Herbert London

Herbert (Herb) London is an American conservative activist, professor, academic and author.

Early life

He was born in Brooklyn, New York circa 1939 and attended Columbia University, graduating in 1960. Standing 6'5" he was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the National Basketball League, but did not play for them because of injuries. He was a social studies secondary school teacher and obtained his doctorate at New York University in 1966. His daughter is Stacy London, host of the TV show "What Not to Wear".

Professional life

London is the former John M. Olin Professor of Humanities at New York University. There he was responsible for creating the Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 1972 and was its dean until 1992. This school was organized to promote the study of "Great Books" and classic texts.

He is currently president of the Hudson Institute. In this role he was one of the judges for Human Events' "Ten Most Harmful Books of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries". After this list was compiled, London gave an interview about the list, his selections and the judges [http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2005/06/10/06] .

Political campaigns

In 1989, Dr. London was one of the Republican candidates for Mayor of New York City. In 1990 he was the Conservative candidate for Governor of New York garnering more votes than any third party candidate in the state's history. In 1994 he was the Republican Party candidate for New York State Comptroller losing in a close election.He is something of an anomaly in New York politics as a pro-life Jewish member of the Conservative Party.

1990 Governor's Race

Dr. London was the Conservative nominee for Governor of New York in 1990. The party broke from the Republican Party and declined to cross endorse the Republican nominee, the Canada-born businessman Pierre Rinfret. Conservatives cited the little known Rinfret as being too liberal for their tastes. London ran a strong campaign statewide and finished one percentage point behind Rinfret, who lost in a landslide to Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo. Had London polled higher than Rinfret, the Republican Party would have ceased being a major party in New York State and would have lost that status to the Conservatives. In New York, major party status is granted to the two parties who poll highest in the race for governor. One perk of major party status is the ability to have one elections commissioner in each county.

1994 Comptroller's Race

London launched a second campaign for Governor in 1994, which included a race for the Republican nomination. He was the frontrunner for the Conservative nomination and a strong contender for the Republican nod. Republican leaders who preferred State Sen. George Pataki wanted Pataki to have the Conservative nomination as well, fearing that a London campaign on the Conservative line would lead to Cuomo's reelection. Republican leaders convinced London to drop out of the Governor's race in favor of accepting the party's nomination for state comptroller, facing interim Democratic Comptroller Carl McCall. Prior to London being offered the comptroller's nomination, Assemblyman John Faso was considered the frontrunner for the nomination. McCall defeated London in the election.

1990 Conservative Tickets

*Governor: Herbert London
*Lieutenant Governor: Anthony Diperna

1994 Republican and Conservative Tickets

*Governor: George Pataki
*Lieutenant Governor: Betsy McCaughey
*Comptroller: Herbert London
*Attorney General: Dennis Vacco
*U.S. Senate: Bernadette Castro

External links

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n10_v42/ai_9051349 1990 biography] National Review
* [http://www.herblondon.org/ herblondon.org] official web site of Herbert London