Newt Gingrich

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Newt Gingrich (2010)

Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich [ nuːt_ɡɪŋɡrɪtʃ ] (* 17th June 1943 in Harrisburg , Pennsylvania as Newton Leroy McPherson ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . From 1979 to 1999 he was a member of the Georgia State Congress for his party, and from 1995 to 1999 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives . He then used his influence on political decision-makers in Washington to influence the regulation process in the interests of companies such as B. Freddie Mac .

So far, Gingrich has published 23 books as author or co-author, 13 of which were temporarily represented in the New York Times bestseller list .

Gingrich participated in the 2012 US presidential primaries but gave up his efforts in May 2012 after a series of defeats and officially supported Mitt Romney thereafter .

Life

Youth and education

Newt Gingrich is the son of Newton Searles McPherson and Kathleen Daugherty. His parents married in September 1942 when McPherson was 19 and Daugherty was 16 years old. The marriage ended on the third day after the wedding, after McPherson beat his young wife; Daugherty was already pregnant at this point. Newt Gingrich was born on June 17, 1943. Until she married Robert Gingrich three years later, his mother initially raised her son alone. Robert Gingrich later adopted his stepson and passed his name on to him. His birth father consented to the adoption because he no longer had to pay child support afterwards.

During his presidential candidacy in 2012, Gingrich claimed that he had an idyllic childhood. In fact, during parts of his childhood, he grew up in comparatively poor conditions in an apartment above a gas station in the small town of Hummelstown , Pennsylvania. The tone in the family was harsh. His stepfather, an army officer, was tyrannically strict, his mother manic-depressive. Gingrich grew up without siblings. It was not until 1966, when he was studying in New Orleans, that the couple had another child. His half-sister Candace is now an activist for the US lesbian and gay movement .

As a child of a military family, Gingrich often moved and attended schools in various military institutions. One of these institutions was the Pattonville High School, a civilian settlement for the US military and their relatives, which was located on the grounds of the Remseck-Aldingen district . During the 1960 election campaign between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy , he worked on a campaign team for Nixon. After graduating from Baker High School in Columbus , Georgia in 1961, Gingrich attended Emory University in Atlanta , from which he received a BA in 1965 . While he was still in high school, he secretly went out with his geometry teacher Jackie Battley, both married in 1962. Gingrich was 19 and Battley was 26 at the time. As a married man, Gingrich was not drafted to do military service in Vietnam. He graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1968 with a master's degree and in 1971 with a Ph.D. in Modern European History ( Belgian Education Policy in the Congo: 1945–1960 ). Battley made the couple's living during this period.

Professional background

science

From 1970 to 1978 Gingrich taught history at the University of West Georgia at Carrollton . In 1993 he taught a course on "Renewing American Civilization" at Kennesaw State University .

Public offices

In 1974 and 1976 Gingrich ran unsuccessfully for the seat in the US House of Representatives for the sixth constituency of Georgia, which stretched from the southern suburbs of Atlanta to the border with Alabama . Both times he lost to the incumbent, Democrat John James Flynt . In 1978 Flynt was no longer a candidate, and Gingrich won the election against Democratic State Senator Virginia Shapard, a proponent of a constitutional change for gender equality that found no support in this conservative constituency. Gingrich was re-elected six times in his constituency. Gingrich was considered a representative of the new south. He did not hold any extreme religious views and appeared liberal on racial issues. Gingrich first became a member of the House of Representatives when television networks began broadcasting the discussions live. Gingrich, at the time an insignificant backbencher, knew how to use these opportunities for himself. He made speeches at the end of the House of Representatives discussions that attracted increasing media interest. Journalist George Packer argues that Gingrich understood earlier than other politicians that voters felt increasingly less indebted to their local political representatives, but that their information was increasingly obtained solely from television and less and less amenable to rational arguments, but responded to symbols and emotions. It was also easier to get people to fundraise when politics was portrayed as a simple choice between good and evil.

Gingrich was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. It is associated with the Republican Revolution , which in the 1994 election campaign for Congress led to a Republican majority for the first time in four decades. In 1995 Time magazine voted him “ Person of the Year ”. He then played a leading role in the failed impeachment of President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky affair , but at the same time had to retire from politics because of his own extramarital affair.

