Childhood & Early Life
Jerry Springer was born in London, England, to Margot and Richard Springer. He was born inside the Highgate tube station in London as it was at the time used as a shelter from German attacks during World War II.
Springer was brought up in East Finchley where his father owned a shoe shop and his mother was a bank clerk. In 1949, the Springer family immigrated to States and started living in Queens, New York.
He attended Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana to pursue Bachelor of Arts and he majored in political science. Later in 1968, Springer got a Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern University.
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Career
After Springer finished his law degree, he came in contact with the New York Senator, Robert Kennedy during a social event. He was signed on by him to do his presidential campaign but Kennedy was assassinated shortly afterwards.
Kennedy’s assassination left him feeling emotionally traumatized and he decided to carry on with Kennedy’s political ideology. Springer started working at Frost & Jacobs law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Springer was the leader of the movement to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, while he was still working at the law firm. This concluded in his Senate Judiciary Committee authentication supporting sanction of the 26th Amendment.
In 1970, he contested for Congress in Ohio and almost defeated the already established Republican politician, Donald Clancy. In the following year, he was elected to the Cincinnati city council.
Springer had to resign from Cincinnati city council in 1974 on the grounds that he had hired a prostitute. He came clean in the press about it and political analysts at the time predicted that his political career was over.
In 1971, he was elected as the mayor of the Cincinnati, after serving five terms with the Cincinnati city council. He was the mayor for two terms.
He contested for the position of the Governor of Ohio in 1982, but he unfortunately did not win that one and instead signed on with Cincinnati NBC affiliate, WLWT, as a political reporter and commentator.
With his steady success at the channel, Springer was named as the primary news anchor and Managing Editor and in two years, he became No.1 news anchor of Cincinnati. He won ten local Emmy Awards for his nightly commentaries.
‘The Jerry Springer Show’ first aired in 1991; it was designed by WLWT and addressed topics like homelessness and gun politics. The show was given a new image after three years, by addressing tabloid sensationalized topics, to popularize it.
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From 2000-2001, he hosted a David Letterman style talk show in the UK for Channel 5, titled ‘Late Night with Jerry Springer’. He also hosted the UK version of ‘Greed’ during the same time.
In 2005, a British version of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ was launched, titled ‘The Springer Show’. It gained a lot of popularity even though it was a subdued version of the original. He also hosted ‘Springer on the Radio’ in the same year.
Springer, with his image as a witty host, hosted Miss Universe 2008 and also guest hosted for WWE Raw at Wells Fargo Arena in Iowa, in the following years. Around the same time, he hosted ‘Baggage’––a dating game show.
