Charles Murray

Dr. Charles Murray, "author and Bradley Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, was elected to the Foundation For the Future Board of Trustees in 2006. He has often come to USA national attention for his books and articles related to social science and social policy.

"Born in Newton, Iowa, Murray earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He spent six years in Thailand, first as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Village Health Program, then as a researcher. From 1974 to 1981, he worked for the American Institutes for Research, a private social science research organization, where he was ultimately named Chief Scientist. He supervised evaluations in urban education, welfare services, daycare, adolescent pregnancy, services for the elderly, and criminal justice. From 1981 to 1990, he was a Fellow with the Manhattan Institute, then became affiliated in 1990 with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution founded in 1943 and dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics, and social welfare.

"Among Dr. Murray’s books are Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980, a controversial analysis of the reforms of the 1960s, published in 1984; In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government, published in 1988; and The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, co-written with Richard J. Herrnstein and published in 1994; What It Means to Be a Libertarian: A Personal Interpretation, published in 1996, and, most recently, In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State, published in 2006. He has also published numerous shorter pieces in The New Republic, Commentary, The Public Interest, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Washington Post. He has been a frequent witness before congressional and senate committees and a consultant to senior government officials of the United States, Great Britain, Eastern Europe, and the OECD.

"Murray has been the subject of cover articles in Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, as well as of segments on television programs such as 20/20, PrimeTime Live, 60 Minutes, and network news. He has been a guest on Nightline, This Week with David Brinkley, Meet the Press, The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, Firing Line, Crossfire, Today, and Good Morning America. Murray was named by National Journal as one of the 150 “People Who Make a Difference” in national policy-making. When U.S. News and World Report published a cover story on “The New American Establishment,” Murray was chosen as one of 32 men and women who define the contemporary intellectual debate on social policy, and Newsweek recently chose Murray as one of a hundred Americans who lead their fields."

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