Roger Ailes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Roger Ailes
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Ailes in 2013
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| Born |
Roger Eugene Ailes
May 15, 1940 Warren, Ohio, U.S.
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| Died | May 18, 2017 (aged 77) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Ohio University (BA) |
| Occupation | President of Fox News Chair of Fox Television Stations 20th Television |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Marjorie White
(m. 1960; div. 1977)Norma Ferrer
(m. 1981; div. 1995)Elizabeth Tilson
(m. 1998) |
| Children | 1 |
Roger Eugene Ailes (May 15, 1940 – May 18, 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for US Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani's 1989 New York City mayoral election.
Ailes had hemophilia, a medical condition in which the body is impaired in its ability to produce blood clots. He died on May 18, 2017, at the age of 77 after a subdural hematoma that was aggravated by his hemophilia.
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Early life
Ailes was born and grew up in the factory town of Warren, Ohio, the son of Donna Marie (née Cunningham) and Robert Eugene Ailes, a factory maintenance foreman. Ailes had hemophilia and was often hospitalized as a youth. He attended the Warren city schools, and later was inducted into Warren G. Harding High School's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
Ailes's father was an authoritarian parent who was often cruel to him, while Ailes later recalled that his mother feared his hemophilia and was only physically affectionate "once in a while". His parents divorced in 1960; when he came home from college for Christmas break, they informed him that he would have to stay at a friend's house.
In 1962, Ailes graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he majored in radio and television and served as the student station manager for WOUB for two years.
Career
Early television
Ailes's career in television began in Cleveland and Philadelphia, where he started as production assistant (1961), producer (1965), and executive producer (1967–68) for KYW-TV, for a then-locally produced talk-variety show, The Mike Douglas Show. He continued as executive producer for the show when it was syndicated nationally, and in 1967 and 1968 he won Emmy Awards for it.
In 1967, Ailes had a spirited discussion about television in politics with one of the show's guests, Richard Nixon, who took the view that television was a gimmick. Later, Nixon called on Ailes to serve as his Executive Producer for television. Nixon's successful presidential campaign was Ailes's first venture into the political spotlight. His pioneering work in framing national campaign issues, capitalizing on the race-based Southern strategy and making the stiff Nixon more likable and accessible to voters was later chronicled in The Selling of the President 1968 by Joe McGinniss.
Ailes was an employee of Television News Inc., a syndicated television newsfilm service owned by Joseph Coors, from January to September 1975.
Political consulting
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In 1984, Ailes worked on the campaign to reelect Ronald Reagan. In 1987 and 1988, Ailes was credited (along with fellow consultant Lee Atwater) with guiding George H. W. Bush to victory in the Republican primaries and the victory over Michael Dukakis.
Ailes's last campaign was the unsuccessful effort of Richard Thornburgh for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in November 1991. He announced his withdrawal from political consulting in 1991.
Days after the 9/11 attacks, Ailes advised President George W. Bush that the American public would be patient as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible. The correspondence was revealed in Bob Woodward's book Bush at War. Criticized for giving political advice, Ailes lashed out against Woodward, saying "Woodward got it all screwed up, as usual", and "The reason he's not as rich as Tom Clancy is that while he and Clancy both make stuff up, Clancy does his research first". Ailes refused to release a copy of the memo he sent to Bush.
Book
In 1988, Ailes wrote a book with long-time aide Jon Kraushar entitled You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators. In 1989, Ailes wrote a book with Joh Kraushar entitled You Are the Message: Getting What You Want by Being Who You Are.
America's Talking channel
Ailes eventually made his way back to television, this time focusing on cable news. In 1993, he became president of CNBC and later created the America's Talking channel, which would eventually become MSNBC. He hosted an interview program on America's Talking.
20th Television/Fox News
Ailes was hired by News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch in 1996 to become the CEO of Fox News, effective on October 7.
After the departure of Lachlan Murdoch from News Corporation, Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005. Following his newest assignment, one of his first acts was canceling A Current Affair in September 2005 and replacing it with a new Geraldo Rivera show, Geraldo at Large, which debuted on Halloween, 2005. Rivera's show drew about the same ratings as A Current Affair in January 2007.
Ailes hired former Viacom executive Dennis Swanson in October 2005 to be president of the Fox Television Stations Group. Additionally, there were changes in affiliates' news programs with the standardization of Fox News Channel-like graphics, redesigned studios, news-format changes, and the announcement of a new morning television show called The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet to be produced by Fox News Channel.
