Keyes, Alan

Source:

 African American National Biography

Keyes, Alan

(7 Aug. 1950– ),

conservative activist, diplomat, and radio personality, was born in Long Island, New York, the youngest of the five children of Allison L. Keyes, a U.S. Army sergeant, and Gerthina Quick Keyes, a homemaker. Keyes spent the majority of his childhood on various military bases. He developed a close relationship with his mother, whom he admired greatly for raising a family under difficult circumstances. Both parents instilled in Keyes a strong sense of faith, which would underpin his later political activism.

From an early age Keyes displayed a talent for public speaking, viewing it as an effective means of influencing others, particularly in regards to moral issues. While attending Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio, Texas, Keyes became active in debating clubs and civic organizations. He competed in numerous speech contests, winning the majority of them. His oratorical skills aided in his elections to student body president and president of Boys Nation, a renowned civics training event for high school students sponsored by the American Legion.

Alan Keyes. The former Republican presidential candidate addresses opponents of a proposed state amendment that would protect embryonic stem cell research. Jefferson City, Missouri, 31 July 2006. (AP Images.)

view larger image

After graduating from high school in 1968 Keyes enrolled at Cornell University in a six-year program leading to a PhD in Political Philosophy. After initially intending to speed through higher education, Keyes decided to slow down and take advantage of the stimulating college environment. He participated in glee clubs, debating societies, and student politics.

The late sixties were a time of intense student activism, particularly in opposition to the Vietnam War. During this time Keyes came under the tutelage of Allan Bloom, a conservative scholar, whom he would later credit as the most important teacher in his intellectual formation. Bloom crystallized for Keyes an understanding of the relationship between politics and morality through the exploration of past eras that championed self-reliance.

Politically, Keyes grew up in a Democratic household. Like many in his generation, the civil rights movement of the sixties and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. shaped his interest in politics. Likes his parents and most African Americans at the time, he identified as a Democrat, but his experiences at Cornell helped make him a conservative Republican. Keyes's close relationship with Bloom, his support of the Vietnam War, and his opposition to the methods of black nationalist activists on the Cornell campus were not well received. After two years he left the university.

Keyes continued his intellectual development in Paris, where he spent a year working with Bloom, who was on leave from Cornell. Afterwards, Keyes returned to the United States to continue his studies at Harvard University, where in 1972 he completed a BA in Government Affairs. He stayed at the university to complete a PhD in Government Affairs in 1979.

After completing his studies Keyes chose to pursue a career in public service. He joined the State Department as a foreign service officer and served as a desk officer to the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, India, in 1979. It was during this time that Keyes met U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a conservative Democrat appointed to the post by the Republican president Ronald Reagan, who served as his mentor. Kirkpatrick, an ardent cold warrior, was integral in promoting Keyes's rapid ascension through the ranks of the State Department.

In 1981 Keyes married Jocelyn Marcel, whom he had met in India; they would later have three children, Francis, Maya, and Andrew. During this time, Keyes served at the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe before returning to the United States as a member of the State Department's Policy and Planning staff. In 1983 he was appointed ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) and shortly afterward he was appointed assistant secretary of state for international organizational affairs, the youngest person ever appointed to that post.

Keyes was an active supporter of Reagan administration policies. Notably, his political views, particularly on South Africa and apartheid, were at odds with the majority of black Americans. Keyes's willingness to both advocate and articulate positions that were unpopular among most blacks and liberals made him an asset to the conservative Republican administration. By 1987 he had become the highest-ranking African American in the State Department.

In 1988 Keyes left the diplomatic ranks and launched a Senate campaign in Maryland. The odds were heavily against him as a black Republican in a heavily Democratic state going against a popular incumbent, Paul Sarbanes. Although he lost by a landslide, Keyes's ability to invoke biblical rhetoric and articulate the significance of America's founding documents made him a darling of many conservatives, enhancing his national profile. In 1992 Keyes again launched a Senate run against a different Democratic incumbent, Barbara Mikulski, but suffered the same result—a lopsided defeat.

In the wake of his unsuccessful Senate bids, Keyes attempted to continue getting his message out and became the host of the Baltimore-based talk radio show, “America's Wake-Up Call: The Alan Keyes Show.” His show was a success among conservatives and he was highly sought after as a public speaker and commentator.

In 1995 Keyes published his first book, Masters of the Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America. Riding high on its success, a wave of support generated by his radio show, and a series of speeches circulated throughout conservative outlets, Keyes launched a presidential campaign, becoming the first African American in the twentieth century to seek the presidency as a Republican. His strongest base of supporters was the Christian right, which consisted predominantly of whites. Keyes was defeated in the primaries by Bob Dole. In 1996 he published his second book, Our Character, Our Future. In the late 1990s he turned to the Internet to launch several conservative Web sites.

In 2000 Keyes launched another presidential campaign. Despite showing poorly in the polls, he stayed in the Republican primaries, debating Texas governor George W. Bush and Arizona senator John McCain, and performing surprisingly well. Some commentators even declared him the winner of the debates. Following the election Keyes continued to search for outlets for his conservative message. In 2002 he moved into television as host of the television talk show Alan Keyes Is Making Sense, on the cable news channel MSNBC. The show was cancelled in the same year.

In 2004 Keyes pursued another Senate campaign, this time in Illinois against State Senator Barack Obama, who eventually won with more than 75 percent of the vote. Keyes was criticized during the election for negative campaigning and a refusal to congratulate Obama after his victory. Keyes was also criticized for being a last minute Republican candidate who was not an Illinois resident and for negative comments about Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, who was openly lesbian. The controversy would play a role in the coming out of Keyes's own daughter, Maya. Despite the revelation, Keyes maintained a staunch antigay position.

processed xml | source xml