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[Nat Fayer]

Ronald Ernest Paul, M.D. (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician and Republican Congressman for the State of Texas, who gained widespread attention during his unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Republican Party presidential nomination. During the campaign he attracted an enthusiastic following, which made use of the Internet and social networking to establish a grassroots campaign despite lack of traditional organization or media attention. He is the founder of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty.

Paul is a member of the Liberty Caucus of Republican congressmen which aims to limit the size and scope of the federal government, and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Committee on Financial Services, where he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policy. He was one of the first congressmen to support Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign and endorsed Reagan again for President in 1980 and was himself the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1988. His ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008).

Personal life

Paul was born in Pittsburgh to Howard and Margaret (née Dumont) Paul.[2] As a junior at Dormont High School, he was the 220-yard dash state champion.[3] He received a B.S. degree in biology at Gettysburg College in 1957.[3] After obtaining an M.D. degree from the Duke University School of Medicine, he served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s.

Paul has been married to Carol Wells since 1957.[4] They have five children, who were baptized Episcopalian:[5] Ronald, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. They also have eighteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild.[6] He has four brothers, two of them including David Paul are ministers, and Wayne Paul is a CPA.

[edit] Early Congressional career

While still a medical resident in the 1960s, Paul was influenced by Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, which led him to read many works of Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. He came to know economists Hans Sennholz and Murray Rothbard well, and credits to them his interest in the study of economics. He came to believe that what the Austrian school economists wrote was coming true on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon closed the "gold window" by implementing the U.S. dollar's complete departure from the gold standard.[7] That same day, the young physician decided to enter politics, saying later, "After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded."[8]

[edit] First campaigns

Inspired by his belief that the monetary crisis of the 1970s was predicted by the Austrian School, and caused by excessive government spending on the Vietnam War[9], and wholesale welfare,[10] Paul became a delegate to the Texas Republican convention and a Republican candidate for the United States Congress. In 1974, incumbent Robert R. Casey defeated him in the 22nd district. When President Gerald Ford appointed Casey to head the Federal Maritime Commission, Paul won an April, 1976 special election to fill the empty seat.[11] Paul lost some months later in the general election, to Democrat Robert Gammage, by fewer than 300 votes (0.2%), but defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch, and was subsequently re-elected in 1980 and 1982.

Paul was the first Republican representative from the area; he also led the Texas Reagan delegation at the national Republican convention.[12] His successful campaign against Gammage surprised local Democrats, who had expected to retain the seat easily in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Gammage underestimated Paul's support among local mothers: "I had real difficulty down in Brazoria County, where he practiced, because he'd delivered half the babies in the county. There were only two obstetricians in the county, and the other one was his partner."