James Zogby

James J. Zogby (born 1945) is an American academic, political consultant and founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Arab American Institute. In 2001, Zogby was elected to the Executive Committee of the United States Democratic National Committee (DNC). He is a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International, founded and managed by his brother John Zogby, and is a lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues.

Biography

Zogby (from _ar. زغبي, "transl|Arab|DIN|Zuġbīy") was born in Utica, New York. [cite journal | last=Barsky | first= Yehudit | coauthors= | title=Is James Zogby a "Builder for Peace"? | journal=Middle East Quarterly | volume=4 | issue=4 | pages= | month=December | year=1998 | url=http://www.meforum.org/article/429 | accessdate=2008-08-09] He attended Le Moyne College, Syracuse where he graduated with a bachelor's degree. He went of to earn his PhD in Islamic studies from Temple University, in 1975. In 1976, at Princeton University, he was a National Endowment for the Humanities post-doctoral fellow. [cite web | author= | title=Dr. James Zogby Biography | url=http://www.aaiusa.org/dr-zogby/36/biography | publisher=Arab American Institute. | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-08-07]

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Zogby was a founding member and leader of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Save Lebanon, Inc.

As co-president of Builders for Peace, Zogby promoted US-Arab business investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Then United States Vice President Al Gore tapped Zogby to help lead the effort in 1993, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in Washington. The next year, Zogby led a US delegation to the signing of the agreement in Cairo, Egypt, along with his Builders co-president, former US Congressman Mel Levine.

Zogby's ancestors immigrated from Lebanon. He is married to Eileen Patricia McMahon and is the father of five children.

Writing and advocacy

Since 1992, Zogby has written a weekly column on American politics for major Arab newspapers, "Washington Watch", and authored a number of books, including "What Ethnic Americans Really Think" and "What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns". He also blogs at "The Huffington Post".

In 1995, Zogby was elected as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council (NDECC). Zogby also serves on the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee and on the national advisory boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Forum, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

References

External links

* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/ James Zogby blog] at "The Huffington Post"
* [http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/dlib/lat/display.cfm?ms=uclalat_1429_b3359_303287-2&searchType=subject&subjectID=221751 1986 photo of Zogby] from [http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/dlib/lat/introduction.cfm Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library.]

* [http://www.aaiusa.org/washington-watch Washington Watch] Arab American Institute weekly policy column
* [http://www.aaiusa.org/dr-zogby/38/viewpoint Viewpoint ] Arab American Institute weekly television interview program
* [http://www.mediamonitors.net/zogby56.html MediaMonitors.net] - 'Understanding America's Right Wing, Part Two', James Zogby (June 4, 2002)
* [http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/Opinion.asp?ArticleID=100716 Gulf-News.com] - 'US bends statistical data on Iraqi surveys' James Zogby (October 20, 2003)
* [http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/english/aug2004/16.htm Jerusalemites.org] - 'It’s Still the US Mideast Policy, Stupid: The results are disturbing. Overall, favorable ratings for the US have declined in the past two years. In some countries, the change has been dramatic...' James Zogby (August 16, 2004)

* [http://www.zogby.com Zogby.com] - Zogby International