For much of his life Ailes had been a nomadic bachelor moving from station to station, campaign to campaign. Finally, at sixty, he was ready to put down roots. Roger met Elizabeth Tilson at CNBC, where she was the director of daytime programming in charge of business news. When Ailes arrived to take over in 1993, she was the one who did the introductions with the staff. In time, he promoted her to vice president and she launched America’s Talking. Beth didn’t follow Ailes to Fox. She had a one-year noncompete clause in her NBC contract. They did meet from time to time. “We were friends,” she says. “Roger was in the process of getting divorced.” Beth had been married before, too. Gradually their friendship escalated. Her sister Eileen encouraged her. “He’s a guy who can tell you what to do and you can do it,” Eileen said. Beth told me this with a laugh; she says her sister meant it in a flattering way. Even after the courtship commenced, Beth took it slowly.
