The life of Rush Limbaugh: How a loud-mouthed conservative Sacramento disk jockey transformed politics and the media

Rush Limbaugh may be the most incendiary radio host in America.

Born into a line of conservative lawyers, Limbaugh hated school and saw radio as his future.

At first, his radio career was tumultuous. He was fired more than once as he discovered what could and couldn't be said on air.

He first commanded a national audience at 37. In the 1990s, he became a political force. Every week, he spoke to millions of Americans. In 1994, he was credited for Republicans taking the majority in the House of Representatives, after campaigning vigorously on air.

According to Vanity Fair , Limbaugh's position with conservatives is comparable to Oprah's position with women they both wield "concentrated and extraordinary power."

But while Republicans have backed him and listened to him, he's despised by many liberals for mocking and attacking minorities .

In February, Limbaugh announced he had advanced lung cancer. In the same month, President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom, during his State of the Union address.

Here's his life so far.

Rush "Rusty" Limbaugh III was born on January 12, 1951, in Missouri. He came from an established conservative family.

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Kimberly Butler/The LIFE Images Collection / Getty

His father and grandfather were both lawyers. His grandfather was one of the oldest attorneys in America, serving until he died at 104. His mother was the clown of the family. Limbaugh was a mixture of his parents.

Sources: Politico , Chicago Tribune , The New York Times , Biography.com

He loved radio from an early age.

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Globe Photos/MediaPunch /IPX/ AP

He'd listen in while preparing for school. He told The New York Times, "My mother would be fixing me breakfast, and I'd be listening to the guy on the radio. He'd be having fun, and I was preparing to go to prison."

Sources: Politico , The New York Times

His first job, at 13, was as a shoe shiner at a barbershop. At 16, his father got him an internship at the local radio station, because he had been a former part-owner.

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Shepard Sherbell / Corbis / Getty

Limbaugh started out at the bottom of the ladder. He later became a DJ, working outside of school hours. He idolized and mimicked a Chicago DJ named Larry Lujack.

Sources: Politico , The New York Times , Fox News , Biography.com

He went to Southeast Missouri State University for a year but dropped out to pursue radio.

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Globe Photos / MediaPunch / IPX / AP

According to the Washington Post, he "did not meet with early intellectual grandeur." He later graduated from the Elkins Institute of Radio and Technology, in Dallas.

Source: Washington Post

In the following years, he learned what he could and couldnt get away with on the radio.

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Mark Peterson/Corbis / Getty

On air, he used different names like "Rusty Sharpe" and "Jeff Christie." He worked in radio in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. He was fired twice from radio stations in Kansas City, and in between spent five years working for the city's baseball team.

Source: The New York Times

He also had two failed marriages.

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The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty

In 1977, he married Roxy McNeely. They divorced after 18 months. In 1983, he married Michelle Sixta, and they divorced five years later. According to the Palm Beach Post, he said he struggled with love because "I'm too much in love with myself."

Sources: The New York Times , Palm Beach Post

In 1985, he moved to Sacramento and started his own show titled "The Rush Limbaugh" show on KFBK.

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Mark Peterson / Corbis / Getty

His audience doubled within a year. A year after that, he was discovered by the former head of ABC Radio, Ed McLaughlin, who hated him on the first listen, but enjoyed him the second time while driving. He found that Limbaugh wasn't easy to ignore.

Sources: The New York Times , CBS News

In August 1988, at the age of 37, his radio show went national. It was broadcasted through 56 stations.

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Shepard Sherbell / Corbis / Getty

According to The New York Times , Limbaugh broke the radio rule that personalities never look like they sound. Lewis Grossberger wrote, "Limbaugh sounds like a huge man who would wear bankers' suits and ties and have short, neat Republican hair. And he is."

Sources: Vanity Fair , Fox News , Cigar Aficionado

Rush was helped by the repeal of the 1987 Fairness Doctrine, which required radio stations to provide opposing opinions.

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Mark Peterson /Corbis / Getty

Once it was gone, Rush could air whatever conservative opinions he liked, within reason.

Sources: Wall Street Journal

Bucking a national trend of putting hosts on at night, Limbaugh spoke for three hours in the middle of the day.

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Mark Peterson / Corbis / Getty

He also didn't invite guests onto the show, so he was the main attraction. He told The New York Times , "I wanted to be the reason people listened. That's how you pad your pocket. That's how you establish yourself."

By 1990, he had about 5 million listeners the most out of any American talk show host.

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Ron Galella Collection / Getty

Brian Rosenwald, who wrote a book on American talk radio, told WBUR he was popular because he did something new. He took the "high jinks" from his years as a local DJ "and infused it into a topical talk show" where he applied the values he'd gotten from his conservative father, Rosenwald said.

