Thomas Kean
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Thomas Howard Kean (born April 21, 1935 in New York City) is an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 48th Governor of New Jersey, from 1982 to 1990. In 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, widely known as the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for investigating the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks and providing recommendations to prevent future attacks.
Early life
Kean was born in New York City to a long line of New Jersey politicians. His father, Robert W. Kean, was a Congressman, and his grandfather Hamilton Fish Kean and grand-uncle John Kean both served as Senators. His other grand-uncle was Hamilton Fish, a Senator, Governor of New Jersey, and Secretary of State.
Kean was educated at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and then at Princeton and Teachers College, Columbia University. Originally a teacher of history and government, he was elected, in 1967, as a Republican to the New Jersey General Assembly. With a split among the Assembly's Democrats, Kean got the support of one of the Democratic factions and thereby got elected New Jersey House Speaker in 1972. In the next Assembly, in 1974, the Democrats united behind one candidate for Speaker and Kean was relegated to minority leader of the Assembly. In 1973, he briefly served as acting New Jersey Governor.
New Jersey Governor
In 1977, Kean ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor. Although he has spent most of his career as a moderate, in that race Kean ran to the right of New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Raymond Bateman, and it was Bateman who won the nomination, but lost to Brendan Byrne in the general election.
Kean ran successfully for governor in 1981, defeating U.S. Representative James Florio in the closest election to date in the history of the office, winning by fewer than 1,800 votes. But he proved so popular in office that in 1985, he won re-election with the largest margin of victory in the history of the office, defeating Peter Shapiro, then the Chairman of the Essex County Democratic Party. Limited to two terms by the New Jersey State Constitution, Kean left office in January 1990 as perhaps the most popular Governor in the State's history. He was succeeded by Florio, who had won a landslide victory in November 1989.
In 1988, reflecting his stature as one of the leaders of the Republican Party's moderate wing, Kean delivered the keynote speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans.
Kean was known for attracting a number of bright, rising stars with deep public policy expertise. Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester, New Jersey Congressman Bob Franks, and other leading New Jersey and national Republican figures began their political and public policy careers in his administration.
Academia and national leadership
After leaving office, Kean became the president of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, where he maintained an active national role in numerous public policy issues, including education, low-income housing and foreign policy. While there, Kean became an advisor to, and was inducted into, Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity. Kean resigned his position as president of Drew at the end of the 2004-05 academic year.
In 1997, Kean was appointed a member of Advisory Board to President Bill Clinton's One America Initiative.
In December 2002, Kean was appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, a high-profile independent commission charged with investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks. The commission is widely considered the most important independent government commission since the Warren Commission.
On April 4, 2004, Kean stated that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented had the United States government acted sooner to dismantle al-Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats. The statement was reflected in greater detail in the commission's July 22, 2004 final report, which concluded that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had ill-served the American people in failing to predict or prevent the September 11 attacks.
Kean is the author of one book, The Politics of Inclusion, published in 1988 by Free Press.
He is also a weekly columnist for the Star-Ledger, where he and former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne (his immediate predecessor) debate issues of the day in the "Kean-Byrne Dialogue". Although both men often disagree (as Kean is a Republican, while Byrne is a Democrat), they occasionally see eye to eye on topics, and both men have great respect for each other.
Personal
Kean has a wife, Deborah, a daughter, Alexandra, and twin sons, Tom and Reed. They live in Bedminster Township, New Jersey. Kean's son Tom, Jr. is a New Jersey State Senator, representing New Jersey's 21st district, and is the Republican Senatorial nominee who will face off against Robert Menendez in the November 2006 general election.
Kean is a member of the board of directors of ARAMARK and CIT Group Incorporated
Kean University in Union Township, New Jersey, formerly located in Newark and named Newark State College and Kean College, is named in memory of Kean's father, Robert, who served New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1959.
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