(b. Mission, Texas, 11 Feb. 1921) US; Member of the US House of Representatives 1949 – 54, US Senator 1970 – 92, Secretary to the US Treasury 1993 – 4 The son of a wealthy Texas rancher, Bentsen was educated at the University of Texas, where he studied law and business. He spent time in the Army Air Corps in the Second World War and returned to practice law in Texas. From 1945 to 1948 he was a judge in Hidalgo, Texas. In 1948 he was elected to the House of Representatives but, after re-election in 1950 and 1952, he left the House in 1954 to develop his insurance business. In 1970 he defeated a liberal Democrat, Ralph Yarborough, in the primary and went on to win the general election against Republican George Bush, largely as a result of his ability to organize whites and ethnic minorities in a united campaign.
In the Senate he tended to be conservative on fiscal and security issues and more liberal on social issues. His conservative style of politics served him well both as chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and on the powerful Finance Committee which he chaired from 1987. His legislative expertise enabled him to make major contributions to reform in a variety of areas including pensions and catastrophic health care, as well as tax and trade law. Although generally resistant to protectionism, he urged tougher measures against Japan for failing to amend its trading practices. His key committee positions enabled him to defend the interests of Texas, especially its oil industry and his ingenuity on its behalf earned him the nickname "Loophole Lloyd".
Bentsen displayed presidential ambitions but his generally conservative politics and dry manner made him an increasingly unlikely Democratic presidential nominee. In 1976 he withdrew at an early stage of the race because Jimmy Carter seemed more likely to appeal to the South. Yet when Michael Dukakis chose him as running mate in 1988, he performed very well against Republican vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle. When Bill Clinton appointed Bentsen Treasury Secretary in 1993 and chief economic spokesman, there was some concern that the job had gone to a politician who was too much identified with the establishment and the oil industry. But Clinton needed Bentsen's expertise, especially given how heavily he had emphasized the economy in his campaign. Bentsen served two years as Treasury Secretary in the first Clinton administration where he provided balance to the President's own coterie of advisers. Bentsen left the administration in December 1994.
On this page
- Animal Life
- Business & Finance
- Cars & Vehicles
- Entertainment & Arts
- Food & Cooking
- Health
- History, Politics, Society
- Home & Garden
- Law & Legal Issues
- Literature & Language
- Miscellaneous
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel & Places
- Q & A
Lloyd Bentsen
Oxford Dictionary of Political Biography:
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. |
|
Featured Videos:
|
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography:
Lloyd Millard Bentsen |
Lloyd Millard Bentsen (born 1921), senior United States senator from Texas, was Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1988, sharing the unsuccessful ticket with Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and secretary of the Treasury from 1993-1994.
Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen was the political surprise of the 1988 presidential campaign, distinguishing himself as the candidate who established a genuine rapport with millions of voters disillusioned with the general election campaign waged by the Democratic and Republican (GOP) presidential candidates. Bentsen was the "star of the campaign," according to one political observer, even though his position on most major political issues placed him closer to the GOP than to the Democratic Party which nominated him for the nation's second highest office.
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr., the son of Lloyd M. Bentsen, Sr., and Edna Ruth (Colbath) Bentsen, was born in Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley on February 11, 1921. Lloyd Senior, the son of Danish immigrants who had originally settled in South Dakota, migrated to the Rio Grande Valley during World War I and began the citrus farming and real estate investing which became the basis for the Bentsen family fortune, conservatively estimated at $50 million.
Lloyd Bentsen, Jr., grew up in McAllen, Texas; received a law degree from the University of Texas in 1942; and enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private. Assigned to the Army Air Force, Bentsen rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel while flying 50 missions over Europe. After returning to the Rio Grande Valley as a war hero, Bentsen was elected judge of Hidalgo County in 1946. Two years later he ran for the South Texas congressional seat. Bentsen recalled how upon hearing of the congressional campaign of another young war veteran, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, he obtained Kennedy's campaign literature. Bentsen substituted the P.T. boat silhouette with a cutout of a B-24 bomber, similar to the one he commanded during the war, and distributed the campaign literature as his own. The strategy was successful and Bentsen at the age of 28 became the youngest member of Congress.
