James W. Symington

James W. Symington (2001)

James Wadsworth Symington (born September 28, 1927 in Rochester , New York ) is a former American politician . Between 1969 and 1977 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James Symington, son of the US Senator Stuart Symington (1901–1988), attended St. Bernard's School in New York City and then the St. Louis County Day School in Missouri. He served in the United States Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946 . He then studied at Yale University until 1950 . After a subsequent law degree at Columbia Law School and his admission to the bar in 1954, he began to work in this profession in St. Louis . Between 1958 and 1960 he was employed in the diplomatic service of the Federal Government in London . From 1961 and 1962, Symington served as deputy director of the Food for Peace Association ; then he worked for Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy until 1963 . In 1965 and 1966 he was a member of the President's Commission to Combat Juvenile Delinquency. He was also an advisor to the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice .

From 1966 to 1968 Symington held the post of chief of protocol in the State Department. Politically, he joined the Democratic Party . In the 1968 congressional elections , he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second constituency of Missouri , where he succeeded Republican Thomas B. Curtis on January 3, 1969 . After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1977 . During this time the Vietnam War ended . In 1974, the work of Congress was also overshadowed by the Watergate affair .

In 1976 James Symington renounced another candidacy for the US House of Representatives. Instead, he unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination for the US Senate elections. After leaving Congress, he was Director of the Atlantic Council from 1986 to 2001 . In 2001 he became director of the Library of Congress's Russian Leadership Program ; then he worked as a lawyer in a law firm in the federal capital Washington.

additional

Symington appeared as a commentator on Ken Burns ' documentary Civil War .

Web links

• James W. Symington in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)