Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. He also was highly critical of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [221] Together, the couple have three sons (Rhoeyce, Benjamin Jr., and Murray), as well as several grandchildren. "[131], Carson's sudden popularity among conservatives led to his being invited as a featured speaker at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Even if they were only evil for 80 years?" Carson also traveled as a motivational speaker, was an outspoken supporter of creationism, and was the subject of the 2009 made-for-television movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Such moves were met with opposition, as critics alleged that he failed to understand the complexities of the issues. In his successful separation of occipital craniopagus twins in 1987, Carson used a radical approach in which the twins body temperatures were lowered to the point of circulatory arrest. [199][200] He initially treated himself with a homeopathic oleander extract on the recommendation of Mike Lindell, the founder of My Pillow, Inc., which Carson said caused his symptoms to disappear. [73], Carson was then accepted by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurosurgery program, where he served one year as a surgical intern and five years as a neurosurgery resident, completing the final year as chief resident in 1983. A few years later, he told the pastor at a church he was attending in Inkster, Michigan, that he had not fully understood his first baptism and wanted to be baptized again. Carson has received numerous honors for his neurosurgery work, including more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees and numerous national merit citations. [162] Carson's subsequent comments that Americans would have to sustain Trump for only four years if he was not a good president drew criticism, and he admitted that he would have preferred another candidate, though he thought Trump had the best chance of winning the general election. The academy does not award scholarships to anyone;[80] cadets receive a free education and room and board in exchange for a commitment to serve in the military for at least five years after graduation. But 27-year-old Karly Bailey isn't impressed with Ben Carson's achievements. Fox Business reported that "Carson's outsider status is growing his small business support base." The school is partnering with Detroit Receiving Hospital and Michigan State University.[255]. News. Although surgically a success, the twins continued to experience neurologic/medical complications. In November it was announced that he had tested positive for the disease, and he later claimed that he had become desperately ill but recovered after Trump intervened to get him access to an antibody treatment that required FDA approval. [106][107][108] Carson gave four paid speeches at company events. On doing so, Carson said he was congratulated by the course instructor, who told him the retest was a hoax intended to find "the most honest student in the class". What I would like to see more often in this nation is an open and intelligent conversation. Doubts were raised about this story in 2015 during Carson's presidential campaign. Born on September 18, 1951, Benjamin Solomon Carson was the younger son of Robert Solomon Carson Jr. and Sonya Carson. [29] In 1959, at the age of eight, his parents separated and he moved with his mother and brother to live for two years with his mother's Seventh-day Adventist older sister and her sister's husband in multi-family dwellings in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. Ben and his older brother, Curtis, moved with their mother to live in Boston after learning that their father had a family and hadn't divorced his first wife. "[176] He was eventually offered the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, which he accepted. By Thomas Sowell. [80][Note 1] Carson also said the University of Michigan had offered him a scholarship. [206] Carson and his spokesman said that he had little or no involvement in the purchase of the dining set. degree in psychology from Yale "with a fairly respectable grade point average although far from the top of the class". In March 2017 Carson was confirmed by the Senate, 5841, and took office shortly thereafter. [224][225], After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Carson underwent a two-hour operation at the Johns Hopkins Hospital on August 7, 2002. The shunt served to drain fluid under high pressure away from the developing brain of the fetus and into the amniotic cavity of the mother. Sonya took Ben and his brother, Curtis, to live in a group home, while their father went on to live with his second family. [14], In December 2017, The Economist described the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), led by Ben Carson, as "directionless". Ben Carson Net Worth. "[127][128], Carson was the keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, 2013. Carson said other students walked out in protest when they discovered the retest was significantly harder than the original examination, but that he alone finished the test. Neurosurgeon, medical director, foundation executive and author Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr. was born on September 18, 1951 in Detroit Michigan, to Sonya and Robert Solomon Carson. Updates? The following year he appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast, a traditionally nonpartisan event organized by the Family, a Christian movement. Encouraged by John M. Freeman,[90] he refined the procedure in the 1980s and performed it many times. [186], In April 2017, while speaking in Washington at the National Low