Congressman Bentsen soon established an eclectic voting record that would come to typify the remainder of his political career, alternatively liberal and conservative on social issues but decidedly conservative on military and foreign affairs. Bentsen, for example, voted for a repeal of the poll tax, but opposed a ban on discrimination in federal employment. In 1950, after the North Korean invasion of South Korea, he proposed that President Harry S Truman give North Korea one week to withdraw from the South or "be subjected to atomic attack by our Air Force." And in 1954 he called for American intervention in Indochina on the side of France.
In 1954 Bentsen announced he was leaving Congress to make his fortune. "I could not make ends meet," he told an interviewer, on his then $12,500 annual congressional salary. Three weeks later Bentsen chartered the Consolidated American Life Insurance Company with $7 million provided by his father. Consolidated American Life eventually evolved into Lincoln Consolidated Inc., a holding company which controlled mutual funds, oil companies, a savings and loan association, and a funeral home. Bentsen, as its chief executive officer, had by 1970 an annual income of $80,000.
Now financially secure, Bentsen reentered politics, declaring, "I wanted to do something more with my life, to be remembered for something more than my financial statement." The opportunity came in 1970 when he challenged Senator Ralph Yarborough in the Democratic primary election. Concerned about the defection of conservative wealthy Democrats to the growing Republican Party, former Governor John Connally convinced Bentsen that the defeat of Yarborough, a Populist politician, was imperative if conservatives were to retain their political control of the party and the state. Bentsen defeated Yarborough by portraying the senator as a big-spending, anti-Vietnam War radical out of touch with Texas political opinion and then beat Houston Congressman (and future President) George Bush in a general election campaign that showed fewer philosophical or political differences between the candidates of the opposing parties than the candidates in the Democratic primary.
After the death of Lyndon Johnson in 1973 and the defection of John Connally to the Republicans, Bentsen quickly assumed the leadership of the state Democratic Party in Texas. Three years later he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Styling himself a "Truman Democrat," Bentsen hoped to win Southern voters, but was eliminated by two other Southerners, former governors Jimmy Carter and George Wallace.
Lloyd Bentsen was more successful as a political strategist and fundraiser. As chief architect of the Senate Democrats' 1986 campaign strategy, he was credited with the party's winning of five new Senate seats. He was by far the most effective fundraiser in Congress, having amassed $5 million for his 1988 Senate reelection campaign; his donors included powerful corporate interests inside and outside Texas.
Although 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis and Bentsen differed on aid to the Contras (anti-government forces in Nicaragua), support for school prayer, federal financing of abortions, and gun control, party strategists hoped the Texan's selection as the vice-presidential candidate would boost the national ticket in the Southwest by luring back conservative "Reagan Democrats" who voted against the party in 1980 and 1984. Bentsen originally was to have campaigned in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana to prevent landslide Republican victories in those states. However, his surprisingly strong appeal on the campaign trail and his outstanding performance in the national debate with Republican vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle persuaded party strategists to have Bentsen campaign throughout the nation. His presence on the ticket, however, did not help the Democrats carry the Southwest. Texans gave Bentsen, who ran simultaneously for reelection and the vice-presidency, a victory in his Senate race while voting almost by the same margin for the Bush-Quayle ticket in the national contest. Named chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee in 1987, the four-term senator remained an important national figure.
Bentsen considered running for president in 1992, but instead supported Bill Clinton. The two had worked together during the mid-1980s as co-founders of a moderate group called the Democratic Leadership Conference. During the campaign, Bentsen gave advice and assistance to Clinton on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and by now was considered an expert in financial, trade, and tax issues. Thus it was no surprise when Clinton appointed him secretary of the treasury beginning in January 1993. Although Bentsen was at first reluctant to give up his seat in Congress, he accepted the position. However, it was soon apparent that Bentsen was going to have troubles in this position. As Fred Barnes said in the New Republic, his "first year as treasury secretary wasn't exactly the epitome of cabinet clout." He was financially more conservative than Clinton. His advice to Clinton about an economic stimulus package was rejected, as was his opinion of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care reform proposals.
