John Chafee

John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( born October 22, 1922 in Providence, Rhode Iceland, † October 24, 1999 in Bethesda, Maryland ) was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Life

Chafee's family was politically active. Already his great-grandfather, Henry Lippitt was governor of Rhode Iceland. Chafee graduated in 1940 at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Following, from 1942 to 1945, he fought for the United States Marine Corps in World War II. Until 1947 he studied law at Yale University until 1950, at Harvard University. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in Rhode Iceland and practiced there as well.

From 1951 to 1953 he fought as a Marine in the Korean War.

Policy

Shortly after his return Chafee entered politics. In 1956 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Rhode Iceland. 1958 and 1960 he was re-elected in 1963, he was elected governor. In 1969 he was defeated by Democrat Frank light.

In the same year he was nominated and confirmed by U.S. President Richard Nixon as a Naval Secretary ( Secretary of the Navy ). A post he held until 1972, when he resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. However, he lost this election against incumbent Claiborne Pell. Four years later, he ran successfully for the second seat of Rhode Iceland in the U.S. Senate. On 29 December 1976 he moved prematurely into the Congress, as the Democratic incumbent, John O. Pastore, who did not stand again, already resigned to this event. 1982, 1988 and 1994 Chafee was confirmed in each case.

During his time in the Senate, Chafee emerged primarily as an environmental politician; He was from 1995 to 1999 Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, where he served since 1977. In 1999, he announced not to run for re-election in November 2000. However, he died before the election on October 24, 1999 from heart failure. His son Lincoln took the vacant seat and was elected to the Senate in 2000. He held until 2007, this mandate; Since January 2011 he is like his father before Governor of Rhode Iceland.

Awards

On August 9, 2000 Chafee was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The U.S. Navy named a destroyer, the USS Chafee (DDG- 90) after the former Secretary of the Navy.

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