"For starters, this country embodies something utterly unique: History's first democratic empire. Beginning in the post war era, we have used free trade and democracy to create a series of interlocking relationships that end war." -- Armstrong Williams
Armstrong Williams (born February 5, 1959) is an African American political commentator who writes a conservative newspaper column, hosts a nationally syndicated TV program called The Right Side, and hosts a daily radio show. From 2004 to 2007, he co-hosted a daily radio program with Sam Greenfield, broadcast on WWRL 1600 in New York City.
"A belief in God helps provide a foundation to arbitrate our decisions. Without this foundation, we are condemned to live essentially formless lives.""A global democracy works only when countries trust one another.""At some point we must make a decision not to allow the mere threat of charges of cultural or religious insensitivity to stop us from dealing with this evil.""At some point we must realize that actively defending against radical Islamic teachings is not a matter of cultural relativity. It is a matter of universally recognized human rights.""At the end of the day, there is no doubt that the unique spirit embodied by this country has worked, not just to make the world safer, but to make it better.""Bottom line: if you show a genuine interest in learning about how others became successful, you can open up a world of opportunities.""Democratic societies can no longer give religious fanatics a free hand to abuse and murder non believers. Such action betrays contempt for the basic human rights which animate any democracy with meaning.""Even during the worst hardships, when the other things in our lives seem to fall apart, we can still find peace in the eternal love of God.""Even in this glowering age, morality animates our lives with meaning.""I do not think athletes should get a free pass. I don't think we should train our children and future athletes to believe that they are above the law and morality.""In short, we cannot grow, we cannot achieve authentic discovery, and our eyes cannot be cleansed to the truly beautiful possibilities of life, if we simply live a neutral existence.""In Washington, DC, politics dominate even the most casual conversations.""Let's remember the children who come from broken homes, surrounded by crime, drugs, temptation, their peers having babies out of wedlock, but who still manage to get a good education despite the many obstacles they face every day.""My point is, if you want to achieve anything in life, it is not enough to merely wish for it. You must develop that kind of 4:30 AM discipline that distinguishes you from others.""Networking is an essential part of building wealth.""Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk.""Patients describing the benefits of prayer often talk about how it provides a sense of well being.""Receiving far less attention are the working class heroes, who go about their solitary work routines with quiet dignity, come home from another grueling day, yet still find time to interact with their children.""Sports nurtures dreams of achieving self confidence and masculine striving for the skinny kid watching a boxer dance around the ring with sublime ease.""That is what great athletes can do: they give us a model of striving for human perfection.""The country remains dependent on oil. But as we are now learning, oil is becoming increasingly scarce.""The greatest job I ever had was working on my family farm. Each morning my father would come into my bedroom around 4:30 am and command me to get up and work the fields. I would spend the next two hours before school slopping pigs and cropping tobacco.""The liberation of Iraq was part of a broader effort to seriously confront the greatest threat to world security: rogue states capable of obtaining long range weapons of mass destruction.""There are two sayings that are familiar in every news room across the country: 1) sex sells; 2) if it bleeds it leads.""Therefore the great mediator of any community is human morality.""Very simply, the culture of another people does not have to be accepted when it is subhuman!""We cannot solve the problem of terrorism by asserting our will on the world.""We tend to admire the people in our society who have accumulated such wealth as to seem somehow great. But we shouldn't forget that it was the everyday working class man who made this country great.""With the rise of America, the global balance of power shifted away from the old European powers.""You must develop personal contacts if you want to be successful."
A native of Marion, South Carolina, Williams was reared on the family’s tobacco farm with nine other siblings. He displayed an early gift for public speaking, winning a high school orating contest in 1976. Graduating in 1981 from South Carolina State University, he received his B.A. in Political Science and English. He is a life member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Williams, who has never married, often mentions his celibacy.
In 1997, Williams was sued for sexual harassment by Stephen Gregory, a former YMCA personal trainer whom Williams repeatedly promoted, eventually to executive producer of his show The Right Side. The case was settled out of court. In his book Blinded by the Right, journalist David Brock claimed that Williams made a pass at him in Williams' apartment.
An entrepreneur and third-generation Republican, Armstrong Williams was formerly vice president for governmental and international affairs public relations firm, B&C Associations. He also served as confidential assistant to the Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas), presidential appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, legislative assistant to the U.S. Representative Carroll Campbell (former governor of South Carolina) and legislative aide and advisor to U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond.