Bentsen resigned his post as treasury secretary in December 1994. He commented that he had "felt like an outsider for 12 years" and was "tired of the gridlock." Since his resignation, Bentsen has been named to the board of directors of Continental Airlines (1996) and become chairman of the board of directors of New Holland N.V., an international manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Bentsen and his daughter, Tina Bentsen Smith, also serve on the selection committee of The Lloyd Bentsen Award, by which a $10,000 honorarium is awarded each year to a parent of a child with Down's syndrome. The purpose is to honor that parent for his or her continued support and advocacy of family-centered, community-based, coordinated care for children with Down's syndrome.
Further Reading
Discussions of Lloyd Bentsen's life and political accomplishments can be found in Elizabeth Drew, Election Journal: Political Events of 1987-1988 (1989) and in the New York Times Biographical Service, Vol. 18 (July 1988). His role in the 1988 election is detailed in Jack Germond and Jules Witcover, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? (1989); the authors' approach is characterized in the subtitle: The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency 1988. See also Who's Who in America (1996), Who's Who in the World (1996). Articles about Bentsen appear in Chicago Tribune (December 13, 1992); Dallas Morning News (December 10-11, 1992); National Review (December 31, 1994); and New Republic (February 28, 1994). For information about The Lloyd Bentsen Award, see the Web site for the Kelsey-Seybold Foundation at
Columbia Encyclopedia:
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Lloyd Bentsen |
| Lloyd Bentsen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
| In office January 20, 1993 – December 22, 1994 |
|
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Nicholas F. Brady |
| Succeeded by | Robert Rubin |
| United States Senator from Texas |
|
| In office January 3, 1971 – January 20, 1993 |
|
| Preceded by | Ralph Yarborough |
| Succeeded by | Bob Krueger |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th district |
|
| In office December 4, 1948 – January 3, 1955 |
|
| Preceded by | Milton West |
| Succeeded by | Joe M. Kilgore |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. February 11, 1921 Mission, Texas |
| Died | May 23, 2006 (aged 85) Houston, Texas |
| Resting place | Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery
Houston, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Beryl Ann Longino (1943–2006) (his death) |
| Alma mater | University of Texas Law School |
| Religion | Presbyterian (raised Baptist)[1] |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1942–1947 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | 449th Bomb Group (15th Air Force) Reserves |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal |
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. (February 11, 1921 – May 23, 2006) was a four-term United States senator (1971–1993) from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1955. In his later political life, he was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the U.S. Treasury Secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration.
|
Contents
|
Early life
Bentsen was born in Mission in Hidalgo County in south Texas; his parents were Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Sr., a first-generation Danish American, and the former Edna Ruth Colbath. Bentsen was an Eagle Scout[2] and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He attended Sharyland High School. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1942 where he was a member of the Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity and the Texas Cowboys. Upon graduation, he served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. On November 27, 1943, he married Beryl Ann Longino, a fashion model, whom he first met in college.[citation needed]
After brief service as a private in intelligence work in Brazil, he became a pilot and in early 1944 began flying World War II combat missions in B-24s from Foggia, Italy with the 449th Bomb Group. At the age of 23, he was promoted to the rank of major and given command of a squadron of 600 men, overseeing the operations of 15 bombers, their crews, and maintenance units.
