Richard Carlson was born on February 10, 1941, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was adopted by the Moberger family when he was a child. His birth parents, college students Richard Boynton and Dorothy Anderson, were 18 and 15 years old, respectively, at the time of his birth. After his adoptive father passed away, Carlson attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School and the University of Mississippi through an ROTC program, before being discharged in 1962. He then relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his career and held various odd jobs in between.
He started his journalistic career as a copyboy at the Los Angeles Times, where he made a lasting friendship with Carl Lance Brisson, the son of actress Rosalind Russell. In 1963, Carlson was hired as a reporter by United Press International and two years later he and Brisson moved to San Francisco to become freelance independent television reporters. Carlson and Brisson achieved fame in 1969 with their article in Look which linked Mayor Joseph Alioto to organized crime, along with their investigative journalism for KABC-TV in Los Angeles and KFMB-TV in San Diego.
In 1977, Carlson joined San Diego Federal Savings and Loan as their public affairs director, and within three years was promoted to vice president of finance. In 1984, he ran for mayor of San Diego and was heavily criticized for his political tactics, as well as his close ties to Gordon Luce’s Great American First Savings. Subsequently, in 1986, Carlson was appointed director of Voice of America, and in 1991 he was nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to Seychelles. From 1992 to 1997, Carlson was president of InterMedia, and in 1997 he became the president and CEO of King World Public Television. In 2003, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and in 2021 he was reported to be a director of Policy Impact. Additionally, Carlson has authored several books and contributed columns on terrorism and national security to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Charleston Mercury.
He married artist Lisa Lombardi in 1967, and the couple had two sons, Tucker and Buckley, before divorcing in 1976. Carlson then married Patricia Caroline Swanson, an heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune, in 1979. Swanson legally adopted Tucker and Buckley.
His Son, Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson is an American television host, political commentator, and writer. He worked as a writer for The Weekly Standard in the 1990s, before joining CNN in 2000, where he co-hosted the news debate program Crossfire until 2005. He then went on to host the nightly program Tucker on MSNBC from 2005 to 2008. Since 2009 he has been a political analyst for Fox News and currently hosts the cable news show Tucker Carlson Tonight, which has become a popular program in the United States. Carlson is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and is known for his nationalist views and opposition to progressivism. He has been accused of promoting conspiracy theories and making false and misleading statements.