Louis Carl Dobbs (born September 24, 1945) is an American political commentator, author, and former television host who presented Lou Dobbs Tonight from 2003 to 2009 and 2011 to 2021. Since 2021, he hosts The Great America Show on iHeart Radio and loudobbs.com. Dobbs started working with CNN at its inception in 1980, serving as a reporter and network vice president. On the air, he served as host and managing editor of the network's business program, Moneyline, which premiered in 1980. The show was renamed Lou Dobbs Tonight in 2003. Dobbs resigned from CNN in 1999 but rejoined the network in 2001. He resigned once again in November 2009. He is the former talk radio host of Lou Dobbs Radio. From 2011, he hosted Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network until its cancellation in February 2021. Dobbs was an early promoter of Birtherism, a conspiracy theory that falsely stated that former U.S. President Barack Obama is not a natural born US citizen. He is known for anti-immigration views, as well as for opposition to NAFTA and other trade deals. A staunch Donald Trump supporter, he infused his show with pro-Trump coverage. He was one of three Fox Corporation program hosts named in a $2.7 billion defamation suit by Smartmatic relating to false conspiracy theories used in attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. Early life and education Born in Childress County, Texas in 1945, Dobbs is the son of Frank Dobbs, a co-owner of a propane business, and Lydia Mae (née Hensley), a bookkeeper. When Dobbs was age twelve, his father's propane business failed and the family moved to Rupert, Idaho. Although accepted at the University of Idaho and Idaho State University, he was persuaded by the staff at Minico High School to apply to Harvard University, where he was accepted and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. While at Harvard, Dobbs lived in Quincy House and was elected to the Owl Club. Career After college, Dobbs worked for federal anti-poverty programs in Boston and Washington, D.C., then returned to Idaho. He briefly attended the University of Idaho College of Law in Moscow, and then worked as a cash-management specialist for Union Bank of California in Los Angeles. He married his high school sweetheart in 1969, and in 1970 their first son was born. Dobbs moved to Yuma, Arizona, and got