Who was Pat Robertson?
Pat Robertson was an American media mogul, executive chairman, politician, and former Southern Baptist minister who generated controversy over his televangelism career spanning over five decades. Robertson advocated a conservative Christian ideology and was known for making controversial statements on his daily TV program ‘The 700 Club.’
Robertson grew up in a prominent political family in Virginia and served in the Marine Corps before attending the Biblical Seminary in New York. He was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1961 and started the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960, which pioneered the use of satellite technology to transmit Christian programming. The flagship program ‘The 700 Club’ began airing in 1966 and turned Robertson into a household name among Evangelical Christians in America.
Over the course of his career, Robertson was criticized for making provocative statements, including calling for the assassination of foreign leaders, blaming homosexuality for disasters, and suggesting feminism encouraged women to kill their children. He also ran for President in the 1988 Republican primaries and came in second behind George Bush Sr. Robertson founded the Christian Coalition in the late 80s which became an influential advocacy group for social conservatives within the Republican Party.
The growth of Robertson’s media empire turned him into a wealthy entrepreneur. By the mid-2000s his controversial reputation led many mainstream Christians to distance themselves from him. However, he remained a popular figure among his loyal fanbase of conservative Evangelicals. While his political influence waned in later years, Robertson continued hosting ‘The 700 Club’ into his late 80s while also running Regent University and expanding his humanitarian relief organization, Operation Blessing International.
Robertson grew up in a prominent Virginia political family that included both Democrats and Republicans. His father, Absalom Willis Robertson, was a conservative Democratic Senator who served Virginia in Congress for over 30 years. His mother, Gladys Churchill Robertson, was the daughter of Willis Robertson, a Democratic Congressman who represented Virginia between 1922-1946. Robertson’s parents stressed the importance of public service and philanthropy.
As a young man, Robertson considered becoming a boxer, musician, or politician. He attended Washington and Lee University in 1946 and was active in the fraternity system and student government. During summer breaks from college, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1948 after graduating with a Bachelor’s in History. He resigned his commission as a first lieutenant in 1952 after fulfilling his service duties.
After college and his service in the Marines, Robertson initially followed his Senator father’s footsteps into law school. However, he became deeply affected by his Christian faith during this time. He began having doubts about his religious upbringing and was inspired by the preaching of a Dutch Reformed minister in nearby Lexington, Virginia. This led Robertson to enroll at the Biblical Seminary in New York in 1954 to become a minister.
Robertson was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1956 at his home church in Lexington. He served as the pastor of the Lexington church while finishing his seminary studies, receiving a Master of Divinity degree in 1959. During this time, he married Dede Elmer, whom he had met during college, and started a family.
In 1956, Robertson claimed he had an extraordinary religious experience and divine vision where he felt called by God to create a Christian broadcasting network. This came shortly after receiving his first televangelist license from the Federal Communications Commission. Robertson believed deeply that television could be utilized to spread the Gospel and Christian values nationwide.
After seminary, Robertson moved his family to Portsmouth, Virginia in 1960 to launch the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), aiming to produce Christian television programs for national audiences. He began broadcasting CBN on a UHF station in 1961 from a small studio, becoming one of the first televangelists to pioneer nationwide religious programming.
Early CBN programming consisted of interviews, variety shows, and children’s programs with Christian messages. Robertson was the first televangelist to use satellite technology in 1978 to transmit CBN nationwide. This innovation allowed him to greatly expand his ministry’s reach and number of viewers.
CBN’s flagship program ‘The 700 Club’ began airing in 1966. The name referred to the original monthly budget of $7,000 needed to fund the program. Initially a news magazine and talk show, it later shifted to more of a Christian variety format. Over the decades, The 700 Club became one of the longest-running programs in broadcast history.
The 700 Club turned Pat Robertson into the most prominent and influential figure in American televangelism during the 1960s-80s. The program mixed news, interviews, Bible teachings, faith healing, and commentary from a conservative Evangelical perspective. Robertson served as the thoughtful but dynamic host for over 50 years on the daily show, which was syndicated to hundreds of television stations internationally.
At its peak in the late 1980s, CBN had an annual budget close to $230 million per year. The network ran its own news division, produced children’s programming, and created the family-friendly game shows The American Gladiators and Super Dave. Robertson also built CBN University in 1977, which was renamed Regent University in 1990.
