George Deukmejian

Courken George Deukmejian, Jr. ( born July 6, 1928 in Menands, Albany County, New York ) is a former American politician ( Republican). From 1983 to 1991 he was the 35th Governor of the State of California.

Life

Deukmejian was born in Menands, New York, the son of an immigrant from Turkey with Armenian descent. He earned a B. A. in 1949 in sociology from Siena College. In 1952 he earned a Juris Doctor ( JD) from St. John 's University. After completion of his studies, he worked for the Judge Advocate General's Corps ( JAGC ), the highest judicial instance of the U.S. armed forces operate.

Political career

In 1955 he moved to Long Beach in California. He married Gloria Saatjian 1958, with whom he has three children: two daughters, born in 1965 and 1970 and a son born in 1967 1962 was elected Deukmejian to the California State Assembly, his constituency was in Long Beach.. Four years later he was elected to the Senate from California. From 1969 he led the Republican faction as Senate Majority Leader. He applied unsuccessfully in 1970 to the Office of the Attorney General ( Attorney General ) of California. Eight years later he was elected to the Minister of Justice and in office from 1979 until 1983.

Governor of California

1982 Deukmejian won the primaries against the incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb and later the actual election on November 2, 1982 against the Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. With 49 against 48 percent of the vote, his victory came as the successor of not more candidates Jerry Brown of extremely scarce. On January 3, 1983, he was sworn in as the 35th governor of California. Deukmejian had to try as governor in his tenure because of the Democratic majority in the State Legislature, to win political opponents for his cause. In November 1986, however, he had a clear electoral victory with over 60 percent of the vote. He defeated again Tom Bradley, against whom he had begun already in 1982. A key element of his policy as governor was the problem of crime. This, he met with a strict "law and order" in politics. At the beginning of his term in 1983 were in California 34 640 persons in custody, 1991, the number of these persons was 97 309.

For the presidential election in 1988 he was on the list of possible vice president of Republican presidential candidate George Bush, who ultimately chose Dan Quayle. For the gubernatorial election in 1990, he opted not to run again and was replaced in January 1991 by Pete Wilson.

After the governorship

Deukmejian worked since 1991 in a law firm in Los Angeles. In 2000 he gave up his profession since he was active in several committees.