Ailes, Roger Eugene

Roger Eugene Ailes has been referred to by politicians, media personnel, and media critics as the most effective conservative political consultant and media manager of the last 40 years of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st century. His work on behalf of conservative candidates, personalities, and causes has affected the political and media spectrum in the United States through the election of three conservative presidents and the establishment of significant and successful news organizations.

Ailes, a 1962 graduate of Ohio University, began his television career in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was the producer and director of a local talk/variety show called The Mike Douglas Show. He became the executive producer for the show and led it to national syndication. The show would eventually win two Emmy awards. According to Linda Lee Kaid, it was in this milieu that Ailes met Richard Nixon, a show guest, who at the time was out of office. Kaid wrote that Ailes, in a spirited interchange, convinced Nixon that television was more than a gimmick and that Nixon would need to develop a television persona if the former vice president were to return to prominence in American politics. When Nixon gained the Republican nomination for president, Ailes was appointed the executive producer of television for the successful campaign.

Following the success of the Nixon campaign, Ailes formed his own political consulting firm, Ailes Communication, Inc., in 1969. For the next 23 years, Ailes successfully consulted with a large stable of local, state, and congressional candidates as well as a number of successful business and media corporations. Ailes returned to presidential politics in 1984, when he was asked to coach President Ronald Reagan in his second debate with Democratic candidate Walter Mondale. Reagan's performance in the first debate was considered by many to be lackluster. In the second debate, Reagan was able to use humor to successfully upstage his rival in the eyes of political critics and the American voters. The performance put the Reagan campaign back on track toward a landslide victory in November.

Ailes was again active in the 1988 campaign, mentoring George W. Bush. Bush had trailed early in the campaign but finished strongly with effective attacks on Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis. Ailes did not consult for Bush's losing 1992 campaign.

While effectively working in the consulting field, Ailes was also pursuing his interest in television. His abilities were recognized in 1977 with an Emmy nomination for his production and direction of Feiini: Wizards, Clowns and Honest Liars. In 1984 he was awarded an Emmy as the executive producer and director of the television special Television and the Presidency. In 1988 Ailes wrote, with Jon Krausher, You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators. In that volume he outlined his strategies for successfully dealing with the public media. Following his 1992 announcement that he would no longer be active as a political consultant, Ailes returned to television.

Named as president of CNBC in 1993, Ailes built the NBC cable network into a successful news organization. He is credited with increasing the ratings by 50 percent and tripling the network's income. While in this position, he developed a new all-talk network for NBC, called America's Talking. The network debuted in 1994.

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