{{Short description|American political consultant (1942–2018)}} {{for|the English singer-songwriter|Ben Goddard (musician)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Ben Goddard | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|10|17}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|06|15|1942|10|17}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Political consultant | spouse = Louise Caire Clark<br>({{abbr|m.|married}} 19??) | relatives = Doran Clark (sister-in-law),<br>Mark W. Clark (grandfather-in-law) }} '''Ben Goddard''' (October 17, 1942 – June 15, 2018) was a political consultant and founding partner of First Tuesday, Goddard Claussen, Goddard Global, and Goddard Gunster. He is widely regarded as the godfather of issue advocacy advertising and is credited with creating the genre of national issue advocacy advertising with the Harry & Louise campaign, paid for by private health insurance companies to help defeat the Clinton health care plan of 1993.<ref name="washingtonpost">{{cite news |title=Returning to the Genre He Started |first=Jeffrey H. |last=Birnbaum |author-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2004-11-28 |page=E01 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18417-2004Nov28.html |access-date=2022-01-12}}</ref>
==Career and accomplishments== He was president of the International Association of Political Consultants,<ref name="iapc">{{cite web |title=Ben Goddard |url=https://iapc.org/officers/ |website=iapc.org |publisher=International Association of Political Consultants |access-date=2019-05-17 |archive-date=2019-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517190405/https://iapc.org/officers/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was a featured columnist in ''The Hill'' newspaper, providing reviews and comments on campaign messages and strategies.<ref>{{cite news |title=All Latest Ben Goddard News |work=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/ben-goddard/ |access-date=2022-01-12}}</ref>
Notable Goddard campaigns include Harry & Louise, the Pacific Life Whales, and Prop 187 in California. According to the Goddard Gunster website,<ref>{{cite web |title=Ben Goddard |url=http://www.goddardgunster.com/ |website=goddardgunster.com |publisher=Goddard Gunster |access-date=2013-04-24 |archive-date=2013-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531034200/http://goddardgunster.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Goddard has received dozens of awards for creativity, including a television Emmy, and his commercials are part of the Smithsonian Institution permanent collection.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |title=Harry and Louise and a Guy Named Ben |first=Robin |last=Toner |work=The New York Times |date=1994-09-30 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/30/us/harry-and-louise-and-a-guy-named-ben.html |access-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In the 1970s and 1980s Goddard served as a media consultant to candidates for state and national office including Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart, Mo Udall and Bruce Babbitt.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
In addition to his work in the United States, Goddard also created the first political advertising in Russia to preserve Boris Yeltsin's free-market reforms.<ref name="washingtonpost" /><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |title=American referendum veteran hired to persuade Britons to leave EU |agency=Reuters |work=The Guardian |date=2015-10-09 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/09/american-hired-brexit-eu-referendum-gerry-gunster |access-date=2022-01-12}}</ref>
Goddard married Louise Caire Clark, the actress who played Louise in his Harry & Louise ad campaign.<ref name=Death>{{cite web |title=The inner strength of Ben Goddard |first1=John |last1=Sullivan |first2=Beverly |last2=Sullivan |date=2018-06-28 |website=Rappahannock News |url=https://www.rappnews.com/opinion/columnists/the-inner-strength-of-ben-goddard/article_4d3a0517-5c2a-5a6d-80a9-aa33d6621e5c.html |access-date=2022-01-12}}</ref> He died on June 15, 2018, following "years of challenging and debilitating medical issues".<ref name=Death/>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Ben}} Category:American advertising people Category:1943 births Category:2018 deaths Category:The Hill (newspaper) people Category:Businesspeople from Idaho Category:American political consultants