It was in 1986 that Bennett switched from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Democratic</a> to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican</a> party. Bennett resigned from this post in 1988, and later was appointed to the post of Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy" title="Office of National Drug Control Policy" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Office of National Drug Control Policy</a> by President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" title="George H. W. Bush" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>. He was confirmed by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Senate</a> in a 97-2 vote.Bennett is a member of the National Security Advisory Council of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Security_Policy" title="Center for Security Policy" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Security Policy</a> (CSP). He was co-director of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empower_America" class="mw-redirect" title="Empower America" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Empower America</a> and was a Distinguished Fellow in Cultural Policy Studies at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation" title="The Heritage Foundation" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">The Heritage Foundation</a>. Long active in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Republican_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Republican Party" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">United States Republican Party</a>politics, he is now an author, speaker, and, from April 5, 2004 through April 1, 2016, the host of the weekday radio program <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_in_America" title="Morning in America" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Morning in America</a> on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas,Texas" class="mw-redirect" title="Dallas, Texas" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Dallas, Texas</a>-based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_Communications" class="mw-redirect" title="Salem Communications" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Salem Communications</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> In addition to his radio show, he was the Washington Fellow of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_Institute" title="Claremont Institute" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Claremont Institute</a>. Further work at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_Institute" title="Claremont Institute" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Claremont Institute</a> included his role as Chairman of Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT). He was also a political analyst for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">CNN</a> until his termination in 2013.He is a Senior Advisor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lead_The_Way" class="mw-redirect" title="Project Lead The Way" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Project Lead The Way</a>, one of the nation’s leading providers of training and curriculum to improve <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM" class="mw-redirect" title="STEM" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">STEM</a> education in American schools; he is on the advisory board of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udacity" title="Udacity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Udacity, Inc.</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viridis_Learning,Inc.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Viridis Learning, Inc. (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Viridis Learning, Inc.</a> and the board of directors of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vocefy,Inc.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Vocefy, Inc. (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Vocefy, Inc.</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Webtab,Inc.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Webtab, Inc. (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Webtab, Inc.</a> He is also the Chief Education Advisor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beanstalk_Innovation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Beanstalk Innovation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Beanstalk Innovation</a>, an international education company.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a>Bennett and his wife, Mary Elayne "Elayne" Glover, have two sons, John and Joseph. Elayne is the president and founder of Best Friends Foundation, a national program promoting sexual abstinence among adolescents. He is the brother of Washington attorney <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S.Bennett" title="Robert S. Bennett" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Robert S. Bennett</a>.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Political viewpoints[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political viewpoints" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Bennett tends to take a conservative position on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action" title="Affirmative action" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">affirmative action</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_voucher" class="mw-redirect" title="Education voucher" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">school vouchers</a>, curriculum reform, and religion in education. As Education Secretary, he asked colleges to better enforce drug laws and supported a classical education. He frequently criticized schools for low standards. In 1988 he called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago" title="Chicago" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chicago</a> public school system "the worst in the nation."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a> He coined the term "the blob" to describe the state education bureaucracy,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a> a term which was later taken up in Britain by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gove" title="Michael Gove" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michael Gove</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a>Bennett is a staunch supporter of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs" class="mw-redirect" title="War on Drugs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">War on Drugs</a> and has been criticized for his views on the issue. On <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King_Live" title="Larry King Live" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Larry King Live</a>, he said that a viewer's suggestion of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapitation" title="Decapitation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">beheading</a> drug dealers would be "morally plausible."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a>He also "lamented that we still grant them [drug dealers] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus" title="Habeas corpus" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">habeas corpus</a> rights."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a>Bennett is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="Project for the New American Century" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Project for the New American Century</a> (PNAC) and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC Letter<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a> sent to President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Bill Clinton</a> urging Clinton to remove <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Iraqi</a> leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein" title="Saddam Hussein" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Saddam Hussein</a> from power.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Books</h2>Bennett's best-known written work may be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Virtues:A_Treasury_of_Great_Moral_Stories" title="The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Book of Virtues:</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Virtues:A_Treasury_of_Great_Moral_Stories" title="The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;"> A Treasury of Great Moral Stories</a> (1993), which he edited; he has also authored and edited eleven other books, including The Children’s Book of Virtues (which inspired an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_from_the_Book_of_Virtues" title="Adventures from the Book of Virtues" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">animated television series</a>) and The Death of Outrage: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bill Clinton</a> and the Assault on American Ideals (1998).Other books<ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%09%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Tried by Fire: The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years (2016)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Is College Worth It? with David Wilezol (2013)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Fight of our Lives co-authored with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seth_Leibsohn&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Seth Leibsohn (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Seth Leibsohn</a> (2011)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood (2011)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears (2010)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The True Saint Nicholas (2009)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America (2008 with John Cribb)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom (2007)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=America:The_Last_Best_Hope&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="America: The Last Best Hope (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">America: The Last Best Hope</a> (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War (2006)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (2003)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family (2001)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Preschool through Eighth Grade (1999)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators (1999)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Our Sacred Honor (1997, compilation of writings by the Founding Fathers)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Body Count: Moral Poverty...and How to Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs (1996)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey (1995)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The De-Valuing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Our Children (1992)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">James Madison Elementary School: A Curriculum For American Students (August 1988, as Secretary of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Education" class="mw-redirect" title="Department of Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Education</a>)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">James Madison High School: A Curriculum For American Students (December 1987, as Secretary of the Department of Education)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">First Lessons. A Report on Elementary Education in America (co-authored in September 1986, as Secretary of Department of Education)</li></ul><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Writing[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Writing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Bennett writes for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review_Online" class="mw-redirect" title="National Review Online" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">National Review Online</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review" title="National Review" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">National Review</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentary(magazine)" title="Commentary (magazine)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Commentary</a>. He is a former senior editor of National Review and wrote the book "To Reclaim a Legacy."<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Radio and television programs[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Radio and television programs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Bennett began hosting Morning in America, a nationally syndicated radio program produced and distributed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_Communications" class="mw-redirect" title="Salem Communications" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Salem Communications</a>, in 2004,.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a> The show aired live weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time, and was one of the only syndicated conservative talk shows in the morning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_time" title="Drive time" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">drive time</a> slot. However, its clearances were limited due to a preference for local shows in this slot, and the show got most of its clearances on Salem-owned outlets. Morning in America was also carried on Sirius Satellite Radio, on Channel 144, also known as the Patriot Channel<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> Bennett retired from full-time radio on March 31, 2016.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[14]</a>In 2017, Bennett launched a podcast, The Bill Bennett Show.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a>In 2008, Bennett became the host of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">CNN</a> weekly talk show, Beyond the Politics. The show did not have a long run, but Bennett remained a CNN contributor until he was let go in 2013 by then-new CNN president, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Zucker" title="Jeff Zucker" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jeff Zucker</a>.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Controversies</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Gambling</h3>In 2003 it became publicly known that Bennett was a high-stakes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling" title="Gambling" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">gambler</a> who lost millions of dollars in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Valley" title="Las Vegas Valley" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Las Vegas</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a> Criticism increased in the wake of Bennett's publication, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Virtues" class="mw-redirect" title="The Book of Virtues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Book of Virtues</a>, a compilation of moral stories about courage, responsibility, friendship and other examples of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue" title="Virtue" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">virtue</a>. Joshua Green of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monthly" title="Washington Monthly" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Washington Monthly</a> said that Bennett failed to denounce gambling because of his own tendency to gamble. However, Bennett and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empower_America" class="mw-redirect" title="Empower America" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Empower America</a>, the organization he co-founded and headed at the time, opposed an extension of casino gambling in the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a>Bennett said that his habit had not put himself or his family in any financial jeopardy. After Bennett's gambling problem became public, he said he did not believe his habit set a good example, that he had "done too much gambling" over the years, and his "gambling days are over". "We are financially solvent," his wife Elayne told <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today" title="USA Today" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">USA Today</a>. "All our bills are paid." She added that his gambling days are over. "He's never going again," she said.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a>Several months later, Bennett qualified his position, saying "So, in this case, the excessive gambling is over." He explained "Since there will be people doing the micrometer on me, I just want to be clear: I do want to be able to bet the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills" title="Buffalo Bills" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Buffalo Bills</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Super Bowl</a>."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Radio show abortion comment[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Radio show abortion comment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>On September 28, 2005, in a discussion on Bennett's Morning in America radio show, a caller to the show proposed that “lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" could preserve <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security(United_States)" title="Social Security (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Social Security</a> if abortion wasn't permitted following <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v.Wade" title="Roe v. Wade" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Roe v. Wade</a>. Bennett responded that aborting all African-American babies "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could—if that were the sole purpose—you could abort every black baby in this country and the crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a>Bennett responded to the criticism saying, in part:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">A thought experiment about public policy, on national radio, should not have received the condemnations it has. Anyone paying attention to this debate should be offended by those who have selectively quoted me, distorted my meaning, and taken out of context the dialogue I engaged in this week. Such distortions from 'leaders' of organizations and parties is a disgrace not only to the organizations and institutions they serve, but to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="First Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">First Amendment</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a></dd></dl><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">See also[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bennett&action=edit&section=9&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: See also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%09%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect" title="Legalized abortion and crime effect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Legalized abortion and crime effect</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S.political_appointments_that_crossed_party_lines" class="mw-redirect" title="List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States" title="Race and crime in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Race and crime in the United States</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_effect" title="Roe effect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Roe effect</a></li></ul><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">References</h2>==