John Danforth
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John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936), also referred to as Jack Danforth, is a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican United States Senator from Missouri. He is an ordained Episcopal priest.
Danforth is married with five adult children.
Education and early career
Danforth was born in 1936 in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1958, and attended both law and divinity graduate schools at Yale University. Danforth is the grandson of William H. Danforth founder of Ralston Purina. His father was Donald Danforth, a former chief exective of the company. One of his brothers is Dr. William H. Danforth, former chancellor of Washington University.In his first bid to run for public office at any level he was elected in 1968 at the age of 32 to be Missouri's Attorney General. On his staff as an assistant attorney general was a youthful Kit Bond.
In 1972 Bond was elected Missouri Governor at the age of 33 and Danforth was re-elected. The two projected an image of Missouri's young Republican wunderkind in a state that traditionally had been Democratic.
Senate races
In 1976 Danforth ran to succeed retiring Senator Stuart Symington.Danforth ran in the Republican primary with little opposition. The Democrats had three-way battle among Symington's son James W. Symington, former Missouri Governor Warren Hearnes and rising political star Congressman Jerry Litton. Litton and his entire family were killed when the plane taking them to their victory party in Kansas City crashed on take off in Chillicothe, Missouri. Hearnes, who had finished well back in the primary, was appointed to challenge Danforth and Danforth easily won the election.
Danforth was narrowly re-elected in 1982.
His Democrat opponent was Harriett Woods, a relatively unknown state senator from the St. Louis suburb of University City, Missouri. She was active in women's rights organizations and collected union support. Her speeches denounced the Ronald Reagan policies so vigorously that she ran on the nickname, "Give 'em Hell, Harriett" (a play on the famous Truman phrase).
Danforth won 51% to 49%. Woods pro-abortion stance was said to be the reason for her defeat.[link]
Woods and Danforth have stayed on good terms. In January 2001 when Missouri Democrats lined up against former Missouri Governor John Ashcroft to oppose his nomination for U.S. Attorney General, Danforth's name was evoked.
Woods testified in the Senate Judiciary hearings:
- He (Ashcroft) is indeed a man of deep conviction, but in Missouri, he increasingly has been seen as an extremist who can be ruthless for political ends. Former U.S. Senator Tom Eagleton reacted to the nomination by saying: "John Danforth would have been my first choice. John Ashcroft would have been my last choice."[link]
Senate career
During the 1991 Senate hearings regarding U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Danforth used his considerable clout to aid the confirmation of Thomas who had served Danforth during his state attorney general years and later as an aide in the Senate. The bond was further strengthened in that both men had studied to be ordained. Thomas was studying to be a Cathloic priest at Conception Seminary College in Nodaway County, Missouri when he said a racial comment at the college about the assassination of Martin Luther King caused him to quit. After leaving the seminary Thomas attended Episcopal services and Danforth is an ordained Episcopal minister.A political moderate Danforth was once quoted as saying he joined the Republican Party for "the same reason you sometimes choose which movie to see — [it's] the one with the shortest line".
When Danforth entered politics, Missouri was a reliably Democratic state with both its U.S. Senators and Governors regularly being Democrats. Besides Symington (who had challenged John F. Kennedy for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1960) Danforth's seat in the Senate was previously held by Democrat heavyweights Thomas Hart Benton and Harry S. Truman.
Post Senate career
Danforth has had a colorful post-Senate career.
- Waco siege investigation - In 1999, Democratic U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Danforth to lead the investigation into the FBI's role in the Waco siege disaster of 1993. Danforth appointed Democratic U.S. Attorney Edward L. Dowd, Jr. for the Eastern District of Missouri as his deputy special counsel for Waco. He also hired Bryan Cave law firm partner Thomas A. Schweich as his chief of staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney James G. Martin served as Danforth's director of investigative operations for what became known as the "Waco Investigation"
- Short list of vice president candidates - In July 2000, Danforth's name was leaked as being on the short list of potential vice presidential nominees for Republican candidate George W. Bush, along with Michigan Governor John Engler, New York Governor George Pataki, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole. Just one week before the Republican nominating convention was to be held in Philadelphia, campaign sources said that Dick Cheney, the man charged with leading the selection process for the nominee, had recommended Danforth to Bush for the position [link]. Bush secretly met with Danforth at a hotel in Chicago, and three days later Danforth held a press conference stating he would be stepping-down from his appointed role in the Waco investigations because an unforeseen political opportunity had suddenly come-up. However, despite growing speculation that Danforth was Bush's final pick, Bush selected Cheney himself for the position.
- Special envoy to Sudan - In September 2001, President Bush appointed Danforth a special envoy to Sudan. He brokered a peace deal that officially ended the civil war (called the Darfur conflict between Sudan's Islamic government and Christian-backed Sudanese rebels. However the results of the conflict still remain unresolved.
- Ambassador to the United Nations - On July 1, 2004, Danforth was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding John Negroponte, who had left his post after becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq on June 23, 2004. Danforth is best remembered on attempts to bring peace to the Sudan but only stayed at the UN for five months. Danforth was mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Six days after the announcement that Condoleezza Rice was going to take the position Danforth submitted his resignation on November 22, 2004, effective January 20, 2005. Danforth's resignation letter said, "Forty-seven years ago, I married the girl of my dreams, and, at this point in my life, what is most important to me is to spend more time with her."[link]
- Funerals of Ronald Reagan and Katharine Graham - As an ordained Episcopal priest, Danforth officiated the funeral services of former president Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004 at the Washington National Cathedral. He did the same for Washington Post executive Katharine Graham in 2001, also at the National Cathedral.
- Battles with the Christian Right - On March 30, 2005, Danforth wrote an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times critical of the Republican party. The article began: "By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians..."[link]. The article by an ordained Episcopal minister (followed by June 17, 2005 piece headlined "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers" [link])ignited considerable debate both pro and con. The Washington Post on February 2, 2006, headlined its article. 'St. Jack' and the Bullies in the Pulpit [link] Danforth is the author of the forthcoming book "Faith and Politics : How the 'Moral Values' Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together," to be released in September 2006 by the Viking Press.
External links
- [UN Press release on becoming US Ambassador to the UN]
- [Letter of resignation (pdf file)]
- [Washington Post Article about Danforth's criticisms of the Religious Right]
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