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American author, journalist, radio host (born 1945)

Neal A Boortz Jr. (born April 6, 1945) is an American author, former attorney, and former libertarian radio host. His nationally syndicated talk show, The Neal Boortz Show, which ended in 2013, was carried throughout the United States. The content of the show included politics, current events, social issues, and topics of interest, which Boortz discussed with callers, correspondents, and guests. Boortz touched on many controversial topics. Boortz's first involvement with radio was in the 1960s, while he was a student at Texas A&M University, working as a local on air personality at WTAW. After moving to Georgia, he became an avid listener of Atlanta's first talk radio station. Boortz became a regular caller to the morning talk show. When the show's host died, it created a job opening, which Boortz actively pursued. He was initially hired on a two week "trial run", and later offered the permanent position. Boortz attended law school, earning a law degree in 1977. For some years he worked as both an attorney and as a talk show host. He eventually closed his law practice after 17 years to concentrate on his work in radio. Boortz has received many industry accolades. He was named as one of the "25 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" by Talkers magazine, and one of "Georgia's 100 Most Influential People" by Georgia Trend. In 2009, Boortz was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Boortz's first book was The Commencement Speech You Need To Hear in 1997, followed by The Terrible Truth About Liberals, in 1998. In 2005, he co wrote The FairTax Book with Congressman John Linder, proposing to implement a variant of a national retail sales tax in lieu of other federal taxes. Boortz's involvement with the FairTax is covered in the documentary film An Inconvenient Tax.

Boortz was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, his mother's home. His father was a Marine Corps pilot, who served in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. Describing himself as a "military brat", Boortz lived in many locations throughout the country (including the small community of Thrall, Texas). He spent his first two years of high school at Tustin Union High School in Tustin, California. The family then moved to Florida. Boortz graduated from Pensacola High School, in 1963. He attended Texas A&M University, but did not graduate. Boortz later attended John Marshall Law School, in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating in 1977 and passing the Georgia bar.

Boortz's first foray into authorship was in 1997 with The Commencement Speech You Need To Hear, in which he delivers his opinions on various topics in the form of a commencement speech he would give to new college graduates, if ever invited to do so. The hardcover version held the #1 non fiction spot on the New York Times bestseller list for the last two weeks of August 2005 and remained in the top ten for seven weeks. The paperback released in May 2006 contains additional information, an afterword and several revisions of misstatements made in the hardcover edition. It also spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book is one of his most frequent topics of discussion. His fourth book entitled Somebody's Gotta Say It was released on February 20, 2007, and debuted at #2 spot on the New York Times bestseller list, second only to Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope. He occasionally writes columns on the Internet news/commentary site Townhall. com and other online magazines. His 2008 book is titled FairTax: The Truth. This book attempts to answer the critics of the Fair Tax proposal and claims to correct some of its myths and misrepresentations. It achieved #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list for the week of March 2, 2008 for paperback nonfiction. After Boortz retired from talk radio in January 21, 2013, Maybe I Should Just Shut Up and Go Away! was published in hardcover by Carpenter's Son Publishing in Franklin Tennessee.

After Boortz retired from full time radio work in 2013, he hosted commentaries for WSB for six more years, until they were discontinued by station.

Boortz is a self described libertarian. He advocates a complete overhaul of the U. S. tax system and the release of all non violent drug offenders who are currently in prison. He has supported Republican candidates and Republican tax policy, though he occasionally clashes with Republicans on social issues. Boortz disagrees with the Libertarian Party platform on several key issues including his firm support of the war in Iraq, He sides with liberals on some social issues such as abortion, same sex marriage, and civil liberties. Prior to the 2006 midterm elections, Boortz opined that perhaps it would be a good thing to have the Republicans lose power in Congress, forcing them to wake up and stop taking their base for granted. Boortz told one disgruntled caller:
I am happy about it [the defeat]. It's the only way to get these Republicans to wake themselves up and say, 'You have abandoned what you were put in office for.' Boortz creates controversy among conservatives for his support of abortion rights (on which Boortz does not allow calls), for his refusal to condemn homosexuality or gay marriage, and for his negative comments regarding Baptists and the biblical story of creation. Although he calls himself a Christian, he keeps his religious views private.

The Neal Boortz Show was a nationally syndicated talk show, which ended in January 2013. It aired live from 8:30am to noon, weekdays. His attempts at controversy included referring to homeless people as "urban outdoorsmen" on air, and called public education "taxpayer funded child abuse". He also expressed a negative opinion about the lack of Muslim outrage for the actions of Muslim terrorists and the riots that erupted in response to the Jyllands Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Islamic extremism was a favorite topic. Some of his remarks caused controversy. After the Virginia Tech shootings, Boortz criticized the media, saying, "When the history of this event is written, we will have 25 students standing meekly waiting for this guy to execute them." When public outrage resulted from his comments, members of the Virginia Legislature tried to have Boortz's show removed from local radio stations. In March 2008, Boortz attracted controversy by playing an audiotape of a nine year old where he repeatedly ridiculed the child's speech, leading to an unsuccessful FCC petition to deny Boortz's employer the right to purchase five local radio stations. On June 4, 2012, Boortz announced that he would retire from radio by the end of the year. His last live show aired on January 18, 2013. Boortz's regular fill in host, Herman Cain, replaced him on January 21, 2013, in what amounted to a swap of seats, as Boortz became Cain's fill in host. Boortz hosted commentaries for WSB for six more years, until they were discontinued by station.