We interrupt the posting of rants and raves, uninformed opinions, mis-information, half-truths, and full-on ignorance to bring you these important facts about Herman Cain. These are the facts about Herman Cain.
Herman Cain was born in Memphis Tenn. His mother worked as a cleaning woman, and his father worked as a janitor and barber, and later as chauffeur for Robert Woodruff, president of Coca-Cola.
Herman Cain graduated from Morehouse College in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He earned a Masters degree from Purdue Univ. in 1971 in computer science. While a student at Purdue, Mr. Cain worked full time as a civilian contractor for the US Navy on studies of ballistics.
Mr. Cain currently serves as an associate minister in the Antioch Baptist Church North, affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA. He says today that he was led by God to run for president.
Mr. Cain is a gospel singer, and performs on the gospel record Sunday Morning, released in 1996 by Melodic Praise Records. His famous rendition of a gospel-flavored parody of a John Lennon song titled “Imagine There's No Pizza” is widely available on the internet.
As an employee of the Pillsbury Corporation in the 1980s, Herman Cain managed over 400 Burger King restaurants in the Philadelphia area (Burger King was then a subsidiary of Pillsbury). Under his tenure, his district went from least to most profitable in the US in three years. Mr. Cain credits this success to an innovative program to teach the Burger King counter-help to smile at their customers.
Based on his success running Burger King restaurants, Pillsbury promoted Mr. Cain to CEO of Godfather's Pizza in 1986. In an effort to cut costs and make the business profitable, Mr. Cain oversaw the closing of over half of the retail stores, reducing the number of stores around the country from 911 to 420 in a little over 14 months. Under his leadership, Godfather's Pizza returned to profitability. Cain quit his position as CEO in 1996.
Mr Cain became a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1992. He served as chairman of the board from 1995 to 1996.
In 2004, Herman Cain ran for the US Senate seat in Georgia, on the GOP ticket. He was defeated in the primary race by eventual winner John Isakson. In May of 2011, Mr. Cain formally announced he would seek the GOP nomination for President of the United States.
In 2006, Herman Cain was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, with metastatic involvement of his liver. Cancers with this kind of distant organ spread statistically kill 70% of patients within five years. Mr. Cain underwent surgery and chemotherapy, and today says he is cured of his cancer.
Herman Cain is the author of six books, including They Think You're Stupid (2005), and This is Herman Cain. My Journey to the White House (2010). Until recently, he hosted The Herman Cain Show on WSB, an Atlanta talk radio station. Mr. Cain also travels around the country earning fees as an motivational speaker.
In 2009, Herman Cain launched Herman Cain T.H.E New Voice, a for-profit enterprise that promotes Mr. Cain's book sales and motivational speaking business. T.H.E. New Voice (http://www.thinkersvoice.com/) lists Mr. Cain as president and CEO.
In filings with the FEC in Oct. 2011, the Cain campaign reported that it had paid over $100,000 to Herman Cain T.H.E. New Voice for “books”, “air fare”, “lodging”, “ground transportation”, and “event supplies”. This filing was later amended to report the expenditures were for “books” and “event supplies” only. Some press reporters have claimed that this effort of the Cain campaign to bankroll Cain's business interests represents a form of money laundering. The FEC allows candidates to use campaign money to buy their own books, but not if the candidate profits directly from the sale.
To date, Herman Cain the candidate has not spoken publicly about his campaign's financial arrangements with Herman Cain the businessman.
()()()()()()
This has been The Facts about Herman Cain. We now return you to your regularly scheduled fact-free content.