Source: The New York Times

His style was unique. He sang, did parodies, ranted, and pretended to cry.

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Mark Peterson/Getty

According to The New York Times , "His vocabulary is extensive; his diction tends to the grandiosely formal, though overblown to the point of self-parody."

He made it clear his targets, along with liberals, were minorities African Americans, women, activists, or environmentalists.

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KMazur /WireImage / Getty

Source: The New York Times

As his reputation grew, he toured the country on the weekends. In 1990, he made 45 appearances, bringing in about $360,000.

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Mark Peterson/Corbis / Getty

He made jokes like putting a condom on the microphone as a way to prevent profanity. He was making a point about how condoms weren't the best way to stop sexually transmitted diseases.

Source: The New York Times

Between 1992 and 1996, he also had a television talk show.

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Mark Peterson / Corbis / Getty

One of the more infamous and crass moments in his show is when he showed a picture of the White House cat, then compared then-13-year-old Chelsea Clinton to the White House dog.

Sources: CBS News , Mother Jones

In 1992, former president Ronald Reagan wrote him a letter after the election, declaring him "the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country."

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AP

He also wrote , "I know the liberals call you the most dangerous man in America, but don't worry about it, they used to say the same thing about me. Keep up the good work."

In 1992, he published the book "The Way Things Ought to Be."

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Ron Galella Collection / Getty

According to the Los Angeles Times , the point he was trying to make was to bring back the ideas from Reagan's presidential era. He didn't want people to attack capitalism, and he wanted to bring back self-reliance.

In 1993, he married his third wife, Marta Fitzgerald.

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David Mcgough/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty

Fitzgerald was also divorced twice. They met online when Fitzgerald, whose name was "Jacksonville Jaguar," asked for advice on how to argue with a professor who didn't like Reagan.

He didn't respond, and she wrote a furious letter to him calling him "pompous." That time, he responded.

Sources: The New York Times , Palm Beach Post

As Limbaughs reach grew, he called himself "just a harmless little fuzzball." According to the Washington Post, he knew otherwise.

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Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis / Getty

Limbaugh rallied behind Republicans and attacked Democrats. He knew how much power he had.

Sources: The New York Times , The New York Times , Washington Post

He attacked former Democratic President Bill Clinton.

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Kimberly Butler/The LIFE Images Collection / Getty

Limbaugh attacked Clinton for not fighting in the Vietnam War.

Limbaugh also hadn't fought. He avoided being drafted after he found he had a cyst in his backside. But that didn't stop him criticizing Clinton. He also attacked Hillary Clinton, saying she kept a "testicle lockbox" and castrated men.

Sources: Washington Post , Media Matters

According to The New York Times, he "commanded the air war." One poll found that people who listened to Rush for at least 10 hours every week were three times more likely to vote Republican.

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Lennox McLendon / AP

Sources: The New York Times , The New York Times ,

In 1994, he was made an honorary Republican and given a "Majority Makers" pin. Many Republicans said he was responsible for the partys success taking over the House of Representatives.

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Maureen Keating/CQ Roll Call / Getty

It was the first time Republicans had the majority in 40 years.

Sources: The New York Times , Washington Post

Despite his close ties with the GOP, radio was a business for him.

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Win McNamee/Getty

He told his biographer, "First and foremost, I'm a businessman. My first goal is to attract the largest possible audience so I can charge confiscatory ad rates. I happen to have great entertainment skills... that enables me to sell airtime."

Source: Politico

Limbaughs radio show continued to grow. In 2001, it was syndicated to almost 600 stations by Premiere Radio Networks, in a nine-year deal that earned him about $200 million.

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William Thomas Cain/Getty

Source: CNN

That same year, he went deaf from an autoimmune ear disease. He lost almost all of his hearing.

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George Gojkovich/Getty

For about four months, he did his radio program by relying on his staff and his teleprompter. In early 2002, he received a cochlear implant, which enabled him to hear again.

Source: CNN

In October 2003, he resigned from ESPN, where he was working as a commentator, over controversial comments he made about then Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

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Getty Images

Sources The New York Times , CNN

He said McNabb was overrated, and that the media gave him too much credit because he was African-American. He never apologized for his comments, which were widely criticized as racist.

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Robert Giroux / Getty

Sources The New York Times , CNN

About a week later, he checked himself into rehab to deal with an addiction to prescription pain medication.

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John Medina / WireImage / Getty

He made his announcement before The National Enquirer could run its front-page spread with the headline, "Rush Limbaugh Caught in Drug Ring."

