Tony Blankley

Tony Blankley
Born	Anthony David Blankley (1948-01-21)January 21, 1948 London, England, UK
Died	Washington, District of Columbia, US
Cause of death	Stomach cancer
Residence	Great Falls, Virginia
Nationality	United States
Education	UCLA, B.S. (political science) Loyola Marymount University, J.D. University of London, international law certificate
Alma mater	Fairfax High School (Los Angeles)
Occupation	Public relations executive, newspaper editor, television commentator, radio commentator, prosecutor, child actor
Notable work	The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?, 2005 American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century, 2009
Home town	Los Angeles, California, US
Spouse(s)	Lynda Davis, Ph.D., m. ca. 1985, 3 children
Parent(s)	Jack Blankley (deceased), Trixie Blankley (deceased; survived her son)
Relatives	Maggie Blankley, sister
Notes

Anthony David "Tony" Blankley (January 21, 1948 – January 7, 2012) was an American political analyst who gained fame as the press secretary for Newt Gingrich, the first Republican Speaker of the House in forty years, and as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group. He later became an Executive Vice President with Edelman public relations in Washington, D.C. He was a Visiting Senior Fellow in National-Security Communications at the Heritage Foundation, a weekly contributor to the nationally syndicated public radio program Left, Right & Center, the author of The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? and American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century.

Early Life

Blankley was briefly a child actor appearing, most notably, as Rod Steiger's son in The Harder They Fall (1956). The movie was, as Blankley liked to joke, both his and his co-star Humphrey Bogart's last movie. He graduated from UCLA and Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), earning a J.D. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1972.

Career

Prior to his career on Capitol Hill, Blankley served President Ronald Reagan as a policy analyst and speechwriter, and was a staff writer for Congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler. Before coming to Washington, D.C., he spent 10 years as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Attorney General's office.

Blankley's political opinions were generally considered to fall within traditional conservatism although he was labeled as a neoconservative by some critics. He denied that label by claiming that his views are more comparable to a classic conservative such as Reagan. His political career spanned several decades, and his most prominent position was a seven-year stint as House Speaker Newt Gingrich's press secretary.

He was a regular commentator for radio shows including The Diane Rehm Show, Left, Right & Center and The Steve Gill Show with a segment titled Fill In the Blanks. Earlier in his career, he was an editorial page editor for The Washington Times, a contributing editor and monthly columnist for George Magazine, and a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.

Blankley continued to write for The Washington Times. He lectured at many universities and institutes. On November 19, 2009, he presented his lecture A Year out from the 2010 Congressional Elections – National Politics, Policy and their Communication at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics of Saint Anselm College.

Death

Blankley died in Washington, D.C., of stomach cancer on January 7, 2012, at Sibley Memorial Hospital, two weeks before his 64th birthday.

External links

• Archives: Tony Blankley
• in Conservative Chronicle
• Tony Blankley's blog at the Huffington Post
• Podcasts of Blankley's recent articles
• KCRW's Left Right & Center
• Tony Blankley at the Internet Movie Database
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• (subscription required)