WGA Announces Passing of Richard James Whalen
Nationally known journalist, best-selling author, adviser to three Republican presidents
BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y., July 20, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Whalen Global Advisors LLC announces that Richard James Whalen - a nationally known journalist, best-selling author, adviser to three Republican presidents, State Department consultant and founder of its predecessor Washington-based international news service and consulting company - died on July 18 in Yorktown Heights.
Mr. Whalen was an adviser to Presidents Richard M. Nixon and George H. W. Bush, but his strongest ties were with President Ronald Reagan. As a personal adviser, Mr. Whalen helped to implement Reagan's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as well as many political and economic policies in the 1980s.
Mr. Whalen, the author of seven books, wrote The Founding Father: The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy as a 29-year-old editor of Fortune. His critically acclaimed book was on the New York Times' bestseller list for more than a year and was the runner-up for both the 1964 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Still in print (fourth edition 1993) and now available as an E-book, it is the foundation of two generations of Kennedy scholarship.
In a speech he drafted for President Richard Nixon in April 1968, describing the patriotic, law-abiding Americans who silently bore the sacrifice of their sons in Vietnam while the draft-dodging offspring of the affluent burned American flags, Whalen coined the phrase "the silent majority".
Whalen quietly engineered President Ronald Reagan's reappointment of Fed Chairman Paul Volcker over Regan's choice, Treasury aide Beryl Sprinkel. "I gave my Volcker reappointment memo and package to Senator Paul Laxalt and he took it up to Camp David over a weekend with the President," Whalen recalled. "Monday, he telephoned and said: 'It's done. You can tell Paul to expect a call.'"
Whalen is survived by his wife, Joan Marie Giuffré Whalen, their children R. Christopher Whalen, Laura Aram, Michael Whalen and grandchildren Alexandra Valencia, Nicholas Aram, Julia Whalen and William Whalen.
Source: Whalen Global Advisors LLC
