Pierre S. du Pont IV.

Pierre Samuel " Pete " du Pont IV ( born January 22, 1935 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American politician ( Republican). He was from 1977 to 1985 Governor of the State of Delaware. He also represented his state 1971-1977 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years

Du Pont attended the Phillips Exeter Academy until 1952. Subsequently, he studied until 1956 at Princeton University. With a law degree from Harvard Law School, he graduated in 1963 from his education. In between, he was from 1957 to 1960 in the active military service with the U.S. Navy. Since 1964 he has worked as an attorney in Wilmington.

Political rise in U.S. Congress

Both at the federal level and in Delaware du Pont was a member of the Finance Committee of his party. Between 1968 and 1971 he was a delegate in the House of Representatives from Delaware. In 1970 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. There he took after a few elections his state between January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1977. During the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, he was one of the last members who supported Nixon.

Governor of Delaware

In 1976, du Pont opted not to run again for Congress. Instead, he was nominated by his party's top candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial election. In the following elections he was the Democratic incumbent Sherman W. Tribbitt hit with 57% of the vote. Four years later he was elected against William J. Gordy, the candidate of the Democratic Party, even with 71 % of the vote again. So that he could officiate as governor between 18 January 1977 to 15 January 1985.

During his tenure, he succeeded, after some initial difficulties to reach a consensus between the parties and pay down the debt. The income tax was lowered and future tax increases were hampered by a constitutional amendment. At the same time government spending were cut. Governor du Pont advocated for better education policy. This led him also important to prevent the drift of young people into unemployment. For this purpose, was founded in 1979, a Consultative Commission for youngsters who served many other U.S. states and even foreign countries as a model. Governor du Pont was also able to pull the credit card business of many banks to Delaware. As a result, 30 banks were new to Delaware, bringing 43,000 new jobs were created.

Further CV

In 1988, du Pont competed in the primaries of his party to its presidential nomination. However, he has abandoned this project after a few bad prefix results soon. In 1984, he was Chairman of the National Education Commission ( Education Commission of the States ). Between 1985 and 1987 he was director of the Hudson Institute and from 1994 to 1997 he headed the National Review Institute. Today he is chairman of the National Centre for Policy Analysis ( National center for political analysis) and one of the directors of a law firm in Wilmington. Pierre du Pont is married to Elise Ravenel Wood, with whom he has four children.