Thomas Kean

Thomas Howard Kean (* April 21, 1935 in New York City ) is an American politician. He was from 1982 until 1990 the Governor of the State of New Jersey.

Family

Thomas Kean comes from a prominent political family. His father was Robert Kean 1939-1958 Member of the House of Representatives of the United States, his grandfather Hamilton Fish Kean belonged from 1929 to 1934 the U.S. Senate. His great-uncle John Kean was 1883-1910, with interruptions deputy and senator in Congress. Another great uncle, Hamilton Fish, was a U.S. Senator, Governor of New York and under President Ulysses S. Grant from 1869 to 1877 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States. His son Thomas sitting in the New Jersey Senate in 2006 and lost the election for U.S. Senator against Bob Menendez.

Early years and political rise

Thomas Kean attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He then studied at Princeton University and Columbia University. Kean was a member of the National Guard of New Jersey. He also taught American history as well as English and launched a home for disabled children. At Rutgers University, where he gave lectures on political science. He also wrote for the newspaper "New Jersey Nightly News" comments. Simultaneously he was also a consultant of this sheet.

Kean was a member of the Republican Party. In 1967 he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly. There he was temporarily parliamentary leader of his party. From 1972 to 1974 he was president of that body, in which he could also be based on a portion of the MEPs. Kean remained until 1977 a member of the legislature. This year he applied unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for the office of Governor of New Jersey. In November 1981, he was successful and was elected governor of his state.

Governor of New Jersey

Thomas Kean took up his new post on 19 January 1982. After a re-election in 1985, he could remain in office until 16 January 1990. As Governor, he was very successful. The Newsweek magazine declared him one of the five most effective governors in the United States at that time. Through tax breaks around 750,000 new jobs were created in New Jersey. The education system has undergone numerous improvements. The welfare and environmental policy has been improved by the Governor. In 1988 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, was nominated for the George Bush as a presidential candidate. At this congress Kean gave the keynote speech. Due to a constitutional clause Kean could not run again in 1989. At the time of his resignation from the office of governor, he was extremely popular in New Jersey.

Further CV

In 1990, Kean president of Drew University. Since that time, he was also involved at the federal level. He worked closely with the governments of Presidents George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. At times he was in the Education Committee of the President. Kean was involved in many policy areas such as of educational, environmental or foreign policy. In foreign policy, he supported, among others, the change in the Eastern Bloc countries after 1989. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 Kean was appointed to head the commission of inquiry into the attacks of September 11 in December 2002 by President Bush as the successor of Henry Kissinger. His administration was politically controversial. His critics accused him of, among other things, he had abused his position to advertise a book written by him book. On July 22, 2004 Kean presented the Commission's final report, in which he gave the CIA and the FBI complicity in the attacks, because these organizations did not contribute enough to their prevention. Later, he was advisor to the ABC television network, which produced a controversial documentary about the attacks and radiated.

Kean was or is a member of several supervisory boards lucrative and writes weekly newspaper articles about current issues. As a Republican, he supported both the policies of the Bush administration and John McCain. , With his wife Deborah Thomas Kean Kean has in his unsuccessful presidential campaign of 2008, three children.