Herman Cain was born in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 13, 1945, to Luther and Lenora Cain. The family relocated to Atlanta, Ga., where Herman grew up, graduated from college, married and started his own journey to the American dream.
Business Experience
In 1994, at a nationally televised town hall meeting, President Bill Clinton was touting his healthcare reform legislation, and Herman Cain challenged the president, “Quite honestly Mr. President, your calculations are incorrect. In the competitive marketplace, it simply doesn’t work that way.”
Cain knows how the “competitive marketplace works,” because he began climbing the corporate ladder after earning a master’s degree and working six years for the U.S. navy as a mathematician. After achieving a successful career with the Coca Cola Company, Cain moved on to the Pillsbury Company, where he moved up to vice-president in a short period of time.
Cain’s next corporate adventure led him to the restaurant industry. In three years, he took 450 low performing Burger King restaurants and turned them into the best performing. Moving on from Burger King, he accepted a position as CEO and president of Godfather’s Pizza at a time when the chain was facing bankruptcy. In fourteen months, Cain led the company to solvency.
Cain’s accomplishments with Godfather’s Pizza brought him to the attention of national restaurateurs, and he was tapped to join the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association, where he was elected chairman of that board. Later, he became president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, a position from which he worked to help many small businesses as well as entrepreneurs.
As president of the National Restaurant Association, Cain gained recognition as a superior business leader and subsequently was offered a position on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He later was elected chairman of this board as well.
Today, many Americans know Herman Cain through his radio talk show, “The Herman Cain Show,” on Atlanta’s WSB 750 AM/ 95.5 FM.
Herman Cain on the Issues
Herman Cain ran for the senate in 1996 and lost. Otherwise, he has no experience serving as a politician. But he responds with a clever come-back to those who would suggest this fact is a liability: "Everyone in Washington has held public office before. How's that working out for you?"
Herman Cain offers a continuity of the momentum gained by the Republican Party in the 2010 election. He is the complement to the struggle of the Tea Party to return the United States to a smaller, limited government with tax reform, stronger defense and more individual responsibility.
Cain is the consummate conservative on all the issues from foreign policy to economic policy to social issues. About federal funding for Planned Parenthood, Cain remarked, “Here’s why I support de-funding Planned Parenthood, because you don’t hear a lot of people talking about this, when Margaret Sanger – check my history – started Planned Parenthood, the objective was to put these centers in primarily black communities so they could help kill black babies before they came into the world.”
A Cain presidency would focus on spending, national security, immigration, education and economic policies. Regarding a peripheral issue such as gay marriage, he has remarked, “I will not sign any legislation that is going to weaken traditional marriage, but I am not going to make getting a constitutional amendment on traditional marriage the centerpiece or the leading issue of my administration.”
Honorary Doctorates and Other Awards
Cain has been awarded five honorary doctorates from the following colleges: University of Nebraska, Tougaloo College, Morehouse College, Johnson and Wales University and New York City Technical College.
For his acumen in the business world, he has garnered the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Operator of the Year/Gold Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association. He has won many awards for his humanitarian service and other excellence-in-leadership awards.
The American Dream
Herman Cain wants to reverse some of the recent policies that he feels are taking America down the wrong path. He declares, “The American Dream is under attack. In fact, a recent survey found 67% of the American People believe America is headed in the wrong direction. Sadly, this comes as no surprise to those of us who have watched an out-of-control federal government that spends recklessly, taxes too much and oversteps its Constitutional limits far too often.”
Sources
- About Herman Cain: My Story
- Herman Cain
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
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