Karl Rove Biography

Karl Rove As one of the most powerful political consultants in American history, Karl Rove has repeatedly come under fire and investigation for his involvement in numerous scandals. With an interest in politics at as early as nine years old, Karl names one of his own political heroes as the political advisor to President William McKinley, Mark Hanna.Karl Rove was born on December 25, 1950, in Denver, Colorado, the second of five children and raised in Sparks, Nevada. His mother was a gift shop manager and after being abandoned by Rove's biological father when Rove was still quite young, she went on to marry Louis Rove, a mineral geologist who raised Karl along with his brother and sister. Louis Rove was of Norwegian descent. Rove's mother committed suicide in 1981.At the age of nine years old Rove decided to be a supporter of Richard Nixon and in doing so experienced his first political defeat when a girl who lived across the street from him gave him a bloody nose for his political beliefs, she being a John F Kennedy supporter herself.When his family moved to Salt Lake City Rove attended Olympus High School where he quickly took on the role of student council president. It was here that he honed his ability to debate and win arguments. Rove's entry into American politics came in 1968 when he was the Olympus High chairman for the re-election campaign for Wallace Bennett, later to become a U.S. state senator.Karl Rove went on to attend the University of Utah in 1969 on a $1,000 scholarship as a political science major. While at the university Rove illegally entered the campaign office of a Democrat candidate and stole 1,000 sheets of letterhead and printed and distributed flyers inviting local homeless and rock concert goers to get free beer, free food, and girls. This act eventually had no effect on the Democrats campaign as he went on to win.Since that youthful prank, Rove has had many close encounters with less than reputable people and scandals in his political career. He was an active participant in the 1972 campaign of Richard Nixon and a prot g of one of the convicted conspirators of Watergate, Donald Segretti.Rove used his educational status to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War by registering first as a student at the University of Utah and then the University of Maryland. The draft ended on June 30, 1973 and Rove left university without a degree.In 1973 Rove was reported by the Washington Post to have been using underhanded campaign techniques such as rooting through opponent's garbage cans. George H W Bush requested an FBI investigation into Rove.John Dean who became the prosecutions star witness during the Watergate trial was quoted as saying that, based on my review of the files, it appears the Watergate prosecutors were interested in Rove's activities in 1972, but because they had bigger fish to fry they did not aggressively investigate him.Soon after the Watergate investigationm, George H W Bush actually chose Rove to be chairman of the College Republicans. It was during this time that Rove would first meet George W Bush.In 1976 Rove married his first wife, Valerie Mather Wainwright, a Houston socialite. The marriage only lasted until 1980 when Valerie divorced Rove citing infidelity as the reason for the divorce. Rove went on to marry Darby Tara Hickson in 1986 who had been a graphic designer for his company Rove Co which he sold in 1999 in order to commit himself full time to George W Bush's presidential campaign. In 1987 Rove and his wife had a son, Andrew.Rove now lives in Washington D.C., but prior to living there he was found to owe $3,400 tax avoidance on his property in D.C. when he claimed tax exemption even though he was registered to vote in Texas, not Washington D.C.During his years as an advisor Rove worked for the tobacco company Phillip Morris but severed ties stating he felt awkward about balancing his work as Bush's political advisor while Bush was the Governor of Texas and Texas was suing the tobacco industry at that time.Once again in 1977 Rove's activities came under scrutiny and resulted in him being fired after he was hired by George H W Bush for his unsuccessful 1980 presidential campaign, when Bush was selected as Ronald Reagan's vice-presidential nominee. Rove was accused of leaking information to the press.After Rove had successfully advised Bush Jr. in his 2004 bid for re-election against John Kerry, Bush publicly thanked Rove and called him the architect of his campaign.Once again scandal came knocking on Rove's door in the form of the Plame affair when it was claimed that Rove leaked the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in retaliation for her husband's letter to the New York Times criticizing the Bush administration's justification for the War in Iraq.On April 24, 2007, it was revealed that Karl Rove was being investigated by the Office of Special Counsel for his involvement in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, an investigation that also involves Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and for improper political influence over government decision-making. The 106-person Office of Special Counsel has never conducted such a broad and high-profile inquiry.Even while attending a social event at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on a Saturday night in April of 2007, Rove managed to stir up controversy when singer Sheryl Crow and Laurie David, the producer of the Al Gore documentary Inconvenient Truth, approached him to question him on the Bush administration's approach to the issue of global warming. After a few words, Rove told Crow that he didn't work for her and that he worked for the American people. The sparks flew for a few minutes until Rove returned to his table in an attempt to avoid the subject.Barbara Walters named Rove as the most fascinating person of the 2004.