About Doug Wead

Alert: As a conservative Republican, Doug Wead's Wikipedia page is often seized by online trolls and as such has frequently posted inaccurate information including birthdates, numbers of published books and their titles. His book, co-authored with president Bush, his work with multiple first ladies in the founding of the Charity Awards and other subjects including philanthropic work that resulted in billions of dollars raised for famine relief have been purposely omitted. The information provided below is accurate.

Doug Wead is a New York Times bestselling author and an adviser to two American presidents. He served in the White House as special assistant to the president under George H. W. Bush and is a co-founder and original board member of Mercy Corps, which has distributed more than $2 billion of food and medicine around the world.

He is the author of more than thirty books and a co-author of a book with George H. W. Bush. His books are known for their primary sources. He has interviewed six presidents and first ladies, nineteen of the presidents children and twelve presidential siblings. His most recent book is Inside Trump's White House: the real story of his presidency.

For over two decades, Doug Wead has been researching and writing about the families of the American presidents. All the Presidents' Children was an instant New York Times bestseller. Released by Simon & Schuster's Atria Books in February, 2003, it went through three printings in its first month and reached #1 on Amazon.com.

The Raising of a President was released by Simon & Schuster's Atria Books on January 4, 2005. This important and much anticipated work is the first book written on the subject of the presidents' parents.

Early Years

Doug Wead was born in Muncie, Indiana, May, 1946. He was raised in the home of an Assemblies of God minister and denominational leader. Wead attended Evangel University (Central Bible College) in Springfield, Missouri from 1964-1966 and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. On July 27, 1984, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from Southwest Baptist University, in Bolivar, Missouri for his work as a humanitarian. On May 5, 1990, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws form Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for his international humanitarian work.

In 1972, he began writing about the Catholic Charismatic Movement. For several years, he was a featured speaker at international, ecumenical events, and served as "unofficial liaison" between Catholics and Protestants in the emerging Charismatic Renewal.

Beginning in 1974, Doug Wead became a popular motivational speaker at major corporate events. By 1990 he had repeatedly been the featured speaker to capacity, paid audiences at the largest venues in the world, from the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to the Dortmund Center in Germany and Bercy in Paris, France. Millions of Doug Wead tapes and CD's are in circulation.

International Charity Awards

In 1979, Doug Wead, Dan O'Neill and Pat Boone organized the first international Charity Awards event. First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted the guests in an East Room reception. The following year, Mercy Corps, a humanitarian aid organization, was formed. Mercy Corps has distributed more than $2 billion in food and medicine around the world. Five First Ladies from Lady Bird Johnson to Nancy Reagan to Laura Bush have served as honorary chairpersons for this event. The Charity Awards was often hosted at the White House during the Carter and Reagan years.

The Bush Connection

Beginning in 1985, Doug Wead served as an advisor to then Vice President George H. W. Bush and helped organize his presidential campaign.

In March 1987, Wead reported directly to his son, George W. Bush and served as the campaign liaison to constituent groups. In the general campaign he was Deputy Director of Voter Coalitions and later served as Special Assistant to the president in the Bush Senior White House.

From 1997-2000, Mr. Wead served as an informal advisor to George W. Bush in the years leading up to his election as president. TIME magazine referred to him as the man who coined the phrase "compassionate conservative in 1982."

Arizona Politics

In the 1990's, Doug Wead became involved in Arizona politics, which included a successful campaign to change the state constitution, requiring a two-thirds legislative majority for raising taxes. In 1992, he won the Republican nomination for Congress, representing the 6th District. He ran as "a compassionate conservative" but lost in the general election to his Democratic opponent. It was the year of the Clinton landslide.

Rand Paul - Senior Adviser

Doug Wead has been part of ten presidential campaigns. In 2012, he took a sabbatical from writing to serve as a senior adviser to the Ron Paul presidential campaign. For six months, 2014-2015, he served as Senior Adviser - Religious Liaison to the Rand Paul Presidential Campaign.

Personal Life

Doug Wead and his wife, Myriam have been married 32 years.
They have five children and eight grandchildren. They live in Bonita Springs, Florida.