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  Fish, V, Hamilton
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
 
NameHamilton Fish, V
Address
New York, New York , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born September 05, 1951 (72 years)
Contributornystate63
Last ModifedRBH
Feb 14, 2008 11:33pm
Tags
InfoHamilton Fish V (the Fifth) is President of the Board of Trustees of The Nation Institute, a non-profit entity closely linked to, and operating synergistically with, the for-profit The Nation magazine. This Board of Trustees includes as members Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Publisher/Editorial Director Victor Navasky, former Nation owner Arthur Carter and others, including Hollywood actor Tim Robbins.

Fish, whose family power and influence stretches back across 130 years in American national politics, is also political advisor to billionaire George Soros, a key figure in the Shadow Party that shaped the Democratic presidential campaign of 2004 and a funder of many leftwing causes.

Founded in 1966, The Nation Institute “has a fundamental commitment to the values of free speech and open discourse,” says its web site. “The Institute places particular importance on strengthening the independent press in the face of America’s increasingly corporate-controlled flow of information, and through its programs the Institute promotes progressive values on a variety of media platforms.”

“The Institute,” says its web site, “sponsors a number of projects including conferences, seminars, televised town hall-style meetings, e-mail and web communications, book publishing, syndicated public affairs radio programming and film production, fellowships and internships.”

In 1977 Fish put together a group of investors who purchased the near-bankrupt Nation, and was its publisher until 1985, when the magazine was sold to former Wall Street investment banker Arthur Carter. (Carter also began publishing the New York Observer in 1987.)

In 1995 Carter sold The Nation to another investor group assembled by longtime editor (and Columbia University Journalism professor) Victor Navasky, which included, among others, current editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, former Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman Alan Sagner, novelist E.L. Doctorow, computer software creator of Norton Utilities Peter Norton and actor Paul Newman.

Fish and Carter both sit on The Nation Institute’s Board of Trustees, along with Navasky and vanden Heuvel. Fish is paid $83,000 per year to preside over this Board.

Fish’s great-great-grandfather, named after Alexander Hamilton, was born in New York City in 1808 and grew up to become a Congressman, New York Governor, one of the first Republicans ever elected to the U.S. Senate, and Secretary of State during Ulysses S. Grant’s Administration. His son became a Congressman and influential Republican Party figure.

His grandfather, Hamilton Fish III (1888-1991), was a Republican leader in the House of Representatives. History remembers him best for opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and for Roosevelt’s famous 1940 speech that repeatedly criticized the three top GOP congressional leaders and made a chant of their last names, “Martin, Barton and Fish.” His son also became a successful Congressman from New York.

But Hamilton Fish V, the “red sheep” of the family, became a radical. In a 1988 run for Congress as a Democrat he failed win office. In 1994 when his Republican father retired after serving 26 years in Congress, Fish ran as a Democrat to replace him – and again got trounced by the Republican candidate.

Rejected by the electorate, Fish has instead pursued power by other means – specifically by deploying the funds of The Nation Institute and of billionaire George Soros to leftist causes.

Since 1999 Soros’ Open Society Institute has given grants totaling at least $270,000 to entities on whose Boards Fish or Nation publisher-owner Victor Navasky or both sit – including a $50,000 grant to The Nation Institute.

As Soros’ aide, Fish was instrumental in the planning of Soros’ alternative Shadow Convention during the 2000 presidential primary campaign, an assemblage of radicals fed up with both political parties, which under Soros’ influence metamorphosed in the Shadow Party of 527s, including America Coming Together, the Media Fund and the Center for American Progress that shaped the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign.

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FAMILY
Father Hamilton Fish, Jr. 1926-1996
Grandfather Hamilton Fish, III 1888-1991
Great-Grandfather Hamilton Fish 1849-1936
Grandmother Grace Chapin Fish 1885-1960
Great-Grandfather Alfred C. Chapin 1848-1936
Sister Alexa Fish Ward 1953-
Brother Nick Fish 1958-2020

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RACES
  11/08/1994 NY District 19 Lost 36.76% (-15.33%)
  09/13/1994 NY District 19 - D Primary Won 48.97% (+20.26%)
  09/15/1988 NY District 20 - D Primary Lost 35.80% (-8.16%)
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