Charley Reese (January 29, 1937 – May 21, 2013) was an American syndicated columnist known for his conservative views. He was associated with the ''
Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
'' from 1971 to 2001, both as a writer and in various editorial capacities.
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
distributed his column, which was published three times per week.
Early years
Reese, of British and Irish ancestry, was born in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
in
Wilkes County in eastern
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, and reared in Georgia,
East Texas
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...
, and the
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia (U. ...
. He worked summer and weekend jobs starting at 11; at 13, he became a janitor in a printing shop. In 1955, he became a cub reporter for the ''
Pensacola News'' in
Pensacola
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...
, Florida. Later that year, he bought a one-way ticket to England, where he took a job as caption writer with Planet Newspapers Ltd. in London.
In 1957, Reese returned to America, serving two years in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
as a tank gunner. He returned to reporting after having spent six years in advertising and
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
and having also worked as an
advance man
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...
and
speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be ...
in various political campaigns from 1969 to 1971.
Political views and affiliations
Reese was a conservative (despite supporting
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
), with many
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
views, but he called himself "almost, but not quite, a libertarian" as he decried
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
's poor treatment of workers. Nonetheless, he contributed regularly to libertarian websites such as
LewRockwell.com
Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated to ...
and
Antiwar.com
Antiwar.com is a website that describes itself as devoted to non-interventionism and as opposing imperialism and war. It is a project of the Randolph Bourne#Randolph Bourne Institute, Randolph Bourne Institute. The website states that it is "fight ...
. In 2004, he said "I am a traditional conservative, not a neo– or paleo– or any of those other buglike classifications".
Reese was initially a registered
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
. In his December 26, 2005 column, he wrote that he switched from Democrat to
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
after
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
was elected U.S. president in 1960. He considered Kennedy a failed president, but his harshest presidential criticisms were reserved for his fellow native Georgian,
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
. After the presidency of
George Herbert Walker Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
(1989–1993), Reese returned to the Democratic Party because he considered Bush a "
Rockefeller Republican
The Rockefeller Republicans were members of the Republican Party (GOP) in the 1930s–1970s who held moderate-to- liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vice President of ...
".
Reese was a member of the
Sons of Confederate Veterans
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...
.
He had also been a member of the
League of the South
The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic".
The group def ...
. Defending the South's position in the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
was a common theme of his writings, in which he frequently used Confederate anecdotes as illustrations. He considered the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
to have been caused by sectional differences, not
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. His writings repeatedly praised
Robert E. Lee and vilified
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
. He was a member of the
National Rifle Association of America
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...
, a staunch defender of the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the Right to keep and bear arms in the United States, right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Un ...
and a critic of
gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
. In his final years, he devoted many of his columns in support of a
non-interventionist foreign policy.
Reese strongly supported
Patrick J. Buchanan
Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, an ...
for president in the 1996 Republican
primaries
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
against
Robert J. Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
. Although he supported
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
for president in 2000 (and his endorsement was seen as having been important to Bush's victory, given the
closeness of the Florida election numbers), he was thereafter an outspoken critic of the Bush administration and an opponent of the
War in Iraq
This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.
Other armed conflicts involving Iraq
* Wars during Mandatory Iraq
** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921
* Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
. In 2004, he supported Democrat
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
's presidential campaign.
In 1999, when
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
viewers were asked to vote for their favorite columnist, Reese finished in first place. In 2000,
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
John Duncan, Jr., a
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
Republican, entered Reese's column into the ''
Congressional Record
The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...
'', in opposition to the actions taken by
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...
's Justice Department in the
Elian Gonzalez affair Elian or Elián (Spanish) or Élian (French) can refer to:
People
*Saint Elian (Syria) (died 284)
**Church of Saint Elian (Arabic: كنيسة مار اليان, Kaneesat Mar Elian) is a church in Homs, Syria
** Monastery of St. Elian a Syriac Catho ...
. More recently, Congressman Duncan cited Reese in multiple speeches on the
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
floor to support his view that the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
violates conservative principles.
After leaving the ''Orlando Sentinel'', in 2001, Reese wrote for the ''
Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs
The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region". ''; he continued to publish columns for
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
until 2008.
An article written by Reese for the ''Orlando Sentinel'' on March 7, 1995, under the title "Looking For Someone To Blame? Congress Is Good Place To Start" was widely read and distributed in modified form via e-mail during the
2008 United States presidential campaign under the title "The 545 People Responsible for America's Woes". The article commonly forwarded in 2008 was slightly modified from the 1980s version, substituting
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
for
Tip O'Neil
Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...
and adding a reference to Iraq. It is not clear if the modifications were made by Reese, as the e-mail claimed. Quote from the original 1985 article:
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices – 545 human beings out of the 235 million – are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
Reese had written a similar article in 1983. In that version, he listed 546 people, including Vice President George H. W. Bush
In 1989, Reese published a pro-second amendment column for the ''Orlando Sentinel'' in which he quoted
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
as having said, "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." This quote gained widespread popularity via social media during the 2012–2013 gun control debate after the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
. However, Monticello has stated that no such evidence exists to support that Thomas Jefferson ever made this statement and credits Reese as the originator of this quote.
At the end of each calendar year, Reese wrote his annual "
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
" column, in which he disclosed his sources of income, his political affiliation and the organizations of which he was a dues-paying member. He also stated his basic political philosophy and other core beliefs in this annual column. He stated that readers should have an idea of a columnist's background from which conflicts of interest could arise but that to his knowledge, he was the only columnist that carried out this practice.
In his August 30, 2008 column at
lewrockwell.com
Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated to ...
, Reese said he was retiring and would no longer do any writing. The site had been running his old columns for several weeks, stating that Reese was on medical leave.
Retirement and death
Reese wrote his last column for the ''Orlando Sentinel'' on July 29, 2001, but continued to supply columns for distribution by
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
until 2008. In 2011, he resided in
Casselberry in
Seminole County in east central Florida.
Reese died in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
, on May 21, 2013, after months of hospitalization. As a veteran he was interred at
Barrancas National Cemetery
Barrancas National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, in the city of Pensacola, Florida. It encompasses , and as of 2021 had over 50,000 interments.
History
The area has been used as a burial g ...
in
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...
.
interment.net
/ref>
Books
* ''Great Gods of the Potomac'' 197 pages, Sentinel Star (1978) (No ISBN)
* ''Common Sense for the 80's'' 170 pages, Sun Belt Syndicate (1981) (No ISBN)
References
External links
*
Charley Reese archive at Antiwar.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Charley
1937 births
2013 deaths
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American columnists
American foreign policy writers
American male journalists
American male non-fiction writers
American political journalists
American political writers
Florida Democrats
Florida Republicans
Non-interventionism
American opinion journalists
People from Casselberry, Florida
People from Washington, Georgia
United States Army soldiers
Writers from Orlando, Florida
American people of English descent
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Welsh descent
American people of Irish descent
Burials at Barrancas National Cemetery
Members of Sons of Confederate Veterans