Income Housing Coalition conference, Carson said that housing funding would be included in an upcoming infrastructure bill from the Trump administration. He tied for seventh place in the Washington Times/CPAC 2013 Straw Poll with 4% of the 3,000 ballots cast. In 1987, Dr. Ben Carson travels to Ulm, Germany to meet a couple, Peter and Augusta Rausch, who have twins conjoined at the back of their heads. [106][110][111] His most recent paid speech for the company was in 2013, for which he was paid $42,000. He went on to say, "I hope by that time I'm not around anymore. His brother Benjamin is still alive and living in a nursing home in Germany. [155], In a November 2015 Republican debate, Carson declared his intentions to make ISIS "look like losers" as he would "destroy their caliphate". He received numerous awards during his career, including the 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom, given to him by U.S. Pres. [252] [167] The same day, in an interview Carson expressed interest in Ted Cruz serving as Attorney General of the United States, a position that Carson said would allow Cruz to prosecute Hillary Clinton, and then as a Supreme Court Justice nominee from the Trump administration. Carson's mom would make ends meet . In 2014 he wrote (with his wife) One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save Americas Future, and the following year he entered the 2016 U.S. presidential election race. [182] HUD saw an exodus of career officials during Carson's tenure. [245] His transition was made easier because he had eaten little meat for aesthetic reasons as a child,[245] and he readily adopted his wife's vegetarianism because she does much of the cooking in their household. [137][138] The Wall Street Journal mentioned that the Draft Carson Committee had chairmen in all of Iowa's 99 counties, and that Carson had recently led two separate Public Policy polls for the state of Pennsylvania. [13][158], In total, Ben Carson's campaign spent $58 million. [27], In 1961, at the age of 10, he moved with his mother and brother back to southwest Detroit, where they lived in a multi-family dwelling in a primarily white neighborhood, (Springwells Village), across the railroad tracks from the Delray neighborhood, while renting out their house on Deacon Street, which his mother received in a divorce settlement. [93][94][95][96] Neither twin was ever able to talk or care for himself, and both eventually became institutionalized wards of the state. [109] In a 2004 speech, he credited the company's products with the disappearance of his prostate cancer symptoms. [120] Over that period, Carson received over $4 million from 141 paid speeches, between $1.1 million and $6 million in book royalties, between $200,000 and $2 million as a contributor to The Washington Times and Fox News, and between $2 million and $10 million as a member of the boards of Kellogg Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp.[120] He resigned from Costco's board in mid-2015, after serving on it for more than 16 years. Regarding the Middle East, he also claimed that "the Chinese are there". big brother! Ben Carson has an older brother named Curtis. Carson stepped down as secretary of HUD in January 2021. I don't want to sit here and say all of his policies are bad. 1. Internal documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the younger Carson "put people he'd invited in touch with his father's deputies, joined agency staff on official conference calls about the listening tour and copied his wife on related email exchanges". Ben attended Southwestern High School and later joined Yale University. Who is Dr Ben Carson's sister? Ben writes the book himself, so everything is in the first person. One. "[235], In an interview with Katie Couric, Carson said that Jesus Christ came to Earth to redeem the world through his atoning sacrifice and that all people are sinners and need his redemption. [190], In summer 2017, Carson allowed his son, Baltimore businessman, Ben Carson Jr., to participate in organizing a HUD "listening tour" in Baltimore. [217][218], The ACI's mission statement is "dedicated to promoting and preserving individual and religious liberty, helping our country's most vulnerable find new hope, and developing methods to decrease the federal government's role in society and to improve efficiency to best serve ALL our nation's citizens. Barack Obama, who was in attendance, and the resulting media attention helped make Carson a rising star in conservative circles. [93] The Johns Hopkins Children's Center surgical team rehearsed the surgery for weeks, practicing on two dolls secured together by Velcro. Today it might seem impossible to imagine that this brilliant neurosurgeon was once a poor student in school. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries. Almost as important is that Carson has become a role model for people of all ages, especially children. In the 2014 cycle, Williams made $95,700, according to records. A HUD spokesperson responded that Carson "does not use derogatory language to refer to transgendered[Note 3] individuals. Profile: Dr. Benjamin Carson", "Johns Hopkins Medicine Community Mourns the Death of Internationally Renowned Pediatric Neurologist John M. Freeman", "Hemispherectomy End Seizures In Many Older Children With Rare Seizure Disorder", "For Patients with EpilepsyHalf a Brain That Works", "The Story of the Surgery that made Ben Carson Famous", "Binder Twins Far From Normal Two Years After Surgery", "Twins Disjoined at Head Leave the Hospital", "WATCH: Ben Carson's Cameo in 2003 Comedy Stuck on You", "Ben Carson announces retirement, feeds presidential speculation", "World-Renowned Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, Sr. A