Jack Valenti

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Jack Valenti
Motion Picture Association of America
In office June 1, 1966 – September 1, 2004
Preceded by	Eric Johnston
Succeeded by	Dan Glickman
White House Chief of Staff
De facto
In office July 8, 1965 – June 1, 1966
President	Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Bill Moyers (de facto)
Succeeded by	W. Marvin Watson (de facto)
White House Appointments Secretary
In office November 22, 1963 – February 1, 1965[1]
President	Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Kenneth O'Donnell
Succeeded by	W. Marvin Watson
Personal details
Born	Jack Joseph Valenti (1921-09-05)September 5, 1921 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Died	April 26, 2007(2007-04-26) (aged 85) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Spouse	Mary Wiley ​ (m. 1962)​
Children	3
Education	University of Houston (BBA) Harvard University (MBA)

Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President

in the world.

Early life and education

Valenti was born on September 5, 1921, in

.

Valenti graduated from the

The Daily Cougar

, and was president of the university's student government. Valenti would later serve on the university's board of regents.

Career

After earning an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1948, Valenti worked for Humble Oil in its advertising department, where he helped the company's Texas gas stations jump from fifth to first in sales through a "cleanest restrooms" campaign.

In 1952, he and a partner named Weldon Weekley founded Weekley & Valenti, an advertising agency, with oil company Conoco as its first client. In 1956, Valenti met then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson. Weekley & Valenti branched out into political consulting and added Representative Albert Thomas, a Johnson ally, as a client. In 1960, Valenti's firm assisted in the Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign.^[2]

Politics

Valenti served as liaison with the news media during President

Valenti later called Johnson "the most single dominating human being that I've ever been in contact with" and "the single most intelligent man I've ever known".[5] In a speech before the American Advertising Federation in 1965, Valenti said: "I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently, because Lyndon Johnson is my president."^[2][6]

Valenti later attacked film director Oliver Stone for the 1991 movie JFK. He called the movie a "monstrous charade" and said, "I owe where I am today to Lyndon Johnson. I could not live with myself if I stood by mutely and let some filmmaker soil his memory."^[7]

MPAA

In 1966, Valenti, at the insistence of

. With Valenti's arrival in Hollywood, the pair were lifelong allies, and together orchestrated and controlled how Hollywood would conduct business for the next several decades.

, a copyright attorney for the Clinton administration, who observed Valenti firsthand says:

His personal passion and extreme comfort around politicians gave him credibility that others ... would lack. Mr Valenti was a consummate salesman, who like all great salesmen ... worked himself up into believing the truth of his clients' message. Those privileged to see Mr Valenti offstage – talking openly with his clients about what could or could not be achieved, and what artifice would or would not work – are aware that Mr Valenti's clients frequently disagreed with his advice and directed him to deliver a different message through a different artifice. [He] was a great actor working on the stage of Washington DC (and sometimes globally) on behalf of an industry that appreciated his craft, but that never let him forget that the message was theirs and not his.^[8]

Movie rating system

In 1968, Valenti developed the

Valenti on new technologies

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Valenti became notorious for his flamboyant attacks on the

market ultimately came to be the mainstay of movie studio revenues throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

In 1998, Valenti lobbied for the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act, arguing that copyright infringement via the Internet would severely damage the record and movie industries.^[12]

2003 screener ban injunction

In 2003, Valenti found himself at the center of the so-called

lawsuit against the MPAA.

The Coalition of Independent Filmmakers' Jeff Levy-Hinte, IFP/Los Angeles executive director Dawn Hudson and IFP/New York executive director Michelle Byrd said in a joint statement, "By obtaining a court order to force the MPAA to lift the screener ban last December, the Coalition enabled individual distributors to determine when and in what manner to distribute promotional screeners." It was viewed as Valenti's greatest professional loss.

Honors

Valenti received the

. In 1969, Jack Valenti received the Bronze Medallion, New York City's highest civilian honor. In 1985, Jack Valenti received the French

In 2002, the University of Houston bestowed Valenti an honorary doctorate.

In December 2003, Valenti received the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management.

In June 2005, the Washington DC headquarters of the Motion Picture Association of America, was renamed the Jack Valenti Building. It is located at 888 16th St. NW, Washington DC, very close to the White House. Jack Valenti maintained an office on the 8th floor, outside the MPAA's space, until his death.

In April 2008, the University of Houston renamed its School of Communication to the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication in his honor. Valenti was one of the school's notable alumni.^[15]

Retirement

Valenti's salary in 2004 was reported to be $1.35 million, which made him the seventh-highest paid Washington trade group chief, according to the National Journal.

Valenti was nominated for President of the United States by the Alfalfa Club in 2004.

In August 2004, Valenti, then 82, retired and was replaced by former U.S.

, was appointed by Valenti.

After retirement from the MPAA, he became involved in technology-related venture capital activities, such as joining the Advisory Board of Legend Ventures where he advised on media investment opportunities. He also remained a supporter of causes linked to his Italian American heritage and was a member of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) for more than 20 years.

After retiring from the MPAA in 2004, Valenti became the first President of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, an organization founded by philanthropists

Personal life

In 1962, at age 41, Valenti married Mary Margaret Wiley who served on the staff of President

studio executive. He died just before their forty-fifth wedding anniversary.

Nancy Clark Reynolds had been a love interest of Valenti.^[17]

In 1964, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an investigation concerning whether Valenti had a sexual relationship with a male photographer, at a time when homosexual acts were still illegal in many parts of the United States. The investigation concluded that there was no evidence of Valenti being homosexual.^[18]

In 1995, Valenti voiced himself in the two-part Freakazoid! episode "The Chip", where he helped recount the origin of the titular hero; he also lectured about movie ratings using stickers of a family, and made frequent references to his cheeks.

In the 2016 film Jackie, about the life of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis after Kennedy's assassination, Valenti is portrayed by Max Casella.

Death

Valenti died from complications of a stroke at his home in Washington on April 26, 2007, at the age of 85.^[19] He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery under a veteran's gravestone, which lists both his war decorations and his years as president of the MPAA.^[20] His memoirs This Time, This Place: My life in war, the White House and Hollywood were published on May 15, 2007, a few weeks after his death.^[2]

Following his death, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) launched the NIAF Jack Valenti Institute, which provides support to Italian-American film students, in his memory. Director Martin Scorsese launched the institute at the Foundation's 32nd Anniversary Gala, after receiving an award from Mary Margaret Valenti.

Books

• Ten Heroes and Two Heroines (1957)
• The Bitter Taste of Glory (1971)
• A Very Human President (1976;
  ISBN 0-671-80834-6
  )
• Protect and Defend (1992;
  ISBN 0-385-41735-7
  )
• Speak Up With Confidence (2002;
  ISBN 0-7868-8750-8
  )
• This Time This Place (2007;
  ISBN 0-307-34664-1
  )

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jack Valenti.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Jack Valenti.

• Jack Valenti at
  IMDb
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded by Kenneth O'Donnell	White House Appointments Secretary 1963–1965	Succeeded by W. Marvin Watson
Preceded by Bill Moyers De facto	White House Chief of Staff De facto 1965–1966
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Eric Johnston	President of the Motion Picture Association of America 1966–2004	Succeeded by Dan Glickman