Joseph Ben Zion Wattenberg, known as Ben Wattenberg, was a writer, a PBS television commentator and a publicly political intellectual for nearly five decades. He was best known as a host of television programs, including Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, In Search of the Real America and Ben Wattenberg At Large.
Defying strict political categorization, Wattenberg defined himself as an “old center-right Democrat,” or “paleoliberal,” while others defined him as a “neoconservative.” He wrote a syndicated newspaper column, was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and later in his career was appointed by presidents of both parties to governmental organizations including the Board for International Broadcasting.
He also published several books, including 1965’s This U.S.A.: An Unexpected Family Portrait of 194,067,296 Americans Drawn From the Census and 1984’s The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong, in which he argued that the United States was never as troubled as the mass media suggested. In the former, Wattenberg claimed that the U.S. was entering a golden age, and had the declining divorce rates and greater economic opportunities to support his theory. The book caught the attention of then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who invited Wattenberg to the White House. He became a speechwriter for Johnson and an advisor to then-Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. He also wrote the The Real Majority (1970), The Birth Dearth (1987), Values Matter Most (1995) and Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism (2008). In addition, he wrote a novel in 1977, Against All Enemies, about a schism between a President and Vice-President.
Joseph Ben Zion Wattenberg, known as Ben Wattenberg, was a writer, a PBS television commentator and a publicly political intellectual for nearly five decades. He was best known as a host of television programs, including Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, In Search of the Real America and Ben Wattenberg At Large.
Defying strict political categorization, Wattenberg defined himself as an “old center-right Democrat,” or “paleoliberal,” while others defined him as a “neoconservative.” He wrote a syndicated newspaper column, was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and later in his career was appointed by presidents of both parties to governmental organizations including the Board for International Broadcasting.
He also published several books, including 1965’s This U.S.A.: An Unexpected Family Portrait of 194,067,296 Americans Drawn From the Census and 1984’s The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong, in which he argued that the United States was never as troubled as the mass media suggested. In the former, Wattenberg claimed that the U.S. was entering a golden age, and had the declining divorce rates and greater economic opportunities to support his theory. The book caught the attention of then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who invited Wattenberg to the White House. He became a speechwriter for Johnson and an advisor to then-Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. He also wrote the The Real Majority (1970), The Birth Dearth (1987), Values Matter Most (1995) and Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism (2008). In addition, he wrote a novel in 1977, Against All Enemies, about a schism between a President and Vice-President.
Wattenberg died June 28, 2015, in Washington, D.C. He was 81.
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