HUD spokesman said that no one present thought Carson "was equating voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude". He later became active in politics and served as U.S. secretary of housing and urban development (HUD; 201721) in the administration of U.S. Pres. [28][35] At the age of eight, Carson dreamt of becoming a missionary doctor, but five years later he aspired to the lucrative lifestyles of psychiatrists portrayed on television, and his brother bought him a subscription to Psychology Today for his 13th birthday. [237], Carson endorsed Seventh-day Adventist theology, which includes belief in a literal reading of the first chapters of Genesis. [229][230], Carson and his wife are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA). Benjamin and Patrick Binder were born connected at the head and separated at age 7 months after a 22-hour surgery on Sept. 6, 1987, by Ben Carson and a team of doctors, the Associated Press. [184] In the same speech, Carson was criticized by some for saying that the human brain "was incapable of forgetting and could be electrically stimulated into perfect recall". A remarkable book titled "Gifted Hands" tells the personal story of Benjamin Carson, a black kid . Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [83][84] He continued with a regular academic load, and his grades improved to average in his first year of medical school. The movie took its title from Carsons autobiography, Gifted Hands (1990; with Cecil Murphey). [108] When the CNBC moderator commented that Carson was on Mannatech's website, Carson replied that he had not given his permission. Sonya, however, taught her sons that it was in . [10], Carson gained national fame among political conservatives after delivering a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast which was perceived as critical of the policies of President Barack Obama. [125] In February 2013, Carson said he was not a member of any political party. Recently a number of questions were raised about the claims made by Ben Carson. [91][92], In 1987, Carson was the lead neurosurgeon of a 70-member surgical team that separated conjoined twins Patrick and Benjamin Binder, who had been joined at the back of the head (craniopagus twins). Fortunately, the blade broke in his friend's belt buckle. During his speech, Carson voiced sympathies for the long discredited belief that the pyramids of Giza were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain. [156], Carson said he is not opposed to a Palestinian state, but he questioned why it needs "to be within the confines of Israeli territory Is that necessary, or can you sort of slip that area down into Egypt? At the age of eight (8), Ben's parents had divorced and so he had to live with his mother and brother, spending a brief period in Boston, Massachusetts, US; where his maternal family resides, and then back to Detroit. [93] On the condition the film would have its premiere in Baltimore,[93] Carson agreed to a cameo appearance as "head surgeon" in the 2003 Farrelly brothers' comedy Stuck on You, starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins who, unhappy after their surgical separation, continue life attached to each other by Velcro. Created By Olivia Brown. [40] Carson served as a laboratory assistant in the high school's biology, chemistry, and physics school laboratories beginning in grades 10, 11, and 12, respectively,[45] and worked as a biology laboratory assistant at Wayne State University the summer between grade 11 and 12. [164], On April 25, Carson expressed opposition to Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill the day after dubbing the replacement "political expediency", though he indicated interest in Tubman having another tribute. This is fully in line with Adventist teaching, which promotes annihilationism. He married his wife, professional violinist Candy Carson, in 1975, and Ben Carson had three sons with her: Rhoeyce, Ben, Jr., and Murray. He said that President Trump had given him access to the drug. degree in 1977, and he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. George W. Bush. In a story related by Ben Carson in his 1996 book Gifted Hands and numerous interviews, he wrote that his mother was instrumental for him and his brother to start catching up and making headway in school. While at Yale, he met Lacena (Candy) Rustin; the couple married in 1975 and had three children. Carson was also offered a cabinet position in the administration. Ben Carson's operation to separate twins joined at the head was the first successful one . He also sought to reduce housing regulations, including those designed to end discrimination. Some have suggested that his brother, Curtis Carson, would be a logical . [177], On December 5, 2016, Trump announced that he would nominate Carson to the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. At an event last Friday in Arkansas, Carson was asked about his shifting. Omissions? Ben Walters, a fundraiser for The 2016 Committee, expressed optimism about Carson's small business support base: "It's unbelievable the diversity of businesses that we are bringing on. He replied, "That's easy to answer. [13] He said, "[T]his grassroots movement on behalf of 'We the People' will continue", indicating that he would give more details later in the week. [124], Carson, who had been registered as a Republican, changed his registration to independent in the 1990s after watching Republicans impeach President Clinton for perjury regarding an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. But a glance through the PAC's Federal Election Commission reports shows that the group hasn't spent money this