In 1991, Williams began his radio career at WOL Radio, 1450 AM, in Washington, D.C. In 1995, Williams' local show was syndicated by The Talk America Radio Network. In 1998 Williams united with The Salem Radio Network which syndicated his national radio show to 26 of the top radio markets in the country. In 2002, he reunited with the Newark, New Jersey-based Talk America Radio Network.
From 2002 to 2005 Williams hosted On Point with Armstrong Williams, a monthly primetime television special that aired on cable network TV One. A joint venture among Comcast, Radio One, and Right Side Production, On Point with Armstrong Williams included guests such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In 2003 he launched his own company, The Right Side Productions, which produces and syndicates his television program to media outlets including Sky Angel, The Liberty Channel, etc. jointly with Langer Broadcast Radio Network.
In 2004, Williams was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows. The Commission's responsibility is to select qualified candidates to serve as Fellows to Cabinet-rank offices. Past fellows have included Cheney, Powell and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Williams has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR as a guest commentator. He joined the lineup at WWRL 1600 A.M.'s "New York's Urban Talk" in March 2005 as co-host with Sam Greenfield on Drive Time Dialogue.
In 2008, Williams began hosting a conservative talk show on XM Satellite Radio.
Williams is a National Board member of the Carson Scholars Fund, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity that was founded in 1994 by Johns Hopkins Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson to recognize and reward students in grades 4-11 who strive for academic excellence (3.75 GPA or higher) and demonstrate a strong commitment to their community.
"No Child Left Behind" controversy
In January 2005, USA Today reported that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Williams had been paid $240,000 to promote the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. USA Today claimed Williams was hired "to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same".
As part of the agreement, Williams was required "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004". The contract with Williams was part of a $1 million contract between the U.S. Department of Education and the public relations company, Ketchum Inc.
Melanie Sloan from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told USA Today that the contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda ... [A]nd it's propaganda". United States Representative George Miller (D-CA), a member of the House Education Committee, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal". Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington was founded in 2001 by Melanie Sloan, a former aide to Representative John Conyers and Senator Chuck Schumer.
After the USA Today revelations, Tribune Media Services terminated its syndication agreement with Williams. In a statement to Editor & Publisher (not available on its website), TMS stated: "[A]ccepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party". Williams told the Associated Press "even though I'm not a journalist — I'm a commentator — I feel I should be held to the media ethics standard. My judgment was not the best. I wouldn't do it again, and I learned from it."
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it was a matter for the Education Department. According to Associated Press the Department of Education stated that the deal was a "permissible use of taxpayer funds under legal government contracting procedures".McClellan remained noncommittal on whether White House staff knew of the deal with Williams. "I'm not sure that senior staff was consulted before this decision was made. I haven't heard anything to that effect", he said. Three days after the story broke, McClellan claimed he was unaware of the details of the contract and that specific questions should be directed to the Education Department. As to whether Williams should have disclosed the details of the contract in his columns and on-air appearances, McClellan would only concede that "those are all legitimate questions". Asked whether he would investigate whether other journalists were on the payroll of the administration, McClellan replied, "I'm not aware of any others that are under contract other than the one that's been reported on in the media."
Following the revelations of the Williams contract with Ketchum, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington announced that it had filed Freedom of Information requests with 22 agencies requesting copies of all contracts with public relation firms.
The USA Today revelations caused controversy within the PR industry as well. As soon as the story broke, Edelman Public Relations' CEO Richard Edelman posted a note on his personal blog criticizing Ketchum's deal with Williams. "This kind of pay for play public relations takes us back in time to the days of the press agent who would drop off the new record album and $10 to the deejay. It makes our industry's efforts to 'clean up' behavior in newly created PR markets such as China and Russia look decidedly ridiculous", he wrote. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) issued a statement saying "the relationship should have been disclosed up front, no question".
On January 26, 2005 a similar arrangement surfaced between Maggie Gallagher and the Department of Health and Human Services involving her paid support of the Bush administration's "healthy marriage" initiative, which she did not disclose. On January 28, 2005 it was revealed that Michael McManus, a syndicated columnist who writes Ethics & Religion, was paid up to $10,000 to support the administration's marriage initiative to divert funds from welfare to marital counselling, which he did not disclose.
On September 30, 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the payments to Williams were illegal on the part of the Department of Education because the government's role in the public relations effort was not disclosed.
To date, Mr. Williams has still not yet returned the money to the US Treasury.
Williams is also the CEO of the Graham Williams Group, which is described as an "international public relations firm with clients in entertainment, politics, business and charitable organizations".
