John V. Tunney

John V. Tunney

John Varick Tunney (born June 26, 1934 in New York City , New York - † January 12, 2018 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American politician who represented the state of California in both chambers of Congress .

biography

Early life

John Tunney was born as the second oldest of four children of boxing world champion Gene Tunney (1897-1978) and his wife Polly in New York. He has one older and two younger brothers and a younger sister.

He graduated in 1956 at the Yale University and attended for a year to 1957, the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands The Hague . Tunney graduated from the University of Virginia in 1959 with a law degree and then began practicing law in New York. Here he shared a room with Edward Kennedy , the younger brother of the future US President John F. Kennedy and later US Senator from Massachusetts .

Political career

In the early 1960s, Tunney signed up for the United States Air Force (USAF) and served as a legal advisor until he was released in April 1963 with the rank of captain . In parallel to his service with the USAF, he taught commercial law at the University of California at Riverside between 1961 and 1962 . In 1963 Tunney opened a law firm in California and became a member of the Democratic Party .

Through his friendship with Ted Kennedy, Tunney became a member of the Criminal Law and Juvenile Delinquency Committee under President Kennedy in 1963, a position he held until 1968, including under President Lyndon B. Johnson . Tunney ran successfully for California for a seat in the House of Representatives of the United States in 1964 and served from January 3, 1965 until his resignation on January 2, 1971.

On the same day, Tunney was sworn in as a US Senator for California and also served for six years, ending January 1, 1977. During his tenure, he produced a weekly radio show in which other congressmen and senators had their say. The re-election attempt in 1976 was unsuccessful.

Tunney returned to Los Angeles and continued to practice law. He last lived in Beverly Hills .

author

In 1975 Tunney wrote the 120-page work The Changing Dream , the subtitle of which was The Truth About the Material and Energy Crisis and What We Must Do to Resolve It . The trigger and cause was obviously the oil crisis at the beginning of the 1970s.

Others

John Tunney inspired the 1972 title role in Bill McKay, The Candidate , played by Robert Redford .

Web links

• John V. Tunney in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual proof

1. ↑ John Tunney, former US senator from California, dies at 83 . AP article on NBC News , January 12, 2018, accessed January 13, 2018.