Sources: CNN , NY Daily News , Palm Beach Post

The story came from his housekeeper, who alleged he was taking up to 30 Oxycontin pills a day.

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John Medina / WireImage / Getty

Limbaugh took five weeks off work. Despite his addiction, he had spoken on-air about drug users needing to be punished, especially white drug users.

Sources: CBS News , ABC News

In 2004, he divorced from his wife Marta while he was being investigated for "doctor shopping," which is when a person goes to different doctors to get the same subscription multiple times.

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Ron Edmonds / AP

Source: Palm Beach Post

In 2005, his political views started to get more stark.

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Bill Pugliano/Getty

After some Republicans voted against oil drilling in the Arctic, he said on-air, "There's no such thing as a moderate. A moderate is just a liberal disguise, and they are doing everything they can to derail the conservative agenda."

Source: The Atlantic

In 2006, he was arrested on a charge of fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions.

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William Thomas Cain/Getty

The investigation found he had managed to get around 2,000 pain killers from multiple doctors in about six months.

Limbaugh pleaded not guilty, and the charge was dropped as long as Limbaugh continued with his drug treatment.

Sources: CBS News , NBC News

In 2006, Limbaugh said Michael J. Fox was exaggerating his Parkinsons disease symptoms.

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Jason Kempin/Getty Image

Fox had been in a few ads for politicians who supported stem cell research. Limbaugh said on-air, "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act ... this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

Sources: The New York Times , Washington Post

In 2008, he launched "Operation Chaos," where he called for Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to try and stop Obama from winning the Democratic presidential nomination. It didnt work.

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Reuters/Jim Young

Source: CBS News

Four days into Obamas first term, he said the presidents failure was all he wanted.

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AP Photo/Ryan Gardner

At that point, the Republicans were looking like a "headless horseman," according to The New York Times. Limbaugh knew it, and he urged the party to not concede to the Democrats. He was against any bipartisanship.

Sources: The Telegraph , The New York Times , The New York Times

He was also pushed to a more prominent position in the Republican party when Obama famously said, "You cant just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

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Associated Press

Source: The New York Times

In 2008, his show was extended until 2016, with a pay raise that saw him earn $50 million a year.

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Bill Pugliano/ Getty Images

On-air, he said, "I'm not retiring until every American agrees with me."

Source: The New York Times

In 2009, Limbaugh turned on Republicans who had voted for a new carbon capping system.

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Bill Pugliano/Getty

By 2010, according to The New York Times , Limbaugh had become the "brains and the spirit" behind the resurgence of the Republican party. He was pushing the party to the right.

Sources: The Telegraph , The Atlantic , WBUR

In 2010, he married his fourth wife, Kathryn Rogers. Elton John sang at the wedding.

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Alexander Tamargo/Getty

Source: NBC Chicago

He went a step too far in 2012. On-air, he called Sandra Fluke, a contraception advocate, a "slut," and said that she and other women should make a sex tape for him.

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Jim Watson / AFP / Getty

It was a turning point in his controversial career.

Source: The New Republic

Obama publicly said he supported Fluke, which meant that it was suddenly in the national news cycle.

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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Source: Politico

Liberal media group Media Matters campaigned for advertisers to drop Limbaugh, and the slogan "Flush Rush" made its rounds on social media.

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Wes Duplantier / AP

Source: Politico

His comments had long-lasting effects.

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Jeff Robertson / AP

In 2016, advertisers still avoided him , and he had been dropped from key radio stations in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. Some companies stopped advertising on the radio altogether to avoid being linked to controversies.

In 2015, Limbaugh said on-air that second-hand smoke was not dangerous. He said it was a "myth."

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Harry Langdon/Getty

He also said, "Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it's true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots."

Second-hand smoking does, in fact, cause cancer.

Sources: NY Daily News , RushLimbaugh.com

In 2016, Limbaugh didnt attack Donald Trump as he ran for president. He didnt support him either.

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Jim Watson / AFP / Getty

At that point he had an audience of about 13 million weekly listeners, and by not criticizing him some said he had helped Trump enter the White House. As Politico wrote, he was "agnostic."

Source: Politico

But the move might have backfired. In 2018, he was replaced by Sean Hannity on a list of the most important radio hosts in America.

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Jeff Roberson/AP Photo

Hannity had usurped him , due to his close relationship with Trump. It didn't help that Trump watches television and doesn't listen to the radio.

In February 2020, he announced he had advanced lung cancer. He told his listeners he wouldnt be able to be on air every day due to the treatment he needed.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Jim Watson / AFP / Getty

Source: NBC News

Later, in February, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom. Its Americas highest honor for a civilian. Former winners include Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Olivier Douliery / AFP / Getty

It was the first time one had ever been awarded during a State of the Union address. It was widely criticized because of Limbaugh's comments .