In fifteen months of combat, Bentsen flew thirty-five missions against many heavily defended targets including the Ploesti oil fields in Romania, which were critical to the Nazi war production. The 15th Air Force, to which the 449th Bomb Group was assigned, is credited with destroying all of the petroleum production within its range, which equated to about half of Germany's sources of fuel on the continent. Major Bentsen's unit also flew against communications centers, aircraft factories and industrial targets in Germany, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Bentsen participated in bombing raids in support of the Anzio campaign and flew bombers against hard targets in preparation for the landing in southern France. He was shot down twice.[3]
Bentsen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the Air Force's highest commendations for achievement or heroism in flight. In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bentsen was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. The Air Medal and each subsequent cluster award were awarded for completing specific numbers of combat missions. Before completing his military service, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.[citation needed]
Early political career
After the war, Bentsen returned to his native Rio Grande Valley. He served the people of his home area from 1946 to 1955, first as Hidalgo County Judge (a largely administrative post as opposed to judicial duties) before serving three successive terms in the United States House of Representatives. In each of his three campaigns for the House, Bentsen was unopposed in the general election. He became a protege of Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and developed a reputation as an excellent poker player.[3] While sitting as a member of the House, Bentsen advocated using atomic weapons against North Korean cities if they did not withdraw north of the 38th parallel. In 1954, he declined to seek reelection and entered what was to become a prosperous career in business.
Business career
Bentsen moved to Houston where he founded Consolidated American Life Insurance Company (Calico). He also served on the board of Lockheed Corporation as well as those of several oil and gas companies. He was successful and became very secure financially. By 1970, he had become president of Lincoln Consolidated, a financial holding institution.
Return to politics
Bentsen upset incumbent Ralph Yarborough, a liberal icon, in a bruising primary campaign for the 1970 Texas Democratic Senatorial nomination. The campaign came in the wake of Yarborough's politically hazardous votes in favor of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bentsen made Yarborough's opposition to the war a major issue. His television advertising featured video images of rioting in the streets at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, implying that Yarborough was associated with the rioters. While this strategy was successful in defeating Yarborough, it caused long-term damage to Bentsen's relationship with liberals in his party.[4][5]
Bentsen's campaign and his reputation as a conservative Democrat served to alienate him not only from supporters of Ralph Yarborough, but from prominent national liberals, as well. Indeed, during the 1970 Senate race, the Keynesian economist John Kenneth Galbraith endorsed George Bush, arguing that if Bentsen were elected to the Senate, he would invariably become the face of a new, more conservative Texas Democratic Party and that the long-term interests of Texas liberalism demanded Bentsen's defeat. Nevertheless, later that year, Bentsen went on to win the general election when he was pitted against Congressman and future President George H. W. Bush. On election night, Bentsen beat Bush convincingly.
1976 presidential campaign
Beginning in 1974, Bentsen campaigned for the Democratic Party's 1976 presidential nomination. In 1974 he visited 30 states and raised $350,000 at a single fundraiser in Texas. Bentsen formally announced his candidacy on February 17, 1975, and in the early part of that year he had already raised over $1 million for his campaign; only George Wallace of Alabama and Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of Washington had raised more money by that point. Bentsen did not organize effectively on a national level, and many observers believed the freshman senator was running without any real hope of winning the nomination, hoping instead to secure a vice-presidential nomination.
Wallace and Jackson were considered to be the two main contenders for the moderate to conservative voters to whom Bentsen would appeal; early in the campaign few foresaw Jimmy Carter of Georgia also effectively appealing to that group.
By October 1975 Bentsen, generating little national attention or significance in the polls, scaled back his campaign to a limited effort in areas of 8 to 10 states, hoping for a deadlocked convention. In the first state contest Bentsen vigorously contested, Mississippi, he managed only 1.6% of the vote. Two weeks later Bentsen staked the remainder of his campaign and resources in neighboring Oklahoma but finished third with only 12%. A few days later Bentsen shut down his national campaign, staying in the race only as a favorite son in Texas. However, in the May 1, 1976, primary Jimmy Carter won 92 of Texas's 98 delegates. The eventual nominee and president Carter was later quoted as saying he had expected a much stronger showing by Bentsen but that Bentsen's failure to campaign nationally had ended his hopes.
