Murray Biography

Charles Murray is the Bradley Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He first came to national attention with Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980, the controversial analysis of the reforms of the 1960s. This was followed in 1988 by In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government. In 1994, he and the late Richard J. Herrnstein published The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, one of the most widely debated works of social science in recent decades. His new book, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A LIBERTARIAN: A Personal Interpretation will be published by Broadway Books on January 27, 1997.

In addition to his books and articles in technical journals, Murray has published extensively in The New Republic, Commentary, The Public Interest, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, and the Washington Po st. He has been a frequent witness before congressional and senate committees and a consultant to senior government officials of the United States, Great Britain, Eastern Europe, and the OECD.

Murray has been the subject of cover articles in Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and segments on "20/20," "PrimeTime Live," "60 Minutes," and all the network evening news programs. He has been a guest on "Nigh tline," "This Week with David Brinkley," "Meet the Press," "The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour," "Firing Line," "Crossfire," "Today," and "Good Morning America," among other programs. Murray was named by the National Journal as one of the 150 "People Who Make a Difference" in national policy-making. When U.S. News and World Report published its cover story on "The New American Establishment," Murray was chosen as one of thirty-two men and women who define the contemporary intellectual debate on so cial policy. A recent Newsweek cover article picked Murray as one of a hundred Americans who lead their fields.

Murray has been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute since 1990. During 1981-1990, he was a fellow with the Manhattan Institute, where he wrote Losing Ground and In Pursuit. During 1974-1981, Murray worked for the American Insti tutes for Research (AIR), one of the largest of the private social science research organizations, eventually becoming Chief Scientist. While at AIR, Murray supervised evaluations in the fields of urban education, welfare services, daycare, adolescent pre gnancy, services for the elderly, and criminal justice. Before joining AIR, Murray spent six years in Thailand, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer attached-to the Village Health Program, then as a researcher in rural Thailand.

Murray was born and raised in Newton, Iowa. He obtained a B.A. in history from Harvard and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives with his wife and children near Washington, D.C.