Benjamin J. Wattenberg (born 26 August 1933) is an American conservative commentator and writer.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Career 1.3 Person life 2 Bibliography 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Wattenberg was born in The Bronx, New York to Jewish parents, and went on to graduate from Hobart College in 1955, majoring in English. From 1955 to 1957 he was in the U.S. Air Force, based in San Antonio. He was an aide and speechwriter to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968, and served as an adviser to Hubert Humphrey's 1970 Senate race and Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson's contest for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, and Democratic Party presidential primaries of 1976, and served on the 1972 and 1976 Democratic National Convention platform committees.

[edit] Career

Wattenberg first came to national attention as co-author with Richard M. Scammon of The Real Majority, the 1970 analysis believed to have provided the basis for the campaign strategies of the Nixon administration in the 1970 congressional elections and 1972 presidential election.

He has been the host of a number of PBS television specials, including Values Matter Most, The Grandchild Gap, America's Number One, What Next?, The Stockholder Society, A Third Choice (about the role of third parties in American politics), The Democrats, and The First Measured Century. He is currently moderator of a weekly PBS television program, Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, and has previously hosted PBS series In Search of the Real America and Ben Wattenberg At Large.

Wattenberg is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He has been appointed to various committees and commissions by Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush (senior), as well as by then-Speaker Tom Foley.

[edit] Person life

Wattenberg is the son of real-estate attorney Judah Wattenberg and Rachel Gutman Wattenberg, and the younger brother of actress Rebecca Schull.^[1] He has four children: Ruth, Daniel Wattenberg, Sarah, and Rachel.

[edit] Bibliography

• This U.S.A., 1965
• The Real Majority: An Extraordinary Examination of the American Electorate, 1970
• The Real America, 1974
• Against All Enemies: A Novel, co-authored with Ervin S. Duggan 1977
• The Good News is, the Bad News is Wrong, 1984
• The Birth Dearth, 1987
• The First Universal Nation, 1991
• Values Matter Most, 1995
• The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America 1900-2000, co-authored with Theodore Caplow and Louis Hicks, 2000
• Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future, 2004
• Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism, 2008

[edit] Filmography

• Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (2005)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official PBS Think Tank Page
• Ben Wattenberg Archive of columns published on Jewish World Review.
• American Enterprise Institute Bio Page
• NNDB Biographical Information
• Open to Greatness: We need immigrants
• Memo to Ben Wattenberg: The Good News Is The Bad News Is Wrong Critique of Wattenberg's fertility analysis.
• John Kerry Is Wrong: Vietnam vs. Iraq