Arthur Finkelstein, GOP Campaign Guru, Dies At 72
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Dave Goldiner August 20, 2017
Arthur Finkelstein, a conservative campaign strategist who helped elect Republican presidents and Israeli premiers has died, his family announced Saturday. He was 72.
Finkelstein was perhaps best known as the brains behind the unlikely elections of Sen. Al D’Amato and Gov. George Pataki.
But he also helped Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and even Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) win.
Early in his polling career, Finkelstein signed onto Nixon’s 1972 campaign at just 26.
Finkelstein later helped run Reagan’s unsuccessful 1976 primary campaign against Gerald Ford, and his winning race four years later.
Finkelstein also worked for conservatives Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon in Israel.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