The meteoric growth of CBN allowed Robertson to expand into other media holdings and humanitarian relief efforts. He founded the International Family Entertainment Inc. network in the 1990s which included the Family Channel. He also started the charitable organization Operation Blessing International in 1978, which provided medical supplies, food, and disaster relief aid overseas and domestically.
Robertson’s media career turned him into a wealthy entrepreneur. His estimated net worth reached over $200 million, allowing him to donate millions to charity and conservative political causes. While sometimes criticized for extravagant personal spending, Robertson lived relatively modestly for a man of his wealth.
Beyond his media career, Robertson was deeply involved in Republican Party politics in the 1980s and 1990s. He first considered running for President in 1968 but decided against it. In 1986, Robertson formally announced his campaign for the GOP nomination in the 1988 Presidential election.
Robertson proved to be a surprisingly formidable contender in the Republican primaries against Vice President George Bush. He mobilized Evangelical Christian voters and came in a strong second in the Iowa caucus with over 25% of the vote. However, Robertson faded after that early success and eventually conceded to Bush, who went on to win the general election.
Although he lost the nomination, Robertson’s surprisingly strong campaign established the political power of the Religious Right within the Republican Party. It showed that Evangelical Christians were a critical constituency that could no longer be ignored in national politics. Robertson was one of the first national figures to recognize the potential for uniting religious traditionalists into an influential voting bloc.
After his failed Presidential bid, Robertson founded the Christian Coalition advocacy group in 1989. It became the leading organization representing conservative Evangelical Protestants within the Republican Party. The Christian Coalition disseminated millions of voter guides prior to elections that helped mobilize Christians behind GOP candidates and rightwing political agendas.
Under Robertson’s early leadership, the Christian Coalition played a major role in helping Republicans take control of Congress in 1994. The group’s influence continued shaping GOP politics and pushing socially conservative issues like banning abortion and gay marriage throughout the 1990s. However, the organization’s finances and membership declined after Robertson resigned as its President in 2001.
Beyond his political advocacy, Robertson generated controversy throughout his career for making inflammatory televised statements on The 700 Club. His provocative declarations often created backlash even from other Christian leaders concerned about his extreme rhetoric. However, they also helped boost his popularity among his target audience of likeminded ultraconservative viewers.
Some of Robertson’s most notorious statements included calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and suggesting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine retribution. He blamed 9/11 on feminism, abortion rights supporters, pagans, and liberals. He said accepting homosexuality could lead to a nuclear war or earthquakes. Robertson often invoked God’s judgment and wrath when natural disasters occurred in regions or cities he considered sinful.
Robertson’s controversial reputation stemmed from his uncompromising stances opposing homosexuality, abortion, feminism, secularism, and liberal politics. He believed Christian morality and biblical inerrancy should shape American laws. Robertson thought God was punishing America for abandoning traditional values. He viewed social liberalism as a slippery slope towards national calamity requiring a religious revival.
Robertson’s fiery rhetoric reflected his conservative worldview but increasingly isolated him as public tolerance grew for the social changes he condemned. His extreme comments caused many mainstream Evangelical leaders like the National Association of Evangelicals to criticize and distance themselves publicly from his divisive political stances. Despite the backlash, Robertson remained beloved by millions of likeminded supporters who shared his traditional beliefs.
While always a polarizing figure, Robertson retained influence as an elder statesman of the Religious Right he helped mobilize. He mentored other conservative Evangelical leaders and supported initiatives around bringing Christian values into government. However, his direct national political clout diminished significantly in later years as his media platforms lost cultural relevance in a changing society.
The changing times left Robertson’s partisan stances out of touch with younger generations of Christians focused on social justice issues rather than divisive cultural battles. However, within his loyal fanbase, Robertson maintained a following as a steadfast defender of uncompromising traditional biblical principles in an era of moral relativism. His enduring legacy was helping politically galvanize the Evangelical church in America as both a religious and political force.
In his late 80s, Robertson still hosted The 700 Club which maintained a devoted core viewership. He remained Chancellor of Regent University, which grew into a respected Evangelical Christian institution. He also continued overseeing humanitarian relief efforts through Operation Blessing International.
While forever controversial as a hybrid media mogul, politician, and prophet warning of America’s moral failings, Robertson left an indelible mark on the rise of the Religious Right as a reactionary force in America’s culture wars. Loved or loathed for his brazen rhetoric, Robertson dedicated his life to fiercely advocating for traditional biblical values in society and governance at all costs. His lifelong crusade against secularism and liberal change transformed Evangelical Christianity into a cornerstone of conservative Republican politics for generations.