William Proxmire

William Proxmire

Edward William Proxmire (born November 11, 1915 in Lake Forest , Illinois , † December 15, 2005 in Sykesville , Maryland ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party . From 1957 to 1989 he sat for the state of Wisconsin in the US Senate .

Personal

Proxmire grew up in the state of Pennsylvania . In 1933 he graduated from Hill School in Pennsylvania. By 1938 he completed a degree at Yale University , then until 1948 at Harvard University . His studies were interrupted by military service in World War II. He served in the Military Intelligence Service , not as a fighter at the front. Proxmire then moved to Wisconsin to work on the one hand as a reporter for The Capital Times newspaper and on the other hand to create a political foundation in a "cheap" state.

In 1946 he married Elsie Rockefeller, a great-niece of John D. Rockefeller . They both had two children. In 1955, Elsie divorced him. She later married Miles J. McMillin, a former colleague of Proxmire's at The Capital Times . In 1982 she was shot dead by McMillin.

Proxmire remarried in 1956, this time with Ellen Hodges Sawall. She brought two children into the marriage and they both had two sons.

Proxmire was known for his weakness for physical fitness. He jogged regularly and did push-ups. In 1973 he brought out a book on the subject.

Proxmire passed away after suffering Alzheimer's disease .

Political activity

He made his first political experience as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly between 1951 and 1952. In 1952, 1954 and 1956 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of governor of Wisconsin. On August 28, 1957, he was elected to the Bundessenat in the by-election for the seat of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy . He later called his predecessor disparagingly "a shame on Wisconsin, the Senate and America". He was re-elected in the regular elections in November 1958, as well as in 1964, 1970, 1976 and 1982. His re-elections have always been due to high proportions of the vote, including 71% of the vote in 1970, 73% in 1976 and 65% in the year Marked 1982.

Proxmire holds the record number of consecutive votes cast: 10,252 between April 20, 1966 and October 18, 1988. From 1975 to 1981 and 1987 to 1989, he chaired the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs .

He was an early critic of the Vietnam War . He criticized the US Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon for their warfare and their foreign policy decisions. Proxmire used his seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee to denounce lavish military spending. It was for this reason that he created the Golden Fleece Awards to bring the waste of taxpayers' money into the focus of public opinion. They were awarded between 1975 and 1988. Proxmire stood for restrictive housekeeping, but when it came to milk prices he was strongly in favor of subsidizing the dairy industry. As chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Proxmire was instrumental in drawing up New York City's financial planning from 1976 to 1977. This saved New York from bankruptcy. In daily speeches between 1967 and 1986 he campaigned strongly for the ratification of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide . After his perseverance, the Senate ratified the convention on February 11, 1986 by 83 votes to 11.

Web links

• William Proxmire in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Proxmire in the database of Find a Grave (English)