Charles Whalen, a native of Dayton, Ohio, graduated from the University of Dayton and Harvard Business School. A professor of economics at the University of Dayton, he served for twelve years in the Ohio General Assembly. Elected to the U.S. Congress in 1966, he represented Ohio’s Third District until retiring in 1978.

          Barbara Whalen was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York. She is a former newspaper columnist, radio and television writer, and advertising executive.

          The Whalens are the authors, collectively, of four nonfiction books. They coauthored The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Charles Whalen also wrote The House and Foreign Policy: The Irony of Congressional Reform and Your Right to Know: How the Free Flow of News Depends on the Journalist’s Right to Protect His Sources. With former Congressmen Robert T. Stafford, Frank J. Horton, Richard S. Schweiker, and Garner E. Shriver, Charles Whalen wrote How to End the Draft: The Case for an All-Volunteer Army.

          Charles and Barbara Whalen have six children and six grandchildren, and live in Bethesda, Maryland.