White House 2008: Meet Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich is well-known as the architect of the “Contract with America” that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in forty years. After he was elected Speaker, he disrupted the status quo by moving power out of Washington and back to the American people. Under his leadership, Congress passed welfare reform, passed the first balanced budget in a generation, and passed the first tax cut in sixteen years. In addition, the Congress restored funding to strengthen our defense and intelligence capabilities, an action later lauded by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.
But there is a lot more to Newt Gingrich than these remarkable achievements. As an author, Newt has published nine books including the best sellers, Contract with America and To Renew America and his most recent book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America. In June 2005, Never Call Retreat concluded Newt's series of active history studies in the lessons of warfare based on a fictional account of the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. And in Saving Lives & Saving Money, Newt demonstrates how to transform health and healthcare into a 21st century system.
In his post-Speaker role, Newt has become one of the most highly sought-after public speakers, accepting invitations to speak before some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. Because of his own unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Newt is able to share unique and unparalleled insights on a wide range of topics. His audiences find him to be not only an educational but also an inspirational speaker.
Widely recognized for his commitment to a better system of health for all Americans, his leadership helped save Medicare from bankruptcy, prompted FDA reform to help the seriously ill and initiated a new focus on research, prevention, and wellness. His contributions have been so great that the American Diabetes Association awarded him their highest non-medical award and the March of Dimes named him their 1995 Citizen of the Year. Today he serves as a Board Member of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
In his book, Saving Lives and Saving Money, Newt describes his vision of a 21st .jpg)
Century System of Health and Healthcare that is centered on the individual, prevention focused, knowledge intense, and innovation rich. Moreover, he makes the case for a market-mediated system that will improve choice and quality while driving down costs. To foster such a modern health system that provides better outcomes at lower cost, Newt launched the Center for Health Transformation (www.healthtransformation.net).
Newt also serves with former Senator Bob Kerrey as Co-chairman of the National Commission for Quality Long-term Care. The commission will make recommendations to policymakers and the public on how to transform healthcare services for the frail elderly and disabled in order to maximize independence and achieve a high quality of life and quality of care for our aging population.
Recognized internationally as an expert on world history, military issues, and international affairs, Newt serves as a Member of the Defense Policy Board.
Newt is the longest-serving teacher of the Joint War Fighting course for Major Generals. He also teaches officers from all five services as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University . Newt serves on the Terrorism Task Force for the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Johns Hopkins University journal, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, and is an Advisory Board Member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Recently, Newt was named co-Chair of the UN Task Force, a bi-partisan Congressional effort to reform the United Nations.
In 1999, Gingrich was appointed to the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, the Hart/Rudman Commission to examine our national security challenges as far out as 2025. The Commission's report is the most profound rethinking of defense strategy since 1947. The report concluded that the number one threat to the United States was the likelihood over the next 25 years of a weapon of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical, and/or biological being used against one or more major cities unless our defense and intelligence structures underwent a massive transformation. That report was published six months before September 11.
Because of his work on the Commission, Newt Gingrich is credited with the idea contained in the report of a Homeland Security Agency with a Secretary to serve on the Cabinet level. President George W. Bush has since created the Department of Homeland Security.
Newt Gingrich is Chairman of the Gingrich Group, a communications and consulting firm that specializes in transformational change, with offices in Atlanta and Washington, DC . He serves as a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California and is an Honorary Chairman of the NanoBusiness Alliance. Newt is also a news and political analyst for the Fox News Channel.
Newt Gingrich is a leading advocate of increased Federal funding for basic science research. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Science Coalition's first Science Pioneer award, given to him for his outstanding contributions to educating the public about science and its benefits to society.
A strong advocate of volunteerism, Gingrich has long championed the positive impact every individual can have on society. He has raised millions of dollars for charity, donating both time and money to a wide array of causes, including Habitat for Humanity, United Cerebral Palsy, the American Cancer Society, and ZooAtlanta. A former environmental studies professor, he is widely recognized for his commitment to the environment and to the advancement of a new, common-sense environmentalism. In 1998, the Georgia Wildlife Federation named him Legislative Conservationist of the Year.
Newt was first elected to Congress in 1978 where he served the Sixth District of Georgia for twenty years. In 1995, he was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives where he served until 1999. The Washington Times has called him “the indispensable leader” and Time magazine, in naming him Man of the Year for 1995, said, “Leaders make things possible. Exceptional leaders make them inevitable. Newt Gingrich belongs in the category of the exceptional.”
His experiences as the son of a career soldier convinced him at an early age to dedicate his life to his country and to the protection of freedom.
Realizing the importance of understanding the past in order to protect the future, he immersed himself in the study of history, receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Emory University and Master’s and Doctorate in Modern European History from Tulane University . Before his election to Congress, he taught History and Environmental Studies at West Georgia College for eight years.
He resides in Virginia with his wife, Callista. The Gingrich family includes two daughters, two sons-in-law and two grandchildren.
