Robert Adelmann

H. Robert “Bob” Adelmann (born December 1, 1939, Glen Ridge, New Jersey) is a libertarian journalist, public speaker and former businessman known for his focus on economic issues, particularly the role of the Federal Reserve System in US history. Adelmann is unabashedly conservative, holding life memberships in both the John Birch Society and the National Rifle Association. He currently (2010) writes for the New American magazine and the Constitutionalist Today newspaper in both their online and print incarnations.

Early life

Adelmann was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and raised in Montclair. His father was a successful life insurance salesman in New York City. Adelmann was an entrepreneur on a small scale from the age of six, when he sold seeds door to door. He attended Cornell University and American College, earning engineering, financial and business undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Family life

Adelmann and his wife Mary have lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado since 1964. They raised a large family in a Christian home environment, having been born again at a Billy Graham crusade. Adelmann is active in local church life and is a Presbyterian.

Business career

Adelmann began working as a salesman in Colorado Springs in 1964, selling insurance. After developing a clientele and achieving success in the business, he shifted into financial planning and money management. He hosted a popular radio program, “Bob Adelmann’s Money Talk”, on local radio station KVOR 1300 AM in Colorado Springs for seven years. He also served on the board of directors of Summit Ministries in Manitou, Colorado. After selling his financial business to his son in 1996 he ran a number of successful local businesses, earning a writeup in the local business journal. [1]

Political influences and activism

Introduced to the Austrian School of economic thinking through association with the John Birch Society, Adelmann decided that much of his financial education had been biased and incomplete, and increased his commitment to conservative political ideas. He became a leader in the John Birch society and made a number of national tours as a speaker for the American Opinion Speakers Bureau, addressing primarily economic topics such as Social Security and the Federal Reserve System.

In the late 1960s Adelmann started and led the Concerned Citizens to Retain Firearms, a 2nd Amendment group founded to fight against a proposed Colorado Springs ordinance restricting concealed carry of firearms. Adelmann’s efforts attracted attention from the local newspaper at the time. [2]

In 2009 Adelmann’s focus shifted from direct activism and speaking to writing, and he began his journalistic work.

Speaking and writing

Although writing did not become a primary focus of Adelmann’s professional career until 2009, he wrote a number of pieces beginning in 1967 for professional associations, and began doing some political writing in 1986. He began writing political and economic articles on a serious basis in 2009 after an invitation from the editor of the New American magazine. As of July 2010 he has written over 100 published articles on economic and political events.

Sources

[1] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4190/is_20050128/ai_n10045272/

[2] Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, “Good Work, Bob!”, September 21, 1974