Vance Hartke

Rupert Vance Hartke ( born May 31, 1919 in Stendal, Pike County, Indiana; † July 27, 2003 in Falls Church, Virginia ) was an American politician (Democratic Party), who represented the State of Indiana in the U.S. Senate.

Vance Hartke attended the public schools in his home town of Stendal. In 1940 he graduated at the Evansville College; after he joined the U.S. Navy. Later he moved to the U.S. Coast Guard, where he advanced from simple seaman to lieutenant. He retired from military service in 1946 and began studying law at the Law School of Indiana University in Bloomington, where he graduated in 1948. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in Indiana and began practicing in Evansville.

After a term as deputy prosecutor in Vanderburgh County from 1950 to 1951 Hartke embarked on a political career. He was from 1956 to 1958 mayor of Evansville and was then elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from January 3, 1959 to January 3, 1977. In 1976, he lost to Republican Richard Lugar, who has since been holding this seat continuously. Hartke applied in advance of the presidential election in 1972 for the Democratic presidential nomination, but after a weak performance in the primarys he received at the Democratic National Convention delegates only a voice. In the Senate he was chairman of the Veterans Committee and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War. It also broke his friendship with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose plans for a Great Society he had previously always been in the Senate. Furthermore, Hartke was an advocate of the Medicare system, which was introduced in 1965.

1994 had to answer before a grand jury on charges of electoral fraud Vance Hartke. Ultimately, an agreement was made ​​, which earned him a suspended prison sentence of six months. He died in July 2003 at the age of 84 years and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. With his wife Martha Hartke had seven children. His daughter Anita came in 2008 to the seventh congressional district of Virginia for election to the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by Republican incumbent Eric Cantor clearly.