Lobbying

Gingrich has worked as a political advisor and TV commentator since 1999 and has received between $ 1.6 and 1.8 million for "strategic advice" from the US mortgage bank Freddie Mac . According to the New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, this consisted of political influence on the regulation process in the sense of Freddie Mac.

His daughter, Kathy Gingrich Lubbers, was the president of Gingrich Communications , a public relations agency with 15 employees, which closed in 2011 before the start of Gingrich's presidential campaign. Before the start of his campaign, Gingrich worked for and in around 25 positions and companies, according to research by the broadcaster CNN . He and family members founded several companies and institutions that were or are active in the political opinion-forming process in Washington. This resulted in sometimes substantial payments from non-profit to for-profit institutions that arose from this environment. For example, the Renewing American Leadership nonprofit paid Gingrich Communications around $ 200,000 over two years. The same non-profit organization gave Gingrich the monetary list of their donors for commercial use in his companies.

Candidacy 2012

Gingrich at a campaign speech in August 2011

His campaign position was improved in early January 2012 with a five million dollar donation from multibillionaire Sheldon Adelson . Later, Adelson and his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson an additional ten million dollars to Gingrich. When asked what they hoped for in return, Adelson replied, "Nothing, I just want to support a man who shares my vision of America." Gingrich was said to have a chance of winning the Republican candidacy ( primary ).

After a clear victory in the Republican primary in South Carolina on January 21, 2012, he was considered to be the next possible candidate for the Republican presidency. After Gingrich received only 31% of the vote in the Florida primary on January 31, 2012 and his competitor Mitt Romney 46%, this was considered the favorite.

Sebastian Fischer and Marc Pitzke wrote on Spiegel Online: “The loser misjudges the signals: Despite his massive pre-election defeat in Florida, Newt Gingrich does not want to give up. [...] After his 46 percent triumph [...] Romney's candidacy can no longer be taken. "

On May 2, 2012, Gingrich officially gave up his candidacy for the US presidential election and supported Mitt Romney from that point on . Besides South Carolina, he had only won his home state of Georgia in the primary .

US presidential campaign 2016

After advising Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential campaign, he joined his campaign and spoke at his events. Gingrich urged Republicans to join Trump and was one of the closest candidates as his running mate .

In October 2016, Megyn Kelly interviewed Newt Gingrich on The Kelly File show about the indecent comments Trump made in 2005 about women, which were published in 2016. Gingrich accused her of being fascinated by sex.

After Donald Trump's election victory in November 2016, Gingrich suggested reintroducing a committee for un-American activities .

Private

Gingrich is married for the third time. He divorced Jackie Battley in 1977 after being married for fifteen years. The divorce had been preceded by several extramarital affairs. His private life became an issue in particular when his Democratic opponent Tony Center ran a 1992 commercial claiming that Gingrich "sent his wife divorce papers the day after her cancer operation." The claim was incorrect in this form. Friends of Gingrich later said he discussed details of the divorce with his then separated wife in hospital, where she was recovering from uterine cancer. In 1981 he married Marianne Ginther, from whom he divorced in 1999. At the time, he had an affair with Callista Bisek, a 33-year-old employee in the US Congress, whom he married the following year. From his marriage to Battley he has two married daughters, Kathy and Jackie.

Works (excerpt)

Non-fiction

  • The Government's Role in Solving Societal Problems. Associated Faculty Press, Incorporated, 1982, ISBN 0-86733-026-0
  • Window of Opportunity. Tom Doherty Associates, 1985, ISBN 0-312-93923-X
  • Contract with America. (Associate Editor), Times Books, 1994, ISBN 0-8129-2586-6
  • Restoring the dream. Times Books, 1995, ISBN 0-8129-2666-8
  • Quotations from Speaker Newt. Workman Publishing Company, 1995, ISBN 0-7611-0092-X
  • To Renew America. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996, ISBN 0-06-109539-7
  • Lessons Learned The Hard Way. HarperCollins Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-06-019106-6
  • Presidential Determination Regarding Certification of the Thirty-Two Major Illicit Narcotics Producing and Transit Countries. DIANE Publishing Company, 1999, ISBN 0-7881-3186-9
  • Saving Lives and Saving Money . Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, 2003, ISBN 0-9705485-4-0
  • Winning the future . Regnery Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-89526-042-5
  • Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future. Integrity Publishers, 2006, ISBN 1-59145-482-4
  • A contract with the earth. Johns Hopkins Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8018-8780-2
  • Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works. Regnery Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59698-053-2

