Lou Dobbs Biography

Lou Dobbs started as a TV anchorman in the 1970s, first at local stations in Phoenix and Seattle, then as a business specialist for CNN from 1980 to 2009.

From 2010 to 2021 Dobbs hosted the opinion show Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network.

Raised in Arizona and Idaho, he graduated with an economics degree from Harvard University (1967) and spent a few years in government and banking before becoming a reporter in Arizona.

In the early days of CNN he was the host of Moneyline, reporting on business matters, and during the 1990s Dobbs was their go-to guy for Wall Street news and a champion of corporate America.

By 2003 his show had been changed to Lou Dobbs Tonight, and Dobbs then transformed into a fired-up populist with a special beef against international trade agreements and unwanted immigrants in the United States. Dobbs was one of the loudest voices on TV declaring that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate wasn’t legitimate.

He abruptly left CNN in late 2009 — under good terms and with a reportedly generous severance package — on the heels of a backlash from viewers and media watchdogs over his on-air political opinions.

Dobbs continued his syndicated radio show, The Lou Dobbs Show, and in 2010 he popped up on the Fox Business Network, airing his grievances and occasionally talking about financial markets.

During the one term of President Donald Trump, Dobbs became more widely known as a blustery defender and zealous fan of the president and his policies. So much so that Dobbs was among those named in the lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems because of his on-air lies about the presidential election of 2020 (Fox settled that suit for $787 million).