Michael Dukakis

Dukakis at a 1988 election rally

Michael Stanley Dukakis (* 3. November 1933 in Brookline , Massachusetts ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party and university teacher. He was governor of the state of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and 1983 to 1991 . In the 1988 election , he ran as his party's candidate for the presidency, but was defeated by Republican George HW Bush .

Life

His father Panos Dukakis (1896–1979) and his mother Euterpe (nee Boukis, 1903–2003) were Greek immigrants. Michael Dukakis studied law at Harvard University until 1960 , where he obtained the Juris Doctor . He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1962 to 1970 .

From 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991 Dukakis was governor of Massachusetts. His own party did not put him up for re-election in 1978 after his first term and instead nominated Edward J. King .

In Boston , Dukakis improved local public transport ( MassTrans ) and had the local subway modernized. In 1977 he rehabilitated the Italian-born US anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti , who were sentenced to death in 1921 ostensibly for robbery and murder , but probably for political reasons , and who were executed in 1927 .

In 1988 Dukakis was the Democratic Party's candidate for election to the 41st President of the United States of America , but lost significantly to George Bush and Dan Quayle with his vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen .

After his political career, he became a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University in Boston and Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles in June 1991 . From 1998 to 2003 he was the second chairman of the board of the public company National Railroad Passenger Corporation ( Amtrak ).

Michael Dukakis has been married to Katharine ("Kitty") Dickson Dukakis (* 1936) since 1963. They have three children: John, Andrea and Kara; a fourth child died 20 minutes after birth. The couple lives in Brookline and in Los Angeles, California during the winter . Michael Dukakis is the cousin of the actress and Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis .

Web links

Commons : Michael Dukakis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michael Dukakis in the nndb (English)
• Michael Dukakis in the NGA

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Dukakis's election campaign against George Bush is mentioned in the American film Donnie Darko .
2. ↑ www.northeastern.edu - Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy - Kitty and Michael Dukakis Biographies (English). Retrieved October 18, 2009.
3. ↑ www.spa.ucla.edu ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Policy - Faculty (English). Retrieved October 18, 2009.