Fiction

Gingrich co-authored several science fiction novels with William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser. They tell historical events with a speculative new outcome ( alternative world history ):

American Civil War

World War II in the Pacific

American War of Independence

  • To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom . Griffin, 2009, ISBN 978-0-312-59106-9 .
  • Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory . Macmillan US, 2010, ISBN 978-0-312-59107-6 .

literature

  • Richard F. Fenno Jr .: Congress at the Grassroots: Representational Change in the South, 1970-1998 . UNC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8078-4855-7 .
  • Thomas H. Little: On the Coattails of a Contract: RNC Activities and Republicans Gains in the 1994 State Legislative Elections . In: Political Research Quarterly . tape 51 , no. 1 , 1998, p. 173-190 .

Web links

Commons : Newt Gingrich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sebastian Fischer: Republican candidate Gingrich: Good Newt, Bad Newt . Spiegel Online , December 8, 2011; Retrieved July 21, 2016.
    Robert Schlesinger: Is Newt Gingrich a lobbyist? A lobbyist by any other name… US News & World Report , Nov. 30, 2011; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English).
  2. ^ Robert Yoon: Fox-less Newt remains gainfully employed. CNN , March 2, 2011, accessed July 21, 2016 .
  3. ^ The Long March of Newt Gingrich. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS Frontline), January 16, 1996, accessed March 14, 2007 .
  4. a b George Packer : The Unwinding . Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-571-28033-9 , p. 18.
  5. a b George Packer: The Unwinding . Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-571-28033-9 , p. 20.
  6. ^ Trip Gabriel: Gingrich Wields History, Seeking to Add Chapter . The New York Times , Nov. 28, 2011; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English).
  7. ^ Nicholas Lemann: America's New Class System. (No longer available online.) CNN / Time , Feb. 26, 1996, archived from the original on March 18, 2015 ; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-cgi.cnn.com
  8. ^ Thomas A. Scott: Kennesaw State University. New Georgia Encyclopedia, February 21, 2007, accessed July 21, 2016 .
  9. George Packer: The Unwinding . Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-571-28033-9 , p. 21.
  10. a b George Packer: The Unwinding . Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-571-28033-9 , p. 22.
  11. Clea Benson, John McCormick: Gingrich Said to Be Paid About $ 1.6 Million by Freddie Mac. Bloomberg Businessweek , November 17, 2011, archived from the original on November 17, 2011 ; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English).
  12. Timothy Egan: Professor of Profits. The New York Times , November 16, 2011, accessed July 21, 2016 .
  13. Fox-less Newt remains gainfully employed , CNN.com, March 2, 2011 (accessed December 8, 2011)
  14. ^ Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross, Angela M. Hill: Newt Gingrich Charity Paid Cash To Gingrich For-Profit Business . ABC News , June 14, 2011, accessed July 21, 2016.
  15. Michael D. Shear, Nicholas Confessore: Primary Looms in NH, Donor Gives Lift to Gingrich . The New York Times . January 7, 2012, accessed July 21, 2016.
  16. Cynthia McFadden, Melinda Arons: Billionaire Expects 'Nothing' For His Millions to Gingrich Super PAC, Source Says . ABC News , January 24, 2012, accessed July 21, 2016.
  17. ^ Republican Primary Projections. NYT blog Electoral College , archived from the original on January 8, 2012 ; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English, continuously updated).
  18. ^ US primaries in South Carolina: Gingrich wins first win against Romney . Spiegel Online , January 22, 2012, accessed July 21, 2016.
  19. Sebastian Fischer, Marc Pitzke: Republican area code in Florida: Romney wins, Gingrich fights on . Spiegel Online , February 1, 2012, accessed July 21, 2016.
  20. US presidential campaign 2012 - Newt Gingrich officially resigns . Süddeutsche.de , May 15, 2012, accessed on July 21, 2016.
  21. thedailybeast.com
  22. ^ Vanityfair.com
  23. Christopher Mele: Newt Gingrich and Megyn Kelly Get Into Bizarre Exchange on Live TV , New York Times. October 26, 2016. 
  24. CNN
  25. Ben Evans: Gingrich admits to extramarital affair. AP article on Yahoo! March 8, 2007, archived from the original on March 14, 2007 ; accessed on July 21, 2016 (English).
  26. Dietmar Dath: Newt Gingrich: The parallel world warrior . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 30, 2012; accessed on July 21, 2016.