year supporting Carson, but instead in paying Alvin Williams a salary and on fundraising. "[114] Politifact rated Carson's denial of any involvement as "false", pointing to his paid speeches for Mannatech and his appearances in promotional videos in which he favorably reviewed its products, despite not being "an official spokesman or sales associate". Candidate tells of long-ago blight and violence, but others from Dorchester, Roxbury look back more fondly", "Carson's violent past: Bricks, bats, hammers", "Ben Carson Resists Challenges to the Life Story He Rode to Political Prominence", "In retirement, Ben Carson moving closer to 2016", "Ben Carson's Stabbing Story Is Full of Holes", "Benjamin S. Carson, M.D., Biography and Interview", "Ben Carson's Past Faces Deeper Questions", "Ben Carson says it's 'time to really move on' from questions about his biography", "Yale, Harvard to Meet in Brainpower Contest", "Carson says West Point story, others about his past are bias, and amount to a 'witch hunt. [149] The Wall Street Journal said the narrative came under "the harsh scrutiny of presidential politics, where rivals and media hunt for embellishments and omissions that can hobble a campaign". The Wall Street Journal confirmed the riot but could not find anyone who remembered Carson sheltering white students. Dr. Ben Carson blames "the secular progressive movement" for the scrutiny the stories of his past are getting. Among them are claims of him hitting his friend with a pad-lock over the head, stubbing his friend in the stomach with a knife and trying to hit his mother over the head with a hammer and his brother stopping him. He next attended the University of Michigan, earning a medical degree in 1977, and later Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed a residency in neurosurgery. [13] Following Trump's victory, Trump nominated Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, being confirmed by the United States Senate in a 5841 vote on March 2, 2017. [154], The New York Times reported in 2015, "Carson has acknowledged being something of a novice on foreign affairs." Pit crews arrived late during the race for . Study Guides . October 5, 2015. [130] About the speech, Carson said: "I don't think it was particularly political You know, I'm a physician. After failing to win any states a month into the primary election season, Carson formally suspended his campaign in early March 2016. [104][105], According to CNN, Carson had an "extensive relationship" from 2004 to 2014 with Mannatech, a multi-level marketing company that produces dietary supplements made from substances such as aloe vera extract and larch-tree bark. College Bowl television show. The problem? I did a couple speeches for them. I didn't have any involvement with Mannatech. And why would he torment somebody forever who only had a life of 60 or 70 or 80 years? [62] Carson says he narrowed his college choices to Harvard or Yale but could only afford the $10 application fee to apply for only one of them. [19] Robert Carson was a Baptist minister, but he later became a Cadillac automobile plant laborer. [216], In 2021, Carson founded the American Cornerstone Institute or ACI, a conservative think tank centered around advancing policies that promote "faith, liberty, community, and life". "[181] HUD scaled back the enforcement of fair housing laws, halted several fair housing investigations started by the Obama administration[182] and removed the words "inclusive" and "free from discrimination" from its mission statement. [233] Although Carson is an Adventist, the church has officially cautioned church employees to remain politically neutral. It is absolutely absurd to say I had any kind of relation with them. The Life and Career of Ben Carson. 4.0 721 Reviews . Carson has been awarded 38 honorary doctorate degrees and dozens of national merit citations. He was born in Detroit, Michigan where he lived with his parents. [188] Carson suggested that federal funds for housing in Detroit could be part of an expected infrastructure bill. [234], In keeping with his Seventh-day Adventist faith, Carson announced in 2014 his belief "that the United States will play a big role" in the coming apocalypse. [222] In 1981 Carson's wife became pregnant with twins before miscarrying in the fifth month of her pregnancy. Carsons techniques for hemispherectomy and craniofacial reconstructive surgery were influential in the fields of neurosurgery and plastic surgery. Carson also advocated capturing a "big energy field" outside of Anbar, Iraq, which he said could be accomplished "fairly easily". [242][243], Consistent with the practice of many Adventists, Carson was at one point a lacto-ovo vegetarian (he ate dishes containing milk, eggs, or cheese, and occasionally, poultry). [118], In 2014, some House Republicans (who later formed the House Freedom Caucus) approached Carson about the possibility of his standing for Speaker of the House in the event that the incumbent Speaker, John Boehner, had to step down because of intraparty disunion. In addition, his debate performances were criticized for a perceived lack of energy. In 2012 Carson published America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great (cowritten with his wife), a work reflecting his growing interest in politics. [175], After Donald Trump's win in the 2016 election, Carson joined Trump's transition team as vice chairman. Carson was said by aide Armstrong Williams in a May 10 interview to have withdrawn from the Trump campaign's vetting team, though the campaign confirmed he was still involved. [48][49][50] Carson said the intended victim, whose identity he wants to protect, was a classmate, a friend, or a close relative.
