Herbert London

Herbert Ira London and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Personal life and education London was born on March 6, 1939, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, the son of Esta (Epstein), a homemaker, and Jack London, who sold materials for upholstery. His family was Jewish. At 6'5", he played basketball for a city championship-winning Jamaica High School team. One of his three daughters is Stacy London, former host of TV shows What Not to Wear and Love, Lust or Run. He graduated from Columbia in 1960 and obtained a doctorate in history at New York University in 1966. UWW changed its name to the Gallatin Division in 1976. Gallatin students design their own curricula and do not have any required courses. Gallatin later added a focus on the study of great books. After retiring as a dean, London became the John M. Olin Professor of Humanities at NYU. He was also a senior fellow at the Center for the American University at the Manhattan Institute and chairman of the National Association of Scholars.

London was a noted social critic and a guest lecturer on many major radio and television programs, including CNN's Crossfire which he co-hosted for one year. His work appeared in major newspapers across the country, including the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, National Review, Fortune, The New York Times and many others.

In 2012, he founded the London Center for Policy Research, which was influential in the staffing and policy direction of the first Trump Administration, with many of its senior fellows taking on both official and unofficial roles in the administration.

Political campaigns London registered as a Republican in New York in 1978.

1989 campaign for Mayor of New York City

In 1989, London entered the race for both the Conservative Party and Republican Party nominations for Mayor of New York City. Ronald Lauder was endorsed by the Conservatives and London dropped out of the Republican primary.

1990 campaign for Governor of New York

London was the Conservative Party nominee for Governor of New York in 1990. The party broke from recent practice and declined to cross-endorse the Republican nominee, the Canada-born businessman Pierre Rinfret. Conservatives leaders cited Rinfret's support for abortion, his perceived lack of seriousness about his candidacy, and his potential difficulties in attacking incumbent Democratic governor Mario Cuomo on fiscal policies as reasons for their decision to run their own gubernatorial candidate. London finished one percentage point behind Rinfret, 827,614 votes to 865,948. Cuomo was re-elected to a third term.

Republican and Conservative leaders were resolved to support the same candidate to avoid splitting the conservative vote as in 1990. D'Amato preferred State Senator George Pataki, but state senate majority leader Ralph J. Marino held a grudge against Pataki, London and others who tried to oust Marino in the 1992 primary. However, Marino supported London through the Republican Party convention, where London could not gain enough supporters to automatically be placed on the G.O.P. primary ballot.

During that convention, Republican leaders convinced London to drop out of the governor's race in favor of accepting the party's nomination for state Comptroller. Prior to London being offered the Comptroller's nomination, Assemblyman John Faso was considered the frontrunner for the nomination. London went on to face interim Democratic Comptroller Carl McCall. Then, in the week before the election, a statement was issued by 50 leading members of the Democratic Party in New York, condemning London for launching racist attacks against McCall. Two Manhattan Republicans withdrew their support for London, while Mayor Rudy Giuliani stuck with his endorsement of London.

McCall defeated London in the election, 52% to 46%, becoming the first black candidate elected to statewide office in New York. McCall had out-raised London $3.6 million to $543,000. London's criticism of Pataki and his attack ads against McCall were seen as negatively affecting his performance in the race.

Works Source: (with Jed Babbin)

(edited with James F. Cooper & Laurence Jarvik) (with Edwin S. Rubenstein)

Why Are They Lying to Our Children? Stein and Day. 1984 (Foreword by Herman Kahn). ISBN 0-8128-2937-9

Articles