Frank Lautenberg
Frank Raleigh Lautenberg was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was originally from Paterson, New Jersey.
Lautenberg was elected five terms as Senator. He first took office in December 1982 and served three terms, retiring from the Senate in 2001. Called upon to run again one year later due to circumstances surrounding his Senate colleague Robert Torricelli's re-election campaign, Lautenberg returned to the Senate in January 2003 and was elected to one additional term in 2008. He died during his fifth term and remains New Jersey's longest serving senator, with a total of 28 years, 5 months and 8 days in office.
Before entering politics, he was an early partner in, and became the chairman and chief executive officer of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. In his early years, he served overseas in the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1942 to 1946 as a part of the war effort, and after returning home his interest in American political events increased. He has been called "the last of the New Deal liberals" and was known for his legislative efforts against drunk driving, and his support of spending for Amtrak and urban public transportation, for stronger environmental regulations, greater consumer protections, and investigations of wrongdoing by Wall Street.
Early life and career
Lautenberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Mollie and Sam Lautenberg, Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia, who had arrived in the United States as infants. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Frank Bergen, and close family friend and Paterson community activist, Raleigh Weintrob.When Lautenberg was 19, his father, who worked in silk mills, sold coal, farmed, and once ran a tavern, died of cancer. His mother then opened a sandwich shop to support the family.
After graduating from Nutley High School in 1941, Lautenberg served overseas in the 3185th Signal Service Battalion of the United States Army Signal Corps during World War II from 1942 to 1946. Then, financed by the GI Bill, he attended and graduated from Columbia Business School's now-defunct undergraduate program in 1949 with a degree in economics.
He worked as a salesman for Prudential Insurance and was the first salesman at Automatic Data Processing, a payroll-management company. He became the company's CEO in 1975.
He was the executive commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.
Lautenberg also served in roles with a number of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, including as a member of the Jewish Agency for Israel's board of governors and as president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University. In 1974, he became the youngest chair ever in the history of the United Jewish Appeal. Within a year Lautenberg had increased its charitable intake to the second-highest level in its history. He was also named to the President's Commission on the Holocaust in the late 1970s.
U.S. Senator
Early years
Lautenberg contributed to Democratic candidates for years. He donated $90,000 to George McGovern's campaign for president in 1972, earning himself a place on one of Richard Nixon's enemies lists. In 1982, he ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. He faced nine other candidates: former State Banking Commissioner Angelo Bianchi, former Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, former Congressman Joseph A. LeFante, labor leader Frank Forst, former Congressman Andrew Maguire, Richard McAleer, businessman Howard Rosen, Princeton Mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund, and Passaic County Freeholder Cyril Yannarelli. Maguire was the favorite but Boggs' entry took votes away from him and Lautenberg spent a considerable amount of his own money. Lautenberg won with a plurality, taking 26% of the vote to Maguire's 23%, LeFante's 20% and Sigmund's 11%.The seat had been occupied by Democrat Harrison A. Williams, who resigned on March 11, 1982, after being implicated in the Abscam scandal. After Williams' resignation, Republican Governor Thomas Kean appointed Republican Nicholas F. Brady to the seat. Brady served in the Senate through the primary and general elections but did not run for the seat himself. In the general election, Lautenberg faced popular Republican congresswoman Millicent Fenwick. She ran on a very progressive platform and polls in the Summer of 1982 put her ahead by 18 points. Even Lautenberg quipped that she was "the most popular candidate in the country." Lautenberg spent more of his own money, eventually out-spending Fenwick two-to-one. He emphasised President Reagan's unpopularity, reminded the voters that she would be a vote for a Republican majority in the Senate and called Fenwick, who was 72, "eccentric" and "erratic" but denied that he was referring to her age. He did however point out that she would be almost 80 at the end of her first term and was therefore unlikely to gain much seniority in the Senate. Lautenberg won by 51% to 48%, in what was considered a major upset. Brady, who had just a few days left in his appointed term, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge in seniority over the other freshman senators.
In his first term, Lautenberg pushed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which was passed in 1984. The same year, he spoke at the Democratic National Convention, though he was overshadowed by New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who gave the keynote speech.