In January 2011, 400 rabbis, including leaders from various branches of Judaism in the United States, published an open letter in The Wall Street Journal on the UN-designated Holocaust Remembrance Day. They called on Rupert Murdoch to sanction Fox News commentator Glenn Beck for his use of the Holocaust to "discredit any individual or organization you disagree with." An executive at Fox News rejected the letter, calling it the work of a "George Soros-backed left wing political organization." Ailes is also said to have once referred to Jewish critics of his as "left-wing rabbis."
Also in 2011, Ailes was criticized for referring to executives of the public radio network NPR as "Nazis" for firing a news analyst, Juan Williams, after Williams had made remarks considered by NPR to be offensive. Ailes apologized to a Jewish group, but not to NPR, for using the expression, writing to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL): "I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR's willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough ... My now considered opinion 'nasty, inflexible bigot' would have worked better."
The ADL welcomed and accepted the apology through its National Director, Abraham Foxman; in a subsequent letter to The Wall Street Journal Foxman said that both Ailes and Beck were "pro-Israel stalwarts." In October 2012, his contract with the network was renewed for four years, through 2016. If completed, he would have served as head of Fox News Channel for 20 years. Salary terms were not made public, although his earnings for the 2012 fiscal year were $21 million inclusive of bonuses. In addition to heading Fox News and chairing Fox Television Stations, Ailes also chaired 20th Television, MyNetworkTV and Fox Business Network.
Resignation
On July 21, 2016, Ailes resigned from Fox News, receiving $65 million from 21st Century Fox (the then-parent company of 20th Century Fox and Fox News) in an exit agreement. Rupert Murdoch succeeded him as chairman, and as interim CEO until the naming of a permanent replacement. In a letter to Murdoch, Ailes wrote: "I will not allow my presence to become a distraction from the work that must be done every day to ensure that Fox News and Fox Business continue to lead our industry." Ailes was thanked for his work, without mention of the allegations. He continued to advise Murdoch and 21st Century Fox through 2017 until his death.
In 2016, after he left Fox News, he became an adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, where he assisted with debate preparation.
Personal life
Ailes was married three times.
He married his third wife Elizabeth Tilson (born 1960) on February 14, 1998. Formerly a television executive, she was the owner and publisher of local New York state newspapers The Putnam County News & Recorder and The Putnam County Courier. Roger Ailes had one son, named Zachary, with Elizabeth. The family resided in Garrison, New York, on a hilltop parcel in a home constructed of Adirondack river stone across the Hudson River from United States Military Academy at West Point. Ailes also had residences in Cresskill, New Jersey, and Palm Beach, Florida. Ailes was a longtime friend of journalist and media personality Barbara Walters.
Philanthropy
Ohio University
In October 2007, Ailes donated to Ohio University for a renovated student newsroom. Ailes had majored in radio and television while at Ohio University and served two years as manager of the school's radio station. Starting in 1994, he funded scholarships for Ohio University students in the school's telecommunications programs.
Death
In a 2013 book excerpt from Roger Ailes: Off Camera, Ailes spoke about facing death, saying, "Because of my hemophilia, I've been prepared to face death all of my life. When it comes, I'll be fine, calm. I'll miss life, though. Especially my family."
On May 10, 2017, Ailes fell and hit his head at his Palm Beach, Florida, home. He died on May 18, three days after his 77th birthday due to injuries from the fall. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner attributed his death to a subdural hematoma, aggravated by hemophilia. His wife, Elizabeth, announced his death in a statement on the Drudge Report.
George H. W. Bush, Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Bill Hemmer, Bret Baier, Geraldo Rivera, Laura Ingraham, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Jesse Jackson, Ainsley Earhardt, Shannon Bream, Al Sharpton, David Axelrod, Jeanine Pirro, Martha MacCallum, Newt Gingrich, and Lou Dobbs paid tribute to Ailes.
Biographies
- Kerwin Swint (2008). Dark Genius: The Influential Career of Legendary Political Operative and Fox News Founder Roger Ailes. Union Square Press. ISBN 978-1-4027-5445-6. https://archive.org/details/darkgeniusinflue0000swin.
- David Brock (2012). The Fox Effect: How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine. Anchor. ISBN 978-0-307-27958-3. https://archive.org/details/foxeffecthowroge0000broc.
- Ze'ev Chafets (2013). Roger Ailes: Off Camera. Sentinel. ISBN 978-1-59523-108-6. https://archive.org/details/rogerailesoffcam0000chaf.
- Gabriel Sherman (2014). The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News – And Divided A Country. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-9285-4.
Documentaries
- Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes (documentary, 2018, dir. Alexis Bloom)
See also
In Spanish: Roger Ailes para niños
