Bruce Herschensohn

Stanley Bruce Herschensohn (September 10, 1932 – November 30, 2020) was an American conservative political commentator, author, film director, and senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy in Malibu, California.

Herschensohn quickly rose to prominence in the Republican Party, becoming a consultant to the Republican National Convention in 1972 and joining the Nixon administration on September 11, 1972. He served primarily as a speech writer. He left following Nixon's resignation, but served on the Ronald Reagan presidential transition team and as an official in the Reagan administration.

Previously, Herschensohn had been a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had taught politics at the University of Maryland, Whittier College and at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy.

Early life and career Herschensohn attended University High School in Los Angeles. He then joined the United States Air Force and served 1951–1952.

Political campaigns Herschensohn casting his vote in the 1986 U.S. Senate election.

Unsuccessful 1986 U.S. Senate primary campaign In 1986, Herschensohn unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat held by Democrat Alan Cranston. He finished far ahead of the crowded pack in most of Southern California but finished second statewide to Silicon Valley Representative Ed Zschau, who won the nomination by plurality.

1992 U.S. Senate election

In 1992, when Cranston retired, Herschensohn won the Republican nomination narrowly, defeating U.S. Representative Tom Campbell, a more moderate Republican who had been on the faculty of Stanford University and who had been elected to Zschau's former Congressional seat. Herschensohn received 956,136 votes (38.2 percent) to Campbell's 895,970 (35.8 percent). The remaining 417,848 ballots (16.7 percent) went to Mayor Sonny Bono of Palm Springs, also a relative moderate. During the primary campaign and afterwards, Herschensohn became a close friend of Bono and encouraged his former rival to seek election to the United States House of Representatives in 1994.

Herschensohn lost the 1992 general election to the Democratic Party nominee Barbara Boxer, but received over one million votes more than the Republican presidential ticket of George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle received in California during the same election. Herschensohn won more votes than any losing Senate candidate had ever gotten at the time, topping the count of Leo McCarthy (D-CA) in 1988. His record wasn't broken until Elizabeth Emken topped it in the 2012 California Senate race.

Career

RKO Pictures, Los Angeles Studio messenger, 1950–51 In art department, 1953–55 United States Air Force, 1951–52 General Dynamics Corp., Convair Division, San Diego, California, film maker and director, 1955–56 Self-employed film director, producer, and writer in Los Angeles, 1956–68 Director, John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums (1964) Member of board of trustees of American Film Institute, 1967 U.S. delegation to International Film Festival Chairman of delegation, Czechoslovakia, 1968 Member of delegation in U.S.S.R., 1969 U.S. Information Agency, Washington, D.C., director of Motion Picture and Television Service, 1968–72 Instructor for "U.S. Image Abroad" at the University of Maryland, 1972 Member of board of governors of Charles Edison Memorial Youth Foundation Consultant to 1972 Republican National Convention White House, Washington, D.C. (Richard Nixon administration) Staff assistant to president, 1972–73 Deputy special assistant, 1973–74 Self-employed film director, producer, and writer, 1975–76 Freelance writer, 1976–2020 Ronald Reagan Presidential Transition Team, 1980 Political commentator for Los Angeles KABC radio and TV stations, 1978–1991 Senior Fellow, School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, 2006–2020 Nonresident Associate Fellow, Nixon Center Board of directors, Center for Individual Freedom

Authorship

The Gods of Antenna, Arlington House. (1976) Lost Trumpets: A Conservative's Map to America's Destiny, The Claremont Institute Press, Claremont, California. (1994) Hong Kong at the Handover (Editor), Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland. (1999) Across the Taiwan Strait: Democracy: The Bridge Between Mainland China and Taiwan (Editor), Lexington Books. (2002)

Author of films: "Tall Man Five-Five", (Strategic Air Command) "Karma", International Communications Foundation "The President", U.S. Information Agency "Bridges of the Barrios", U.S. Information Agency "The Five Cities of June", 1963, U.S. Information Agency "John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums", 1965, U.S. Information Agency "Eulogy to 5:02", 1965, U.S. Information Agency Contributor of stories to, among others: Conservative Digest Newsday Newsweek Human Events Saturday Evening Post

Awards

Arthur S. Flemming Award, 1969 Academy Award from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1970, for short documentary film "Czechoslovakia: 1968" Academy Award nominations, 1969 and 1972 Distinguished service award from U.S. Information Agency, 1972 Award from Council Against Communist Aggression, 1972

Electoral history