Early television Ailes's career in television began in
Cleveland and
Philadelphia, where he started as production assistant (1961), producer (1965), and executive producer (1967–68) at
KYW-TV, for a then-locally produced talk-variety show,
The Mike Douglas Show. He continued as executive producer for the show when it was
syndicated nationally, and in 1967 and 1968 he won
Emmy Awards for it. Later, Nixon called on Ailes to serve as his Executive Producer for television. Nixon's successful presidential campaign was Ailes's first venture into the political spotlight. His pioneering work in framing national campaign issues was later chronicled in
The Selling of the President 1968 by
Joe McGinniss.
Political consulting Richard Nixon in 1969
Ronald Reagan in 1986
George H. W. Bush in 1990 In 1984, Ailes worked on
the campaign to reelect Ronald Reagan. In 1987 and 1988, Ailes was credited (along with fellow consultant
Lee Atwater) with guiding
George H. W. Bush to victory in the
Republican primaries and in the
victory over
Michael Dukakis. Ailes was credited with the "Orchestra Pit Theory" regarding sensationalist political coverage in the news media, which originated with his quip: Ailes's last campaign was the unsuccessful effort of
Richard Thornburgh in his run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in November 1991. He announced his withdrawal from political consulting in 1991. The correspondence was revealed in
Bob Woodward's book
Bush at War. Criticized for giving political advice, Ailes lashed out against Woodward, saying "Woodward got it all screwed up, as usual", and "The reason he's not as rich as
Tom Clancy is that while he and Clancy both make stuff up, Clancy does his research first." Ailes refused to release a copy of the memo he sent to Bush. In 1989, Ailes wrote a book with Jon Kraushar entitled
You Are the Message: Getting What You Want by Being Who You Are.
America's Talking channel Ailes eventually made his way back to television, this time focusing on cable news. In 1993, he became president of
CNBC and later created the
America's Talking channel, which would eventually become
MSNBC. He hosted an interview program on ''America's Talking''. In 1995,
NBC hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation after Ailes allegedly called NBC executive
David Zaslav a "little fucking Jew prick." This was not confirmed as the reason for his departure.
20th Television/Fox News Ailes was hired by
News Corp chairman
Rupert Murdoch in 1996 to become the CEO of
Fox News, effective on October 7. After the departure of
Lachlan Murdoch from
News Corporation, Ailes was named
Chairman of the
Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005. Following his newest assignment, one of his first acts was canceling
A Current Affair in September 2005 and replacing it with a new
Geraldo Rivera show,
Geraldo at Large, which debuted on
Halloween, 2005. Rivera's show drew about the same ratings as
A Current Affair in January 2007. Ailes hired former
Viacom executive Dennis Swanson in October 2005 to be president of the Fox Television Stations Group. Additionally, there were changes in affiliates' news programs with the standardization of Fox News Channel-like graphics, redesigned studios, news-format changes, and the announcement of a new
morning television show called
The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet to be produced by Fox News Channel. In January 2011, 400 rabbis, including leaders from various branches of Judaism in the United States, published an open letter in
The Wall Street Journal on the UN-designated
Holocaust Remembrance Day. They called on Rupert Murdoch to sanction Fox News commentator
Glenn Beck for his use of
the Holocaust to "discredit any individual or organization you disagree with." Ailes is also said to have once referred to Jewish critics of his as "left-wing rabbis." Also in 2011, Ailes was criticized for referring to executives of the public radio network
NPR as "
Nazis" for firing a news analyst,
Juan Williams, after Williams had made remarks considered by NPR to be offensive. Ailes apologized to a Jewish group, but not to NPR, for using the expression, writing to the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL): "I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR's willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough ... My now considered opinion 'nasty, inflexible bigot' would have worked better." The ADL welcomed and accepted the apology through its National Director,
Abraham Foxman; in a subsequent letter to
The Wall Street Journal Foxman said that both Ailes and Beck were "pro-Israel stalwarts." In October 2012, Ailes's contract with Fox News was renewed for four years, through 2016. If completed, he would have served as head of Fox News Channel for 20 years. Salary terms were not made public, although his earnings for the 2012 fiscal year were $21 million (~$ in ) inclusive of bonuses. In addition to heading Fox News and chairing Fox Television Stations, Ailes also chaired
20th Television,
MyNetworkTV and
Fox Business Network. Fox News denied the allegation and rejected the authenticity of Sherman's book. Ailes, through his attorney,
Susan Estrich, denied the charges. Three days later, Sherman reported accounts from six women (two publicly and four anonymously) who alleged sexual harassment by Ailes. In response, Ailes's counsel released a statement: "It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue." Following Ailes' resignation,
Andrea Tantaros claimed in August 2016 that she approached Fox News executives about Ailes' behavior towards her in 2015. She stated that her allegations resulted first in her being demoted, and then in her being taken off the air in April 2016. Tantaros filed a lawsuit against Fox News in August 2016 for sexual harassment, also accusing
Bill O'Reilly and
Scott Brown. On August 8, 2016,
Shelley Ross, writing for
The Daily Beast, described her encounter of sexual harassment with Ailes in 1981. She claimed that at a lunch meeting Ailes asked her, "When did you first discover you were sexy?" When Ross explained to Ailes that she found the conversation "very embarrassing," he responded that "the best expression of loyalty comes in the form of a sexual alliance." The next month, 21st Century Fox announced it had settled a lawsuit with Carlson over her allegations of harassment against Ailes.
Resignation Ten days later,
New York magazine reported that an internal review into Carlson's claims had expanded into a broader review of Ailes's stewardship. It also claimed Rupert Murdoch and his sons,
Lachlan and
James, had seen enough information in the preliminary review to conclude that Ailes had to go. They disagreed on the timing, however; James wanted Ailes out immediately, while Rupert and Lachlan wanted to wait until after the
Republican National Convention. On July 19,
New York reported that
Megyn Kelly told investigators Ailes made "unwanted sexual advances toward her" at the start of her career. The magazine also reported that the Murdochs had given Ailes an ultimatum—resign by August 1 or be fired. On July 21, 2016, Ailes resigned from Fox News, receiving about $40 million (~$ in ) from 21st Century Fox (the then-parent company of
20th Century Fox and Fox News) in an exit agreement. Rupert Murdoch succeeded him as chairman, and as interim CEO until the naming of a permanent replacement. In a letter to Murdoch, Ailes wrote: "I will not allow my presence to become a distraction from the work that must be done every day to ensure that Fox News and Fox Business continue to lead our industry." Ailes was thanked for his work, without mention of the allegations. He continued to advise Murdoch and
21st Century Fox through 2017 until his death.
After 20th Television and Fox News In 2016, after he left Fox News, he became an adviser to
Donald Trump's
presidential campaign, where he assisted with debate preparation. He also reportedly was an advisor to
Rupert Murdoch but it was clarified that he will not be a “consultant” at Fox News. == Personal life ==