Alfred S. Regnery (born November 21, 1942) is an American conservative lawyer, former magazine publisher, and writer.Alfred Regnery, Publisher, The American Spectator; Author, The Ascendance of American Conservatism
Commonwealth Club of California, June 2, 2008

Background

Alfred S. Regnery was born on November 21, 1942, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He is the son of Henry Regnery (1912–1996), founder of

Regnery Publishing Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947. In December 2023, Regnery was acquired from Salem Media Group by Skyhorse Publishing, with Skyhorse ...

, a conservative publishing house founded in 1947. Regnery graduated from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1965 and received a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, in 1971.

Career

Early in his career, Regnery served as college director of the Young Americans for Freedom, as a Senate aide, and the Lands Division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. In 1976, Regnery ran for district attorney in Madison, Wisconsin. During that campaign, his wife reported several threatening phone calls. Regnery publicized allegations to the police that his wife had been injured and forced to have sexual acts with men who had broken into their home. During the investigation, police found no evidence to substantiate the claims and allegedly discovered a "stash of pornography" in the Regnery home. Regnery served as a legal counsel to Republican Senator Paul Laxalt of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and to the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

. From 1981 to 1986, Regnery served as deputy assistant attorney general of the Land and Natural Resources Division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

. In 1983, he was appointed by President

as administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and he worked on the Meese Report. On May 21, 1986, Regnery resigned his position as administrator "abruptly" to return to the family business. Regnery was president of Regnery Publishing from 1986 to 2003. In 1993, he sold Regnery Publishing to Eagle Publishing and took a board position at Eagle. (Eagle Publishing was owned by Tom Philips, a Republican donor.) He was also a partner at the Washington, D.C.–based law firm Keller and Heckman LLP until 2003. From 2003 to 2012, Regnery was the publisher of '' The American Spectator''. Regnery is managing director of the Paul Revere Project for Salem Eagle, a subsidiary of Salem Communications (which also bought the Regnery imprint) and has served on Salem Eagle's board since 1993.

Associations

In 1995, Regnery co-founded the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund; in 2014, he became chairman of its board, which included Edwin Meese III, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ron Hosko, and Ken Cuccinelli as directors. Currently, he serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Regnery served as trustee of the Philadelphia Society from 2011 to 2014. Other entities with which he has been associated include the Committee for Western Civilization, American Foreign Policy Council, Americans for Tax Reform, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, International Policy Forum, Institute of World Politics, Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, Leadership Institute, Westminster Institute, White House Writers Group, Hillsdale College, Morton Blackwell, James Lucier Jr., Robert R. Reilly, Robert Schadler, and Howard Segermark.

Personal life

In 1969, Regnery married Christina S. Sparrow, who died in 2007; they had four children. His cousin was William Regnery II, political activist and donor, founder of the National Policy Institute (NPI), and employer (through NPI) of Richard B. Spencer.

Works

* ''U.S. direct marketing law: the complete handbook for managers'' with Richard J. Leighton (1993) * ''Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism'' (2008) * ''Unlikely pilgrim'' (2019)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Regnery, Alfred S. 1942 births Living people American magazine publishers (people) American male writers Beloit College alumni Businesspeople from Chicago Lawyers from Chicago Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Regnery family The American Spectator people University of Wisconsin Law School alumni Washington, D.C., Republicans Wisconsin lawyers Wisconsin Republicans