Rush Limbaugh

About Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio host and conservative political commentator. His nationally-syndicated talk show, The Rush Limbaugh Show, airs throughout the world on Premiere Radio Networks. He has been credited with reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered to have been a "kind of national precinct captain" for the Republican Party's Congressional victories in 1994. National Review magazine, in a 1993 cover story, called him "The Leader of the Opposition" during the Clinton presidency. A month after Bill Clinton's defeat of the the Elder Bush in 1992, Ronald Reagan sent Limbaugh, a man he never met, a letter in which he thanked Limbaugh "for all you're doing to promote Republican and conservative principles...[and] you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country."

Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the son of Mildred Carolyn "Millie" (née Armstrong), originally from Searcy, Arkansas, and Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr. His father was a lawyer and a World War II fighter pilot who served in the China-Burma-India theater. The name "Rush" was chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of family member Edna Rush. His family is filled with a number of lawyers including his grandfather, father and his brother David Limbaugh. His uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. is a Ronald Reagan appointed federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and his cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., is Judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri. Rush Limbaugh, Sr., Limbaugh's grandfather, was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner and served on Missouri's state House of Representatives from 1930 to 1932. Limbaugh's grandfather was very well respected as one of the "patriarchs" of the Cape Girardeau community. Rush, Sr., passed away at age 104 and was still a practicing attorney at the time of his death. Limbaugh began his career in radio as a teenager in 1967 in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, using the name Rusty Sharpe.

Limbaugh graduated from Cape Central High School, in 1969. His father and mother wanted him to attend college, so he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University. But he dropped out after two semesters and one summer; according to his mother, "he flunked everything", even a modern ballroom dancing class. His mother was not entirely surprised. As she told a reporter in 1992, "He just didn't seem interested in anything except radio."