You don't have to be a brain surgeon to recognize that Ben Carson is an extraordinary person. He grew up in poverty in a single-parent home in inner-city Detroit and, by the age of 33, was the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In 2001, he was named by CNN and Time magazine as one of the nation's 20 foremost physicians and scientists, and he was selected by the Library of Congress as one of 89 "Living Legends." The NAACP gave Dr. Carson its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. His life story was told in the television movie "Gifted Hands," starring Cuba Gooding Jr.
Ben Carson attracted attention during the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast when he questioned the country's tax and health care policies. He did so with President Barack Obama sitting a few feet away on the dais. You can see this speech on YouTube, and you can see how effective Dr. Carson was, particularly because of his calm and understated delivery. Some critics have said that President Obama was upset by the speech, but the president joined with the audience in giving Dr. Carson a standing ovation. I'm not sure if any other Republican presidential candidate has received a standing ovation from Barack Obama.
After that speech, Dr. Carson told a television interviewer that the White House had requested an advance copy of his remarks, but he was unable to provide one because he spoke impromptu, from the heart -- without notes, a teleprompter or any sort of prepared remarks.
When he started writing a weekly column for The Washington Times, Creators jumped at the opportunity to syndicate Ben Carson nationally. Creators is the parent company of Creators Syndicate and Creators Publishing, and we have looked for exciting and controversial figures to syndicate since the company's founding in 1987. We have syndicated other individuals who became presidential candidates, including Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Dan Quayle and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.
Ben Carson's columns were read by millions, and we are proud to offer them in this book. We are presenting them in chronological order from the time he wrote each column, beginning in January 2014. By mutual agreement, we have temporarily suspended Dr. Carson's syndicated column because he is an active presidential candidate, but we plan to resume syndicating his column when he is no longer running for or serving as president of the United States.
The Ben Carson book,
What I Believe, was published in 2016 by Creators Publishing.
