The First Liberal
The Liberal Code
of Jesus Christ
About The Author
Dennis Martin Altman
Dennis Martin Altman is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, where he teaches Strategic Communication and Ethics in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications.
While living in America's Bible belt, he became been painfully aware of how hard-working rural Southerners habitually vote against their own best interests. This “Red States” part of the country regularly elects conservative politicians who do their best to keep wages down and cut government appropriations for what the locals need most; more assistance in education and health care.
The author is no stranger to the political scene. During the election year of 1976, he was a media advisor to President Gerald R. Ford. After Richard Nixon's disgrace and resignation, a Ford victory held hope for a chance to re-shape the Republican Party.
Altman grabbed it with both hands. That gave him a good look at the inside workings of the Republican mindset, and he's been a Liberal ever since.
The day the fire was lit
It was March 29, 1953, when the author met Edward R. Murrow for the first time. The great broadcast journalist ignited liberal passions in the young Long Island University student, that have burned brightly for all of his life. “Murrow was more than an inspiration”, Altman says, “He taught me the value of going to the original source, and not settling for hearsay or second-hand information.”
Jefferson was thinking the same way, back in 1816 when he cut all the hearsay of the gospels while creating the original Jefferson Bible. (For more on The Jefferson Bible, see Chapter 4 – The Liberal Spirit of America's Founders, in The First Liberal.)
Next: Why I Wrote the Book