In his 1988 race, Lautenberg was opposed by Republican Wall Street executive, former college football star Brigadier General Pete Dawkins, who won the 1958 Heisman Trophy for the Army Black Knights. After trailing in early polls, the Lautenberg campaign, headed by Democratic consultant James Carville, ran an aggressive advertising campaign enumerating Lautenberg's legislative accomplishments and raising the possibility that Dawkins' candidacy was intended solely as a stepping stone to the presidency, as well as pointing out his lack of roots in New Jersey. Lautenberg ultimately came from behind to win re-election, 54% to 46%. The race was named the 17th-nastiest in American political history by political scientist Kerwin Swint in his book Mudslingers: The 25 Dirtiest Political Campaigns of All Time.
Following his re-election, Lautenberg became a member of the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism, which was set up in September 1989 to review and report on aviation security policy in light of the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.
After Boris Perchatkin’s speeches in the US Congress in 1989 along with Representative Bruce Morrison, Lautenberg was a primary sponsor of what became known as the Lautenberg Amendment, which first passed in 1989. The amendment granted presumptive refugee status to Jewish people and members of other groups from the Soviet Union, and facilitated the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews to the United States.
Lautenberg was re-elected in the 1994 Republican Revolution, defeating New Jersey State Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian by 50% to 47%.
In 1999, two popular Republicans were considering running against Lautenberg: the incumbent Governor Christine Todd Whitman and former Governor Thomas Kean. Polling showed Lautenberg trailing both of them. Lautenberg also did not get along with his New Jersey Senate colleague Robert Torricelli, and suspected that he was encouraging Whitman to run against him. Torricelli's relationship with Lautenberg had been very rocky, especially when Lautenberg directly accused Torricelli of encouraging Whitman to challenge him for his Senate seat. Lautenberg raised his concerns in a meeting with Democratic senators in 1999, and Torricelli responded by shouting, "You're a fucking piece of shit, and I'm going to cut your balls off!" Lautenberg was also less than enthusiastic at the prospect of fundraising for a grueling campaign, and did not want to have to spend more of his own money.
He announced his retirement in 2000, but denied it was because he thought he would lose to Whitman or Kean, saying that he had been vulnerable in previous elections, and, "Mr. Vulnerable always wins." His fellow Democrat and businessman, Jon Corzine, was elected to replace him.
2002 election
Almost immediately, Lautenberg regretted his decision, especially after neither Whitman nor Kean ran against Corzine in the general election. He also was said to be missing his days working in the Senate. He had considered reversing his decision and running for re-election, but since his rival, Senator Torricelli, had encouraged Corzine to run in the first place, Lautenberg would likely have had trouble restarting his campaign. A little over a year after he left office, however, Lautenberg found an opening.In the 2002 primaries leading up to the midterm elections. Torricelli won the Democratic nomination for a second term in the Senate. The Republican candidate was Doug Forrester, the mayor of West Windsor Township. It was expected that Torricelli would win the election by a significant margin, as no Republican had won election from New Jersey since Clifford P. Case was elected to his final six-year term in 1972 in the seat Torricelli was currently occupying. However, an ongoing investigation into the Senator's activities and business dealings resulted in federal corruption charges being filed against him before the election. The subsequent drop in voter support in the weeks that followed resulted in Torricelli's decision to withdraw from the race on September 30, 2002.
After overtures were made to retired Senator Bill Bradley, Congressman Frank Pallone, and future Senator Robert Menendez to take over as candidate, the New Jersey Democratic Party called upon Lautenberg and he accepted the nomination. This was met with an almost immediate challenge by Forrester and the Republicans as New Jersey law forbade the replacement of candidates on the ballot after a certain deadline. The ballot name change was unanimously upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court, who cited that the law, as written, did not consider the possibility for an emergency resignation and said that Forrester would have an unfair advantage if Torricelli was left on the ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. With the popular Lautenberg now in the race, Forrester's lead in the polls evaporated and Lautenberg won the election by a 54% to 44% margin.