| James Zogby | |
|---|---|
James Zogby in Redmond, Washington 2010 |
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| Born | James Zogby (from Arabic: زغبي, Zuġbīy) 1945 (age 66–67) Utica, New York |
| Residence | Washington D.C. area |
| Ethnicity | Lebanese Arab |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Le Moyne College, B.A. Temple University, Ph.D |
| Known for | Founder of Arab American Institute |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Eileen P. McMahon[1] |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | John Zogby, brother |
James J. Zogby (born 1945) is the author of Arab Voices[2] and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.–based organization which serves as a political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. He is a senior analyst with his brother's polling firm, Zogby International, and is a lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues. He is also member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee.
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Zogby's ancestors immigrated from Lebanon. His father entered the United States illegally in 1922,[3] but eventually obtained citizenship through a government policy of amnesty.[4] Zogby was born in Utica, New York.
He attended Le Moyne College in Syracuse New York where he graduated in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in comparative religions from Temple University in 1975. He studied at Princeton University in 1976 as a National Endowment for the Humanities post-doctoral fellow.[1]
During the late 1970s, Zogby was a founding member and leader of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign. In 1980, he co-founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee with former U.S. Senator James Abourezk and served as executive director until 1984. In 1982, while at ADC, Zogby helped create Save Lebanon, Inc., a private non-profit, non-sectarian humanitarian relief organization to fund social welfare projects in Lebanon and health care for Palestinian and Lebanese victims of war.[5] In March 1985, Zogby founded the Arab American Institute, of which he is still president.[6]
In 1993, Vice President Al Gore tapped Zogby to help lead Builders for Peace following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in Washington. As co-president of Builders, Zogby promoted business investment by Arab-Americans in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 1994, Zogby led a U.S. delegation to the signing of the agreement in Cairo, Egypt, along with the Builders co-president, former U.S. Congressman Mel Levine. Zogby also chaired a forum on the Palestinian economy at the Casablanca Economic Summit.[1] After 1994, through Builders, Zogby worked with a number of U.S. Agencies to promote and support Palestinian economic development including AID, OPIC, USTDA, and the Departments of State and Commerce.
Since 1992, Zogby has written Washington Watch, a weekly column on American politics for major Arab newspapers, which is published in 14 Arab and South Asian countries. He has authored several books, including What Ethnic Americans Really Think (The Zogby Culture Polls)[7] and What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.[8] He also blogs at The Huffington Post[5] and is a member of Politico's Arena.[9] Zogby hosts a weekly interview and call-in discussion program, Viewpoint with James Zogby, about Middle East and world issues on Abu Dhabi Television which is broadcast in America on Link TV, DirecTV and Dish Network.[10] The show has won an award at the Cairo Radio/Television Festival.
In 1984 and 1988, Zogby served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1995 he was appointed as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee (NDECC), an umbrella organization within the Democratic Party of leaders of European and Mediterranean descent, to which he was reelected in 1999 and 2001. Also in 2001, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and in 2006 was also named Co-Chair of the DNC's Resolutions Committee.[9] He served as Al Gore's Senior Advisor on Ethnic Outreach, a post he also held in the 2008 Obama Campaign. He was a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Zogby also serves on the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee and on the national advisory boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and Democrats for Life of America, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has testified before a number of Congressional Committees and Executive branch forums,[1] including on the subject of Arab attitudes toward the United States.[11] He has been a guest speaker in the Secretary's Open Forum at the U.S. Department of State. Zogby has also addressed the United Nations and other international forums.
Zogby has been the target of repeated anti-Arab threats, for which three men have been prosecuted. In July 2006, Zogby and other senior Arab American Institute employees were threatened by Patrick Syring during the 2006 Lebanon War. Syring was sentenced July 11, 2008, to one year in prison for civil rights violations and released in January 2009.[12][13][14] In 1980, Zogby's office in Washington, D.C. was fire-bombed.[15]
Zogby received a Distinguished Public Service Award from the U.S. Department of State "in recognition of outstanding contributions to national and international affairs" from the Secretary's Open Forum.[5] In 1995, Le Moyne College awarded Zogby an honorary doctor of laws degree and in 1997, named him the college's outstanding alumnus. In 2007, Temple University College of Liberal Arts also singled out Zogby as an outstanding alumnus. In 2008 American University of Cairo awarded him an honorary doctorate. Zogby was also named an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin.