Lloyd Bentsen: Difference between revisions

Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (February 11, 1921 – May 23, 2006) was an American politician who was a four-term

After Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 general election, he offered Bentsen the position of Secretary of the Treasury. Bentsen accepted, and as Treasury Secretary he helped win the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Bentsen retired from Clinton's Cabinet in December 1994 and was succeeded by Robert Rubin. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 and died in his home in Houston in 2006.

Early life

Bentsen was born in

He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with an LL.B. degree in 1942 and was admitted to the bar,^[3][4][5][6] but soon afterwards joined the military for World War II. (When law schools accredited by the American Bar Association began requiring a bachelor's degree for admission to law school in the 1950s and 1960s, law schools began awarding the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree rather than the LL.B.^[7] As with most law school graduates of his era, Bentsen's LL.B. was amended to reflect award of the J.D.)^[8]

Military service

After brief service as a

Bentsen flew thirty-five missions against many heavily defended targets, including the

Bentsen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the Air Force's highest commendations for achievement or heroism in flight. In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bentsen was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

Bentsen served in the

After the war, Bentsen returned to his native

Bentsen upset incumbent Ralph Yarborough, a liberal icon, in a bruising primary campaign for the 1970 Texas Democratic Senatorial nomination. The campaign came in the wake of Yarborough's politically hazardous votes in favor of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bentsen made Yarborough's opposition to the war a major issue. His television advertising featured video images of rioting in the streets at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, implying that Yarborough was associated with the rioters. While this strategy was successful in defeating Yarborough, it caused long-term damage to Bentsen's relationship with liberals in his party.^[13][14]

Bentsen's campaign and his reputation as a centrist Democrat served to alienate him not only from supporters of Yarborough, but from prominent national liberals, as well. Indeed, during the 1970 Senate race, the

Beginning in 1974, Bentsen campaigned for the Democratic Party's 1976 presidential nomination. In 1974 he visited 30 states and raised $350,000 at a single fundraiser in Texas. Bentsen formally announced his candidacy on February 17, 1975, and in the early part of that year he had already raised over $1 million for his campaign; only George Wallace of Alabama and Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of Washington state had raised more money by that point. Bentsen did not organize effectively on a national level, and many observers believed the freshman senator was running without any real hope of winning the nomination, hoping instead to secure a vice-presidential nomination.

Wallace and Jackson were considered to be the two main contenders for the moderate to conservative voters to whom Bentsen would appeal; early in the campaign few foresaw Jimmy Carter of Georgia also effectively appealing to that group.

By October 1975 Bentsen, generating little national attention or significance in the polls, scaled back his campaign to a limited effort in areas of 8 to 10 states, hoping for a deadlocked convention. In the first state contest Bentsen vigorously contested, Mississippi, he managed only 1.6% of the vote. Two weeks later Bentsen staked the remainder of his campaign and resources in neighboring Oklahoma but finished third with only 12%. A few days later Bentsen shut down his national campaign, staying in the race only as a favorite son in Texas. However, in the May 1, 1976, primary Jimmy Carter won 92 of Texas's 98 delegates. The eventual nominee and president, Carter was later quoted as saying he had expected a much stronger showing by Bentsen but that Bentsen's failure to campaign nationally had ended his hopes.

Senate career

Firmly ensconced in

Bentsen was on Walter Mondale's short list of seven or eight possible vice presidential candidates in 1984 and was the only southerner and one of three white males considered. In the end, Mondale chose New York U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.

In 1988

The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket lost the election. Bentsen was unable to swing his home state, with 43 percent of the Texas vote going for the Dukakis ticket while Bush and Quayle took 56 percent. However, Bentsen was simultaneously re-elected to the United States Senate with 59 percent of the vote.[20]

Bentsen considered running for president in the

Appointed to Clinton's cabinet as Treasury Secretary, Bentsen helped win crucial Republican votes to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Bentsen also was pivotal in winning passage of the 1994 crime bill which temporarily banned assault rifles.^[22][23]

After the resignation of Les Aspin in early 1994, Bentsen was seriously considered for the position of Secretary of Defense.^[24] This prospect, however, did not materialize and William Perry, then Deputy Secretary of Defense, was chosen to succeed Aspin.

