Adam Kokesh

Adam Charles Kokesh (born February 1, 1982) is an American libertarian political activist, radio host, and author.

Adam Kokesh was born on February 1, 1982, in San Francisco, California, and is of German and Jewish heritage.

He was raised in a middle-class family, and is the oldest of five siblings.

His parents divorced when he was 10, after which Kokesh says he took refuge in punk rock.

His father, Charles Kokesh, is a businessman, trophy hunter, and at one time the owner of Santa Fe Horse Park.

As an adolescent, Kokesh had an interest in sports, science and technology, and was encouraged by his parents to read numerous books.

When Kokesh was fourteen, he attended Devil Pups junior base camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California.

He attended Stevenson School, a boarding school in Pebble Beach, for his first year of high school, until he was kicked out for possession of alcohol.

He later attended the Native American Preparatory School in San Miguel County, New Mexico.

During high school, Kokesh founded the campus radio station.

Kokesh received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Claremont McKenna College.

He was the president of the Libertarian Club in college.

He later enrolled in graduate studies in political management at George Washington University.

Kokesh says he was inspired by his grandfather to enlist in the United States Marine Corps reserves at the age of seventeen, while still attending high school.

Following graduation from high school, Kokesh volunteered to go to Fallujah, Iraq, with the 3rd Civil Affairs Group.

On March 19, to mark the 4th anniversary of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Kokesh and twelve other IVAW members participated in an occupation-like mock patrol of Washington, D.C.

Kokesh first came to national attention after he was interviewed on CNN and ABC, and his photograph appeared in various newspapers, including the front page of the Los Angeles Times at a protest during Alberto Gonzales's testimony to Congress regarding the dismissal of U.S. attorneys.

Kokesh, wearing his Marine Corps Boonie hat, held up a sign counting the number of times Gonzalez said "I don't remember" or "I don't recall" (Kokesh claimed Gonzalez used such phrases 74 times).

Kokesh is a former U.S. Marine Corps corporal, serving in the Iraq War in 2004.

Upon his return from Iraq, he became an anti-war activist and an advocate for Iraq Veterans Against the War.

For his tour in Iraq from February to September 2004, he received a Navy Commendation Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and was promoted to the rank of a sergeant.

He worked in schools and mosques, observed house raids, and says he was in a couple of convoys hit by IEDs.

After completing his first tour, he became disillusioned with the war.

Kokesh learned Arabic during his tenure in Iraq.

After Kokesh was honorably discharged in September, he remained a member of the Individual Ready Reserve.

He was scheduled to return to Iraq for a second tour, however Kokesh was demoted to a corporal and discharged from the Marine Corps after he wore his Marine uniform during an anti-war demonstration.

In February 2007, he became an active participant in the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).

In April 2007, Kokesh and a number of other activists were arrested after protesting the Iraq war in the Senate Hart Office Building.

Kokesh had performed a ceremony for lost service members using an American flag.

During the Senate Hart Office Building demonstration, Kokesh was wearing combat fatigue pants (with name tags and emblems removed), which the Marine Corps prohibits reserve troops from wearing during anti-war demonstrations.

After Kokesh was contacted via e-mail with a warning for violating uniform regulations, he responded with a refusal to comply and used an expletive in his reply.

He contends that the warning was an attempt to silence and punish members of the military for exercising their constitutional rights; while the Marine Corps said it was a matter of ordinary discipline and Kokesh was not singled out.

In June, a panel of officers stripped Kokesh of his "honorable discharge" status as a result of his conduct.

Supporters of Kokesh from around the country later staged a protest, holding banners and signs in support of Kokesh, and criticizing George W. Bush over the war.

Many of the protestors wore red badges bearing the number "3,495", the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq at the time.

In June 2007, Kokesh, along with IVAW members Liam Madden and Nate Lewis, was arrested for crossing onto Fort Benning during an anti-war protest.

A spokesperson for the IVAW said the three had accidentally stepped onto the base while talking to a guard.

The trespass charges were dismissed.

He emerged as a radio talk show host in 2011 when his TV, radio, and web access show Adam vs. The Man was licensed by RT America; this show was cancelled months later due to an FEC complaint.

He was a U.S. 2020 Libertarian presidential candidate running on the single-issue platform of an "orderly dissolution of the federal government."