Alan Keyes - Biography

Alan Keyes was born on August 7, 1950 in New York City. An American diplomat, radio commentator and politician, Keyes has been one of the most prominent African American conservatives on the American scene.

Raised in a military family, Alan Keyes lived at Army bases in the United States and Italy. At Cornell University he became a follower of Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of The American Mind. He later transferred to Harvard where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1972 and a doctorate in government studies from Harvard University in 1979. He wrote his dissertation on constitutional theory.

Alan joined the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer in 1978. Then in 1983 the Reagan Administration appointed him ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (1983-85) and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State (1985-87). Keyes also served as Interim President of Alabama A&M University in 1991.

He twice ran for the U.S. Senate nomination in Maryland but was defeated by Paul Sarbanes (1988) and Barbara Mikulski (1992). Keyes, always an outspoken and controversial conservative, was President of Citizens Against Government Waste (1989-91) and founded the National Taxpayer’s Action Day.

In 1994 Keyes decided to put his oratorical skills to work and launched the conservative radio show, America’s Wake-Up Call: The Alan Keyes Show on WCBM in Baltimore. Much like Rush Limbaugh, Keyes discussed a wide variety of topics. The talk show gave him a platform for his conservative views and catapulted him onto the national scene. A devout Catholic Christian, Keyes spoke out against the separation of church and state, abortion and corrupt national leadership. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal Keyes criticized the Republicans for abandoning their moral principles.

Alan Keyes became the Twentieth Century’s first black Republican presidential candidate in 1995. His political views, based on America’s founding ideals as described in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, elevated the national debate. The public heard his unequivocal pro-life, pro-family message and his rhetoric forced the Republicans to address America’s moral crisis.

A well-educated leader who speaks several languages, Alan Keyes is also a fiery orator. He speaks like a revivalist preacher and a New Hampshire State Representative once said Keyes makes Jesse Jackson sound like he stutters. His oratorical prowess once caused U.N. ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick to call him “one of the most dramatically articulate people I’ve ever known in my life.”

Keyes began considering another presidential run, and in 2000 he unsuccessfully campaigned for the presidential nomination for the Republican Party.

Two years later he hosted a television commentary show, Alan Keyes is Making Sense on MSNBC. He boldly discussed issues such as homosexuality, the sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, and Israel’s right to crack down on the Palestinians. And when Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore defied a court order and continued to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom in 2003, Keyes sided with him. Keys said both the U.S. Constitution and Alabama constitution give Moore the authority to display them. Although authorities removed the Ten Commandments display, Keyes spent the next year defending the rights to display them. He also published an essay, “On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution really says.”

The next year Keyes ran for election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois. He lost to Democrat Barack Obama. Then in late 2006 he criticized Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for instituting gay marriage without being required to or allowed to by Massachusetts law. Said Keyes, “Tells you how twisted our politicians have become.”

Alan Keyes launched a third Republican run for President in 2008. However, in March he left the Republican party and continued on under the ultra-conservative Constitution Party. He stressed border control and opposed abortion and same-sex marriage.

A dedicated family man, Keyes and his wife Jocelyn live Darnestown, Maryland and have three children: Francis, Maya and Andrew.

Alan Keyes says his purpose in life is identical to that of the Founding Fathers: to provide a secure future for our posterity. He is now speaking out about America’s moral crisis. He has authored several books, including Masters of The Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America (1995); and Our Character, Our Future: Reclaiming America’s Moral Destiny (1996). He is currently promoting the Constitution Party’s “Save America Summit” and serves on the boards of the Catholic League, Eagle Forum and the American Coalition of Life Activists. Keyes is promoting conservative causes and has his own leadership PAC.

KEYES ON THE ISSUES

One Nation Under God. Keyes believes God is the ultimate source of law and authority and that immorality has corrupted the nation and has led to the abandonment of respect for law and individual responsibility. The only answer to our current moral crisis is a return to a strong belief in God. Reverence for God is the very foundation of justice and citizenship in our Republic.

School Prayer. Keyes protests the “separation of church and state.” The First Amendment does not forbid religious influence on politics or society, only government sponsored coercion of religious conscience.

United Nations. Despite his decade of service in the State Department, Keyes is an outspoken critic of the U.N. It has dangerously naïve globalist dreams, and could easily undermine our sovereignty. If necessary, The United States should withdraw from the U.N. to protect American principles and interests.

Immigration. Keyes says the answer is to “Enforce the law.” Expand legal immigration, while curtailing illegal immigration.

War. Says after the military victory in Iraq the U.S. should have turned the operation over to the U.N. Bush emphasized democracy for Iraq, when the real goal was security for America.

Gun Control. Opposes it. Keyes is a strong supporter of the Second Ammendment. Says its our right and duty to bear arms to resist tyranny.

Abortion. Keyes is pro-life and staunchly opposes Roe. v. Wade. "As long as courts sanction murder in the womb, they will be filled with the consequences of violence in our streets, schools, workplaces, and homes,"

Death Penalty. “We have and apply the death penalty in order to send a clear moral message to people throughout our society that we will not tolerate that kind of disrespect for life.”

Social Issues. Keyes is against affirmative action. Preferential treatment contradicts equality. Cannot cure an injustice with another injustice. Only creates resentment toward minorities.

Teaching of evolution. Keyes believes the theory of evolution is used as a political excuse for “might makes right.” That justice belongs to the survival of the fittest.

Taxes. Favors abolishing the IRS and the Federal income tax. Taxation should be from tariffs, duties and sales taxes.

Space Program. “We should as a community sustain our commitment to develop the great frontier [of space] for the sake of humanity, not just for our own sake...Space exploration has a spiritual component which we may be losing sight of. As a people we need continually to have before us the truth that our potential is best realized when we are challenging ourselves to reach for those things that transcend our everyday needs and desires and passions and commit us to the kind of endeavors that have importance not only for us, but for future generations. I think space exploration is one of those and I would support it strongly.”

Ambassador Alan Keyes

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