Thomas Kean

Thomas Kean (2004)

Thomas Howard Kean (born April 21, 1935 in New York City ) is an American politician . He was governor of the state of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990 .

family

Thomas Kean comes from a prominent family of politicians. His father Robert Kean was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1958 , and his grandfather, Hamilton Fish Kean , was a member of the US Senate from 1929 to 1934 . His great-uncle John Kean was also an intermittent MP and Senator in Congress between 1883 and 1910 . Another great-uncle, Hamilton Fish , was a United States Senator, Governor of New York, and Secretary of State of the United States under President Ulysses S. Grant from 1869 to 1877 . His son Thomas is a member of the New Jersey Senate and lost the 2006 US Senator election to Bob Menendez .

Early years and political advancement

Thomas Kean attended St. Marks School in Southborough , Massachusetts . He then studied at Princeton University and Columbia University . Kean became a member of the New Jersey National Guard. He also taught American history and English, and ran a home for disabled children. At Rutgers University he lectured on political science. He also wrote comments for the New Jersey Nightly News. At the same time he was also an advisor to this paper.

Kean became a member of the Republican Party . In 1967 he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly . There he was at times parliamentary group leader of his party. From 1972 to 1974 he was the successor to Barry T. Parker President of this body, where he could also rely on some of the Democratic MPs. Kean remained a member of the legislature until 1977. That year he ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for governor of New Jersey. In November 1981 he was more successful and was elected as the new governor of his state against the Democrat James Florio .

Governor of New Jersey

Governor Kean (center) on a visit to Fort Dix (1987)

Thomas Kean took up his new position on January 19, 1982. After re-election in 1985, he could remain in office until January 16, 1990. He was very successful as governor. The news magazine Newsweek ranked him among the five most effective governors in the United States at the time. About 750,000 new jobs have been created in New Jersey through tax breaks. The educational system saw numerous improvements. The governor also improved welfare and environmental policies. In 1988 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in New Orleans , where George Bush was nominated as a presidential candidate. At this convention, Kean gave the main speech. Due to a constitutional clause, Kean could not run again in 1989. At the time of his retirement from governor, he was extremely popular in New Jersey.

Another résumé

In 1990, Kean became President of Drew University . Since then he has also been involved at the federal level. He worked closely with the governments of Presidents George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton and George W. Bush . At times he was on the President's Education Committee. Kean was involved in many political areas such as B. education, environmental or foreign policy. In foreign policy, he supported, among other things, the change in the Eastern Bloc countries after 1989. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , President Bush appointed Kean in December 2002 to succeed Henry Kissinger as head of the commission of inquiry into the September 11 attacks. His administration was politically controversial. His critics accused him, among other things, of abusing his position to advertise a book he had written. On July 22, 2004, Kean submitted the final report to the commission , in which he blamed the CIA and the FBI for the attacks for not doing enough to prevent them. He later became a consultant for ABC television , which produced and broadcast a controversial documentary about the attacks.

Kean was or is a member of some lucrative supervisory boards and writes weekly newspaper articles on current topics. As a Republican, he supported both the policies of the Bush administration and John McCain in his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. Thomas Kean has three children with his wife, Deborah Kean.

In 2005 he was honored with Lee H. Hamilton in Hyde Park , New York with the Four Freedoms Award in the category Freedom from Fear. A year later he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Web links

• Thomas Kean in nndb (English)
• Thomas Kean in the National Governors Association (English)