Vance Hartke

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Vance Hartke

Rupert Vance Hartke (born May 31, 1919 in Stendal , Pike County , Indiana , †  July 27, 2003 in Falls Church , Virginia ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of Indiana in the US Senate .

Vance Hartke attended public schools in his hometown of Stendal. In 1940 he graduated from Evansville College ; he subsequently joined the US Navy . He later moved to the US Coast Guard , where he rose from simple seaman to lieutenant . He retired in 1946 from military service and started a law degree at the Law School of Indiana University in Bloomington , where he graduated 1948th That same year he was inducted into the Indiana Bar Association and began practicing in Evansville .

After serving as assistant prosecutor in Vanderburgh County from 1950 to 1951, Hartke embarked on a political career. He was Mayor of Evansville from 1956 to 1958, and was then elected to the US Senate, from January 3, 1959 to January 3, 1977. In 1976 he lost to the Republican Richard Lugar , who then held this seat until 2013. Hartke applied for the Democratic nomination as a presidential candidate in the run-up to the 1972 presidential election, but after a poor performance in the Primarys , he only received one delegate vote at the Democratic National Convention . In the Senate he was chairman of the veterans committee and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War . This also broke up his friendship with US President Lyndon B. Johnson , for whose plans for a great society he had always advocated in the Senate. Hartke was also an advocate for the Medicare system, which was introduced in 1965.

In 1994, Vance Hartke had to answer to a grand jury on charges of election manipulation. Ultimately, an agreement was reached that earned him a suspended prison sentence of six months. He died in July 2003 at the age of 84 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Hartke had seven children with his wife Martha. His daughter Anita ran in 2008 in the seventh congressional district of Virginia for election to the US House of Representatives and was clearly defeated by the Republican incumbent Eric Cantor .

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personal data
SURNAME Hartke, Vance
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hartke, Rupert Vance (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Stendal , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 2003
Place of death Falls Church , Virginia