Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal was famous for speaking his mind on the hottest issues in America and around the world. He was a prolific novelist, essayist and screen and stage play writer. He also ran for the US Senate. He was related to former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore. Vidal was a strong critic of the George W. Bush administration.

Vidal was born Eugene Luther Vidal Jr. in New York in 1925. His father worked in the US Air Force and his mother was an actress. He disliked his first name and changed it to Gore when he was a teenager. He was raised and educated in Washington D.C. and spent a great deal of time learning from his grandfather, Democratic Senator Thomas Gore.