In early December 1994, Bentsen announced his retirement as Secretary of the Treasury. Before election day he had discussed with President Clinton that he was not prepared to stay in office until the end of Clinton's first term in 1997. He was succeeded in the position by Robert Rubin.^[25]

Later life and death

In 1995, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said in an interview with Larry King when asked which Democrats she admired: "I like Lloyd Bentsen very much indeed, I was sad when he resigned. He's a real marvelous politician, a person of great dignity, a person we can look up to respect and like as well."^[26]

In 1998, Bentsen suffered two strokes, which left him needing a wheelchair. In 1999 President Clinton awarded Bentsen the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation's highest honors given to civilians. President Clinton singled Bentsen out for applause during his final State of the Union address in 2000, saying: 'In 1993 we began to put our fiscal house in order with the Deficit Reduction Act, which you'll all remember won passages in both Houses by just a single vote. Your former colleague, my first Secretary of the Treasury, led that effort and sparked our long boom. He's here with us tonight. Lloyd Bentsen, you have served America well, and we thank you.' Bentsen appeared in the summer of 2004 at the portrait unveilings at the White House of former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Senator Hillary Clinton.

Bentsen died on May 23, 2006, at his home in

As a primary architect of the Clinton economic plan, Bentsen contributed to a $500 billion reduction in the deficit, launching the longest period of economic growth since World War II. More than 5 million new jobs were created during his tenure as Secretary.^[23]

His legacy also includes many water, wastewater and other infrastructure projects in the impoverished Colonia of south Texas, the preservation of natural areas across the state, and major funding for medical facilities too numerous to list.

Bentsen's retort to Vice President Dan Quayle during the 1988 vice presidential debate, "You're no Jack Kennedy," has entered the lexicon as a widely used phrase to deflate politicians who are perceived as thinking too highly of themselves. Bentsen is also known for coining the term astroturfing.

Bentsen's family continues to be active in politics. His nephew,

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Lloyd Bentsen.

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography in the Handbook of Texas Online
• Reuters: "Former Senator, Treasury chief Bentsen dies" May 23, 2006
• Houston Chronicle: "Former Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen dies" May 23, 2006
• Oral History Interview with Lloyd Bentsen, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
• Appearances on C-SPAN

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Milton West	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th congressional district 1948–1955	Succeeded by Joe M. Kilgore
Honorary titles
Preceded by George W. Sarbacher Jr.	Baby of the House 1948–1949	Succeeded by Hugo Sims
Party political offices
Preceded by Ralph Yarborough	1988	Succeeded by Bob Krueger
Preceded by Mike Mansfield	Response to the State of the Union address 1972 Served alongside: Carl Albert, Hale Boggs, John Brademas, Frank Church, Thomas Eagleton, Martha Griffiths, John Melcher, Ralph Metcalfe, William Proxmire, Leonor Sullivan	Vacant Title next held by Mike Mansfield
Preceded by Wendell H. Ford	Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee 1983–1985	Succeeded by George J. Mitchell
Preceded by Geraldine Ferraro	1988	Succeeded by Al Gore
Preceded by Robert Byrd Jim Wright	Response to the State of the Union address 1989 Served alongside: Jim Wright	Succeeded by Tom Foley
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Ralph Yarborough	U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Texas 1971–1993 Served alongside: John Tower, Phil Gramm	Succeeded by Bob Krueger
Preceded by Bob Packwood	Chair of the Senate Finance Committee 1987–1993	Succeeded by Pat Moynihan
Political offices
Preceded by Nicholas F. Brady	United States Secretary of the Treasury 1993–1994	Succeeded by Robert Rubin