Senate career
Firmly ensconced in Washington, Bentsen was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Senate in 1976, 1982, and 1988. He defeated sitting Republican congressmen from safe House seats in all four of his Senate elections, including Bush in 1970. In 1976, he ended the career of Alan Steelman of Dallas. In 1982, he defeated James M. Collins of Dallas, who had first dispatched the strongly conservative State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston in the Republican primary. In 1988, he defeated Beau Boulter of Amarillo. Bentsen was also on the ballot as the Democratic vice presidential nominee that year; he could seek both offices under the 1960 "Johnson law" in Texas.
Bentsen's early reputation as a conservative evolved as his voting record developed and the nation's political climate shifted rightward. His support for abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and civil rights was balanced by his endorsement of public school prayer, capital punishment, tax cuts, and deregulation of industry. He generally supported business interests in the arena of economic policy and swiftly rose to become a power to be reckoned with on the Senate Finance Committee. He came to be viewed as a moderate Democrat.
By 1994, Bentsen's relationship with Texas liberals had improved in the face of the growing strength of the Texas Republican Party and as the memory of his defeat of Ralph Yarborough faded. Many liberals came to credit his support of civil rights and equal rights for women, abortion rights, and economic development along the Mexican border. Bentsen provided crucial support for President Carter's arms control efforts and ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty. He passed legislation improving access to health care for low income women and children and many provisions of law conserving natural areas across the state. Despite strong industry support for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, he voted against it. In 1991 he opposed the Iraq War Resolution which provided President George H. W. Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq.
When Bentsen was up for reelection in 1982, he played a significant role in electing the most liberal slate of statewide officials in living memory by leading a unified Democratic campaign and tapping his substantial campaign funds for a sophisticated get-out-the-vote effort. The liberal revival was short-lived. Democrats were swept from statewide offices when Bentsen left the Senate in 1993 and George W. Bush was elected governor the following year.
1988 Vice Presidential candidate
Bentsen was on Walter Mondale's short list of seven or eight possible vice presidential candidates in 1984 and was the only southerner and one of three white males considered. In the end, Mondale chose New York U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.
In 1988 Governor Michael Dukakis (Massachusetts) chose Bentsen to be his running mate in that year's presidential election, beating out Ohio Senator John Glenn who was considered the early favorite. Bentsen was selected in large part to secure the state of Texas and its electoral vote for the Democrats, even with fellow Texan George H. W. Bush at the top of the Republican ticket. Because of Bentsen's status as something of an elder statesman who was more experienced in electoral politics, many believed Dukakis's selection of Bentsen as his running mate was a mistake in that Bentsen, number two on the ticket, appeared more presidential than did Dukakis. One elector in West Virginia even cast a ballot for him rather than Dukakis, giving Bentsen one electoral vote for President.[6]
Bentsen was responsible for one of the most memorable moments of the campaign during his televised debate with Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle. Quayle stated that he had as much political experience as John F. Kennedy had when he ran for the presidency. Bentsen retorted, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."[7] Quayle responded by saying, "That was really uncalled for, Senator." Bentsen responded, "You're the one that was making the comparison, Senator."[8] Peter Goldman and Tom Mathews wrote in The Quest for the Presidency 1988 that Bentsen "was the forgotten man" of the campaign until the exchange with Quayle. Thereafter, his "gray solidarity" was "made luminescent by the pallor of the other three men. However, there have been questions raised as to how well Bentsen really knew Kennedy. Some have claimed they only had a nodding acquaintance."[3]
The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket lost the election. Bentsen was unable to swing his home state, with 43 percent of the Texas vote going for the Dukakis ticket while Bush and Quayle took 56 percent, despite the fact that Bentsen was simultaneously re-elected to the United States Senate with 59 percent of the vote.[9]
Bentsen considered running for president in 1992, but he, along with many other Democrats, backed out because of Bush's apparent popularity following the successful Gulf War (Bush ended up losing the election to Bill Clinton).
Secretary of the Treasury
Bentsen resigned from the Senate in January 1993 to serve as the 69th Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Clinton's selection of Bentsen for his Cabinet was well-received in Congress and on Wall Street. However, it was criticized by some Democrats after a Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison, won the special election in June 1993 for the year and a half left in Bentsen's term.
