Robertson, Pat (Marion Gordon) (1930– )

US Republican politician and religious broadcaster. A born-again evangelical Christian, he founded the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) in 1961. He was the host of its daily talk show, The 700 Club, and was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. In 1989 he founded the Christian Coalition political pressure group.

A ‘Bible conservative’ who believes in ‘traditional values’, Robertson was born in Lexington, Virginia, studied at the New York Theological Seminary, and was ordained into the Southern Baptist Church in 1961. He launched CBN after buying a run-down television station in Portsmouth, Virginia, and it grew into a large network. He founded CBN University in 1977, and built the CBN Center in Virginia Beach. His books include his autobiography Shout It from the Housetops (1972), and The New World Order (1991).