Doug Wead obit

Conservative Political Commentator Doug Wead, a Lifelong Pentecostal, Dies at 75

 

He was not on the list.

Conservative political commentator and New York Times bestselling author Doug Wead, author of the 2019 book Inside Trump's White House: The Real Story of His Presidency, was removed from a ventilator and died of heart failure Friday after suffering a massive stroke a week ago. Wead was 75 years old.

Wead, who wrote more than 40 books and was an active participant in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, receiving some credit for George Bush's victory in the Iowa straw polls of 1999, was an insider in the Bush family, according to Time magazine, and was the man who coined the phrase, "compassionate conservative."

Wead's son, Scott, confirmed to Charisma News Friday that Wead suffered a massive stroke last week. He had been in the hospital since and suffered two heart attacks there. He was in a coma and had previously asked family members that he not be kept alive on life support. He died Friday after being taken off the ventilator.

Scott Wead says that, more than anything, his father wanted to be known as a student of history and as a man with a compassionate heart.

"The last years of his life, Dad was a presidential historian, a student of history," Scott says. "So many historians try to take God out of history and rewrite the history books. Dad made a point to interview presidents, including President Donald Trump. He wanted to include stories and testimonies from the lives of our presidents to make sure those stories were preserved. For the last 20 years, he spent a lot of time authoring books on history and on the raising of a president. He was a television personality, and he was an avid reader.

"He traveled on the evangelistic field for a long time, and he was blessed by how often Scriptures spoke about compassion and how God blessed those who show kindness to the poor," Scott says. "He had a heart for the hurting. He purposed to show compassion through ministry. He worked with Pat and Shirley Boone with Save the Refugees, and he worked in the White House with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, George H.W. and Barbara Bush and George W. Bush. He just had a huge heart for compassion ministry."

Scott Wead says his father and his grandfather, a minister in the Assemblies of God for many years in South Bend, Indiana, were very friendly to the Charismatic Catholic Renewal in the 1970s.

Wead appeared several times on Charisma CEO Stephen Strang's podcasts The Strang Report; God, Trump and the 2020 Election; and God and Cancel Culture with his political commentary.

After Joe Biden was elected president of the United States in November 2020, Wead told Strang on an ensuing episode of The Strang Report that Christians needed to get involved politically before our freedoms disappear.

"Christians were used as flaming torches in Nero's garden. I hope that's not where we're headed, but the church has survived," Wead said. "The only thing that makes you different from somebody living in a dictatorship is you have the freedom to vote, the freedom to run for office, the freedom to petition government, the freedom of speech, what you write in a book—those are the basic freedoms, some of which we're talking about losing. So as a good steward, you need to definitely be involved."

In 1992, Wead ran for U.S. Congress in Arizona's 6th Congressional District and won the Republican nomination by proposing a tax limit. He also received praise from former President Ronald Reagan for his humanitarian efforts.

"And Doug Wead, your excellent service in government at the White House and in the private sector, leading the effort for famine relief in Africa and Asia is a reminder that wherever we work, we can work to serve others," Reagan once said.

He also earned the praise of Trump in 2019 when Trump tweeted, "Great writer and historian, Doug Wead, has written a true (Not Fake News) account of what is going on in Washington and in the White House. His new book, 'INSIDE TRUMP's WHITE HOUSE,' is an incredible description of a very exciting and successful time in our country's history."

Wead was also a senior adviser to the Ron Paul 2012 and Rand Paul in the 2016 presidential campaigns.

Bishop Paul Zink paid tribute to his lifelong friend.

"Everybody knew Doug as a presidential historian and author, and he was very good at it," Zink says. "But Doug had a side to him as a humanitarian. I know, for instance, that once he went to Africa and helped to feed a tribe of people who were starving and dying. That's the type of heart he had. He loved the Lord very, very much.

"Doug was also in the Amway business for years, and he was known for his ability to speak at their conventions," Zink says. "He always made sure there was a Sunday-morning meeting at those conventions, and with the altar calls they had, I know for a fact that there was a thousand-plus people who gave their heart to the Lord in those meetings. You wouldn't look at him as a full-time minister, but he probably won more people to the Lord than most pastors would in a lifetime."

Zink says Wead spent several years as the president of Canyonville Bible Academy, a private boarding school in Canyonville, Oregon, from which he graduated in 1964. He also attended Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and received an honorary degree from Oral Roberts University in 1990.

In 1987, Doug Wead began tape recording members of the Bush family, with their permission, providing a historical record of the family. George Bush: Man of Integrity, which includes accounts of all family members, was published in 1988, written primarily from these taped conversations.

Wead continued his taping of George W. Bush between 1997 and 2000, recording at least nine hours of telephone conversations with Bush, who was then governor of Texas, as he engaged in his presidential run; the recordings were made without Bush's knowledge. Wead stated that he wanted to create an ongoing record of Bush as a historical figure. In February 2005, a month after Bush was sworn into office for his second term as president, Wead revealed the existence of the tapes to The New York Times, and publicly released twelve excerpts from them, each one ranging in length from five minutes to half an hour. He insisted that the taping was legal, having been made only in U.S. states where there was no law against taping someone without their consent. Several newsworthy revelations emerged from the tapes, such as Bush appearing to acknowledge having previously used marijuana and other drugs, and saying he would not answer press questions about his drug use because he did not want to set a bad example for children; calling then-primary opponent Steve Forbes "mean-spirited" and saying Forbes could not rely on Bush's help if Forbes won the Republican nomination; and calling his eventual Democratic election opponent, Al Gore, "pathologically a liar". Other excerpts seemed to match Bush's public persona, such as his statement that he was not worried about getting corrupted by the presidency because he read the Bible daily, which he called "pretty good about keeping your ego in check"; and his insistence that he was not homophobic, regardless of his opposition to gay marriage.

The release prompted some hostility from members of Bush's inner circle: Bush's wife, Laura Bush, said in an interview, "I don't know if I'd use the word 'betrayed,' but I think it's a little bit awkward for sure"; while Bush evangelical ally James Dobson said he was "shocked by [Wead's] breach of trust". Bush himself did not comment. The tapes' release also provoked negative reaction from some commentators, such as Bill Press, who called Wead "scum", and Bill O'Reilly, who called Wead "the lowest form of debris in the country.