VERNE STRICKLAND
CHRISTIAN
CONSERVATIVE WRITER/ PHOTOGRAPHER/ PRODUCER
July 17, 2015
Verne Strickland’s career in communications has focused on business,
politics, current affairs, agriculture and international trade.
A native North Carolinian, Verne,
an active 78 years of age, has honed his media skills through professional
experience on the Internet, and in broadcasting, audiovisual productions, newspaper
and magazine journalism, public relations and advertising.
Verne was hired in 1966 by Jesse
A. Helms, renowned conservative commentator, who later became a prominent U.S.
Senator – Chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, then as Chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Helms mentored the young reporter Verne Strickland, and helped to shape
his rock-solid conservative philosophy.
Verne left television to join Jesse’s successful 1982-84 re-election
campaign, serving as media consultant -- writing and producing radio,
television and newspaper political advertisements. He voiced many of Helms’
most effective commercials during that campaign, which are still considered a standard
of excellence in both State and National political circles
A major achievement for Verne was the production
in 1983 of ‘KGB: THE LIE AND THE TRUTH’— a 2 ½ television special aired to
national audiences in prime time on Turner Broadcasting Service from Atlanta.
Its objective was to educate and
inform America of the growing threat to freedom in the world under the
domination of the Soviet Union’s feared terror and spying organization, the KGB,
which at the time had made alarming incursions into U.S.
Produced under the auspices of
Jesse Helms’ Coalition for Freedom, the powerful program generated a flood of
viewer mail expressing alarm about the Soviet threat. It also raised
considerable money for the Senator’s re-election bid.
As a news broadcaster, Verne anchored programs for sixteen years on
WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC. His voice was heard daily on the NC News Network and
Capitol Agribusiness Network. He wrote and produced a number of
highly-acclaimed documentary films in English as well as many foreign
languages, including Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, French,
Portuguese and Spanish.
Verne is a 1959 graduate of East
Carolina University at Greenville, NC, and recipient of the University’s
Outstanding Alumni Award. He also has been presented the Broadcaster of the
Year Award by the National Association of Farm Broadcasters.
His career in news and
audiovisual production has taken him to over thirty countries, including China,
Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, Germany, England, Norway and the USSR. He was the first
U.S. journalist to receive the “E” Award for Export Promotion – a Presidential
Citation presented by President Richard Nixon.
During his television years he
was a popular after-dinner speaker and humorist, entertaining State and
National professional and civic organizations.
In 1983 he formed and managed Verne Strickland Communications, a successful
multi-media company providing specialized communications and marketing services
to leading advertising agencies, agribusiness companies and government
agencies.
Now retired in Wilmington, Verne
is enjoying free-lance writing, photography and production of his popular Christian
conservative political blog USA DOT COM, seen also on Verne Strickland
Facebook.
He and his wife, Durrene, have
been married for 55 years, and make their home in the Echo Farms community of
Wilmington, NC. The Stricklands have three sons and two grandchildren.
They both are long-time
registered members of the Republican Party, where they are recognized as loyal
conservative activists.
As a young man, Verne won the
coveted rank of Eagle Scout, as well as the God and Country Award. He attended
the 1953 National Boy Scout Jamboree in California. He was an acolyte, lay
reader, and member of the Youth Choir at St. John’s Episcopal Church in
Battleboro, NC.
3723 Sand Trap Court
Wilmington NC
Phone 910.815.0120
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