Keyes received a bachelor's degree (1972) and a doctorate (1979) in government studies from Harvard University. In 1978 he joined the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer. In 1983 he was appointed ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council in the administration of President Ronald Reagan (Reagan, Ronald W.). From 1985 to 1988 Keyes served as assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs. An outspoken conservative and sometimes a controversial figure, he twice (1988 and 1992) secured the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate from Maryland but was easily defeated on both occasions. In 1994 Keyes began a radio talk show that provided him with a platform and helped catapult him onto the national political scene. In both 1996 and 2000 he unsuccessfully campaigned for the Republican Party presidential nomination. In 2004 he accepted an invitation by the Republican Party of Illinois to stand for election to the U.S. Senate after the party's primary winner withdrew from the campaign, but he lost decisively to Democrat Barack Obama (Obama, Barack). Keyes's 2008 presidential campaign platform stressed border control and an opposition to abortion and to same-sex marriage.