James Zogby, a Community Leader for the Past 30 Years

November 9, 2011

Do you know Dr. James J. Zogby, one of the most influential thinkers and leaders of the Arab American and Amerian community for the past 30 years?

From authoring Arab Voices to founding the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community, Dr. Zogby is a man behind the scenes, who for the past 25 years has been patiently working to bring change to the Arab American community.

Dr. Zogby has been involved in a full range of Arab American issues. In the late '70s, he co-founded and chaired the Palestine Human Rights Campaign and later co-founded and served as the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In 1982, he co-founded Save Lebanon, Inc., a nonprofit relief organization which funds health care for Palestinian and Lebanese victims of war.

In 1993, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in Washington, he was asked by then-Vice President Al Gore to lead Builders for Peace, a committee to promote U.S. business investment in the West Bank and Gaza. In his capacity as co-president of Builders, Zogby traveled to the Middle East with delegations led by Gore and the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.

In 1994, with former U.S. Rep. Mel Levine (D-CA), his colleague as co-president of Builders, Zogby led a U.S. delegation to the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Cairo.

Dr. Zogby has been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1995, DNC Chairman Don Fowler appointed Zogby as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee, an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent. In 1999 and 2001 he was re-elected to that post. Also in 2001, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and in 2006 was also named Co-Chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee.

Since 1992, Zogby has written a weekly column on U.S. politics for the major newspapers of the Arab world. The column, “Washington Watch,” is currently published in 14 Arab and South Asian countries. He has authored a number of books including two publications, “What Ethnic Americans Really Think” and “What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.”