Pat Robertson, the Baptist minister who turned a small UHF television station into the powerhouse Christian Broadcasting Network, hosted the long-running 700 Club, and marshaled the evangelical movement to become a dominant political force, died on June 8 at his home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was 93 years old.
Born on March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, as Marion Gordon Robertson, he was the son of Absalom Willis Robertson, a Democratic member of the House and Senate, and Gladys Churchill, a musician and stay-at-home mother. Robertson’s nickname “Pat” was thanks to his older brother Willis Robertson Jr., who liked to pat his younger brother’s cheeks when he was a baby. It was the name the younger Robertson used for the rest of his life.
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After graduating magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University with a degree in history, Roberts joined the Marine Corps in 1948. Upon his return to the United States in 1952, Robertson attended Yale Law School, graduating near the top of his class, though he failed the bar exam in New York. His true calling came when he turned to Christianity and received his master’s of divinity from the New York Theological Seminary (then known as the Biblical Seminary in New York).
For over 20 years, Robertson was content to lead the Christian Broadcasting Network. But as the son and brother of two senators, Robertson eventually felt the pull of politics. He served on Ronald Reagan’s Victims of Crime Task Force and, more locally, on the Board of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and on the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers. He set his sights higher than his relatives, seeking a long-shot bid for president in 1988, taking on incumbent Vice President George H.W. Bush for the Republican nomination.
Robertson zeroed in on Iowa and its prominent Christian population. Though he didn’t win, he finished second in that state to Bob Dole, relegating Bush to a third-place finish. He did poorly in New Hampshire and, with multiple-state primaries ahead, whatever chance he had diminished quickly. Bush captured 42 of the primary contests, while Robertson won four. Still, Robertson’s run established him as a leader in a new political movement. He gathered 3 million signatures to make his run for president and used that to launch the Christian Coalition in 1987.
The emergence of the Christian Coalition was a flashpoint in electoral politics, increasing turnout among religious conservatives using outreach such as voter guides to compare candidates on a range of issues, including abortion, gay marriage, and taxes. By 1994, the Christian Coalition amassed over 4 million members and had a budget of $25 million. Detractors such as the left-wing People For the American Way conceded the new “religious right” was primarily responsible for the GOP takeover of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections.
Evangelical Christians, with help from the Christian Coalition, exerted a great deal of influence on Republican politics over the next decade, helping George W. Bush win the 2000 GOP nomination and then the presidency.
Robertson’s life was not free of controversy. He once compared non-Christians to “termites” and attacked Protestant denominations such as Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians as “the spirit of the Antichrist.” He called Hinduism “demonic” and said Islam, “at its core, teaches violence.”
Robertson also made controversial political statements. He once referred to feminism as a “socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.” The late Jerry Falwell often appeared on Robertson’s influential 700 Club, and, following the 9/11 attacks, Falwell said, “The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’” Robertson replied, “Well, I totally concur.”
Robertson had two sons, Timothy and Gordon, two daughters, Elizabeth Robertson Robinson and Ann Robertson LeBlanc. He had 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. He turned over control of CBN to his son Gordon in 2007 and, in 2021, announced he would step down as host of the 700 Club after more than 50 years.
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Jay Caruso is a writer and editor residing in West Virginia.
