Bruce Herschensohn


Stanley Bruce Herschensohn was an American conservative political commentator, author, film director, and senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy in Malibu, California.
Herschensohn quickly rose to prominence in the Republican Party, becoming a consultant to the [1972 Republican Party (United States)|Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention] in 1972 and joining the Nixon administration on September 11, 1972. He served primarily as a speech writer. He left following Nixon's resignation, but served on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Transition Team and as an official in the Reagan administration.
Previously, Herschensohn had been a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had taught politics at the University of Maryland, Whittier College and at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy.

Early life and career

Herschensohn attended University High School in Los Angeles. He then joined the United States Air Force and served 1951–1952.

Political campaigns

Unsuccessful 1986 U.S. Senate primary campaign

In 1986, Herschensohn unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat held by Democrat Alan Cranston. He finished far ahead of the crowded pack in most of Southern California but finished second statewide to Silicon Valley Representative Ed Zschau, who won the nomination by plurality.

1992 U.S. Senate election

In 1992, when Cranston retired, Herschensohn won the Republican nomination narrowly, defeating U.S. Representative Tom Campbell, a more moderate Republican who had been on the faculty of Stanford University and who had been elected to Zschau's former Congressional seat. Herschensohn received 956,136 votes to Campbell's 895,970. The remaining 417,848 ballots went to Mayor Sonny Bono of Palm Springs, also a relative moderate. During the primary campaign and afterwards, Herschensohn became a close friend of Bono and encouraged his former rival to seek election to the United States House of Representatives in 1994.
Herschensohn lost the 1992 general election to the Democratic Party nominee Barbara Boxer, but received over one million votes more than the Republican presidential ticket of George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle received in California during the same election. Herschensohn won more votes than any losing Senate candidate had ever gotten at the time, topping the count of Leo McCarthy in 1988. His record wasn't broken until Elizabeth Emken topped it in the 2012 California Senate race.

Career

Authorship

The Gods of Antenna, Arlington House. Lost Trumpets: A Conservative's Map to America's Destiny, The Claremont Institute Press, Claremont, California. Hong Kong at the Handover, Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland. Across the Taiwan Strait: Democracy: The Bridge Between Mainland China and Taiwan, Lexington Books.

Awards