The life of Rush Limbaugh: How a loud-mouthed conservative Sacramento disk jockey transformed politics and the media

Recommended articles

Rush "Rusty" Limbaugh III was born on January 12, 1951, in Missouri. He came from an established conservative family.

He loved radio from an early age.

His first job, at 13, was as a shoe shiner at a barbershop. At 16, his father got him an internship at the local radio station, because he had been a former part-owner.

He went to Southeast Missouri State University for a year but dropped out to pursue radio.

In the following years, he learned what he could and couldnt get away with on the radio.

He also had two failed marriages.

In 1985, he moved to Sacramento and started his own show titled "The Rush Limbaugh" show on KFBK.

In August 1988, at the age of 37, his radio show went national. It was broadcasted through 56 stations.

Rush was helped by the repeal of the 1987 Fairness Doctrine, which required radio stations to provide opposing opinions.

Bucking a national trend of putting hosts on at night, Limbaugh spoke for three hours in the middle of the day.

By 1990, he had about 5 million listeners the most out of any American talk show host.

His style was unique. He sang, did parodies, ranted, and pretended to cry.

He made it clear his targets, along with liberals, were minorities African Americans, women, activists, or environmentalists.

As his reputation grew, he toured the country on the weekends. In 1990, he made 45 appearances, bringing in about $360,000.

Between 1992 and 1996, he also had a television talk show.

In 1992, former president Ronald Reagan wrote him a letter after the election, declaring him "the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country."

In 1992, he published the book "The Way Things Ought to Be."

In 1993, he married his third wife, Marta Fitzgerald.

As Limbaughs reach grew, he called himself "just a harmless little fuzzball." According to the Washington Post, he knew otherwise.

He attacked former Democratic President Bill Clinton.

According to The New York Times, he "commanded the air war." One poll found that people who listened to Rush for at least 10 hours every week were three times more likely to vote Republican.

In 1994, he was made an honorary Republican and given a "Majority Makers" pin. Many Republicans said he was responsible for the partys success taking over the House of Representatives.

Despite his close ties with the GOP, radio was a business for him.

Limbaughs radio show continued to grow. In 2001, it was syndicated to almost 600 stations by Premiere Radio Networks, in a nine-year deal that earned him about $200 million.

That same year, he went deaf from an autoimmune ear disease. He lost almost all of his hearing.

In October 2003, he resigned from ESPN, where he was working as a commentator, over controversial comments he made about then Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

He said McNabb was overrated, and that the media gave him too much credit because he was African-American. He never apologized for his comments, which were widely criticized as racist.

About a week later, he checked himself into rehab to deal with an addiction to prescription pain medication.

The story came from his housekeeper, who alleged he was taking up to 30 Oxycontin pills a day.

In 2004, he divorced from his wife Marta while he was being investigated for "doctor shopping," which is when a person goes to different doctors to get the same subscription multiple times.

In 2005, his political views started to get more stark.

In 2006, he was arrested on a charge of fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions.

In 2006, Limbaugh said Michael J. Fox was exaggerating his Parkinsons disease symptoms.

In 2008, he launched "Operation Chaos," where he called for Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to try and stop Obama from winning the Democratic presidential nomination. It didnt work.

Four days into Obamas first term, he said the presidents failure was all he wanted.

He was also pushed to a more prominent position in the Republican party when Obama famously said, "You cant just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

In 2008, his show was extended until 2016, with a pay raise that saw him earn $50 million a year.

In 2009, Limbaugh turned on Republicans who had voted for a new carbon capping system.

In 2010, he married his fourth wife, Kathryn Rogers. Elton John sang at the wedding.

He went a step too far in 2012. On-air, he called Sandra Fluke, a contraception advocate, a "slut," and said that she and other women should make a sex tape for him.

Obama publicly said he supported Fluke, which meant that it was suddenly in the national news cycle.

Liberal media group Media Matters campaigned for advertisers to drop Limbaugh, and the slogan "Flush Rush" made its rounds on social media.

His comments had long-lasting effects.

In 2015, Limbaugh said on-air that second-hand smoke was not dangerous. He said it was a "myth."

In 2016, Limbaugh didnt attack Donald Trump as he ran for president. He didnt support him either.

But the move might have backfired. In 2018, he was replaced by Sean Hannity on a list of the most important radio hosts in America.

In February 2020, he announced he had advanced lung cancer. He told his listeners he wouldnt be able to be on air every day due to the treatment he needed.

Later, in February, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom. Its Americas highest honor for a civilian. Former winners include Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa.

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