Early Life
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, the son of Mae (née Elder; 1925–1999) and Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (1923–1996), conservative Southern Democrats. He has cited his working-class upbringing as the reason for his de-centralized populist conservative political views; his father worked as a fireman and mechanic, and his mother worked as a clerk at a gas company.
His first job, at 14, was working at a radio station where he read the news and weather. He was elected Governor of Arkansas by his chapter of the American Legion-sponsored Boys State program in 1972 and is a Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation alumnus. He was student council vice president at Hope High School during the 1971–72 school year. He was student council president at Hope High School during the 1972–1973 school year. He has one sister, Mrs. Pat Harris, a middle school teacher.
Huckabee married his wife, Janet, on May 25, 1974. He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelor's degree in Religion in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He dropped out of the seminary after one year in order to take a job in Christian broadcasting.
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