Robert Bernard Reich is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator.
47 Facts About Robert Reich
2.
Robert Reich worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton.
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Robert Reich was a member of President Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board.
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Robert Reich was formerly a Lecturer at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government and a professor of social and economic policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University.
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Robert Reich has been a contributing editor of The New Republic, The American Prospect, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
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Robert Reich has published 18 books which have been translated into 22 languages, including the best-sellers The Work of Nations, Reason, Saving Capitalism, Supercapitalism, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, and a best-selling e-book, Beyond Outrage.
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Robert Reich is board chair emeritus of Common Cause and writes his own blog about the political economy at Robertreich.
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Inequality Media's videos feature Robert Reich discussing topics relating to inequality and power primarily in the United States, including universal basic income, labor rights protection, the racial wealth gap, affordable housing, and gerrymandering.
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Robert Reich was born to a Jewish family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Mildred Freshman and Edwin Saul Robert Reich, who owned a women's clothing store.
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Robert Reich cites this event as an inspiration to "fight the bullies, to protect the powerless, to make sure that the people without a voice have a voice".
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Robert Reich attended John Jay High School in Cross River, New York.
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Robert Reich subsequently earned a JD from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
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From 1973 to 1974, Reich served as a law clerk to Judge Frank M Coffin, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
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From 1980 until 1992, Reich taught at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he wrote a series of books and articles, including The Next American Frontier and The Work of Nations.
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Bill Clinton incorporated Robert Reich's thinking into his 1992 campaign platform, and after Clinton won the election, he appointed Robert Reich to head economic policy for the presidential transition.
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Whereas under 12 years of Republican presidencies the Department had largely been used as a patronage posting, Robert Reich envisioned it as the nucleus of a "cluster" of agencies, including the departments of Commerce and Education, which could act in tandem to break down traditional bureaucratic barriers.
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Consistent with the 1992 Clinton platform and his writings before taking office, Robert Reich called for more federal spending on jobs training and infrastructure.
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Robert Reich took initiative to expand his flexible power as an economic advisor-at-large to the President.
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Robert Reich actively engaged independent government agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission, to take a labor-focused approach to regulation.
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Robert Reich later credited Hillary Clinton with keeping him apprised of goings-on within the White House.
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Robert Reich served as leading public and private spokesman for the Clinton administration against organized labor, who continued to oppose the Agreement as a whole.
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Robert Reich's remarks were generally well-received, though only briefly mentioning NAFTA; he focused on the Clinton administration's approach to the National Labor Relations Board and day-to-day business regulation and management-labor relations.
23.
Over twenty years later, in opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership as "NAFTA on steroids," Robert Reich repudiated his position.
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Robert Reich further admitted that he regretted "not doing more to strengthen [NAFTA]'s labor and environmental side-agreements," though he denied supporting an expedited "fast-track" legislative process without opportunity for amendment.
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However, Bentsen soon resigned; Robert Reich continued to attack corporate welfare.
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In February 1995, Robert Reich met opposition within the administration over his proposal to ban government contractors from permanently replacing striking workers.
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Clinton sided with Robert Reich, re-establishing his central role in the administration's economic policy.
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Robert Reich gave weekly speeches attacking the new Republican majority, with his central message being the need to adapt to an "information-based" economy and the continued need for job re-training.
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In 1996, between Clinton's re-election and second inauguration, Robert Reich decided to leave the department to spend more time with his sons, then in their teen years.
30.
Robert Reich became a professor at Brandeis University, teaching courses for undergraduates as well as in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
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On January 1,2006, Robert Reich joined the faculty of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.
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Robert Reich is a member of the board of trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.
33.
In February 2017, Robert Reich criticized UC Berkeley's decision to host Donald Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos.
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Robert Reich published an associated campaign book, I'll Be Short.
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Robert Reich was the first US gubernatorial candidate to support same-sex marriage.
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Robert Reich pledged support for abortion rights and strongly condemned capital punishment.
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Robert Reich instead endorsed the then-little-known candidacy of Deval Patrick, who had previously served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration.
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In 2004, Robert Reich published Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America.
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Since at least summer 2016, Robert Reich has contributed an opinion column to Newsweek.
40.
In 2022, Robert Reich was featured in The Simpsons season finale "Poorhouse Rock," where he briefly explains the economic decline of the American middle class during a musical sequence.
41.
Robert Reich supported making a 120-year-old triplex a landmark to prevent the construction of a 10-apartment building, one of which would be deed restricted to be rented to a low income tenant, citing "the character of the neighborhood".
42.
In September 2005 Reich testified against John Roberts at his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
43.
Robert Reich endorsed Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in 2016 and 2020.
44.
In 2022, Robert Reich called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a "fascist".
45.
In 2013, with Jacob Kornbluth, Robert Reich founded Inequality Media, which produces videos, live interviews on Facebook, portions of his undergraduate class at Berkeley, and long-form videos.
46.
Since shortly after the 2017 inauguration Robert Reich has produced a "Resistance Report" program, offering contextual analysis of latest White House and Cabinet activities, typically a 15- to 30-minute presentation, available on social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube.
47.
Robert Reich married British-born lawyer Clare Dalton in Cambridge, UK, in 1973; they divorced in 2012.