History of The King's College

Founded in 1938 in Belmar, New Jersey by Dr. Percy Crawford, The King’s College has always found itself engaged in the public square. In 1949, Crawford initiated Youth on the March, the first nationwide television show of any kind. CNN later honored Crawford on the 50th anniversary of the first Youth on the March broadcast.

In 1955, Crawford moved King’s to Briarcliff Manor, New York. In 1962, after Dr. Crawford passed away, Dr. Cook accepted the presidency of The King's College. In his twenty-three years as president, the college grew, became accredited, and had a major impact on hundreds of young people. In 1963 he started The King's Hour radio broadcast. Dr. Cook retired from the presidency in 1985 and served as Chancellor of the College until his death in 1991.

In 1985, Dr. Friedhelm Radandt, a former professor at the University of Chicago and President of Northwestern College in Iowa, became the College’s third president. King's ran into financial difficulties in the early 1990s and closed in 1994. In 1998, J. Stanley Oakes, in coordination with Dr. Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ International, led the effort to re-capitalize the school. Radandt continued as President. In 1999, The King’s College acquired Northeastern Bible College, of Essex Falls, New Jersey. That year, the revived King's leased 34,000 square feet on two floors of the Empire State Building in Manhattan.

On January 1, 2003, the Board of Trustees of The King’s College selected J. Stanley Oakes, a graduate in Classical Greek from the University of Minnesota and in Political Theory from the University of Dallas, to be the College’s fourth president.

In 2007, Andrew Mills became the Interim President, and after a nationwide search, Dinesh D’Souza was named President of The King’s College in August 2010. D’Souza was a Dartmouth graduate, a former White House policy analyst, a fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford, and a widely-known writer on politics and religion.

In 2012, the College relocated to 56 Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. With the resignation of Dinesh D’Souza later that year, Andrew Mills again served as Interim President. On October 18, 2012, the Board of Trustees of The King's College took steps to appoint a Search Committee for a new president. Mr. John Spier, a 1972 alumnus and a trustee of the College since 2007, was appointed Chairman of the committee. He joins eleven other members — representing every constituency of the College — in thoughtfully considering and reviewing candidates.