As a Senator, Bentsen had been a staunch advocate of reducing federal budget deficits. As Secretary of the Treasury, he was a principal architect and chief spokesman for Clinton's first budget. He helped win crucial Republican votes to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Bentsen also was pivotal in winning passage of the 1994 crime bill which banned assault rifles.[10][11]
After the resignation of Les Aspin in early 1994, Bentsen was seriously considered for the position of Secretary of Defense.[12] This prospect, however, did not materialize and William Perry, then Deputy Secretary of Defense, was chosen to succeed Aspin.
In early December 1994, Bentsen announced his resignation as Secretary of the Treasury. Before election day he had discussed with President Clinton that he was not prepared to stay in office until 1996. He was succeeded in the position by Robert Rubin.[13]
Later life and death
In 1995, former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said in an interview with Larry King when asked which Democrats she admired: "I like Lloyd Bentsen very much indeed, I was sad when he resigned. He's a real marvellous politician, a person of great dignity, a person we can look up to and like as well."[14]
In 1998, Bentsen suffered two strokes, which left him needing a wheelchair for mobility. In 1999 President Clinton awarded Bentsen the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation's highest honors given to civilians. He appeared in the summer of 2004 at the portrait unveilings at the White House of former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Bentsen died on May 23, 2006, at his home in Houston at the age of 85. He was survived by his wife, the former Beryl Ann Longino, three children, and six grandchildren. His funeral was held on May 30 at the First Presbyterian Church of Houston (where Bentsen and his wife had been members for many years) and is interred there in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. Former president Bill Clinton, who was a close friend of Bentsen's, delivered a eulogy.[15]
Legacy
As a freshman Senator, Bentsen guided to passage the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a long-stalled pension reform bill providing federal protections for the pensions of American workers. He also championed the creation of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), legislation improving access to health care for low income women and children, and tax incentives for independent oil and gas producers to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
As a primary architect of the Clinton economic plan, Bentsen contributed to a $500 billion reduction in the deficit, launching the longest period of economic growth since World War II. More than 5 million new jobs were created during his tenure as Secretary. The Clinton plan also helped the United States regain credibility and leadership among the other industrialized nations.[11]
In recognition of his success in addressing a large shortfall in federal highway funding for Texas, two hundred seventy miles of U.S. Highway 59, from I-35 to I-45 in Texas (between Laredo and Houston, respectively), is officially named Senator Lloyd Bentsen Highway.
His legacy also includes many water, wastewater and other infrastructure projects in the impoverished Colonia of south Texas, the preservation of natural areas across the state, and major funding for medical facilities too numerous to list.
Bentsen's family continues to be active in politics. His nephew, Ken Bentsen, Jr., was a U.S. Representative (D) from 1995 to 2003 in Texas's 25th District, and a U.S. Senate candidate in 2002. His grandson, Lloyd Bentsen IV, served on John Kerry's advance staff during Kerry's 2004 campaign for the presidency of the United States.
He is also known for inventing the term astroturfing.
On January 22, 2009, the Senator Lloyd and B.A. Bentsen Stroke Research Center[16] officially opened in the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building in the medical district of Houston, TX as part of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston. Notable speakers included Dr. Cheng Chi Lee and Houston Mayor Bill White.
Electoral history
References
- ^ "Candidates Share Similar Beliefs". San Jose Mercury News. September 10, 1988. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB72E6054CF6E54&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D.
- ^ "Fact Sheet Eagle Scouts". Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-516.aspx. Retrieved March 3, 2008.
- ^ a b c Rosenbaum, David E. (May 24, 2006). "Lloyd Bentsen Dies at 85; Senator Ran With Dukakis". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/washington/24bentsen.html.
- ^ Cox, Patrick (2001). Ralph Yarborough: The People's Senator. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 259–263. ISBN 0-292-71243-X.
- ^ "Texas: Democratic Primary, GOP Gain". Time. May 11, 1970. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878214,00.html.
- ^ "The American Electoral Project". http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1988.
- ^ "Great Speeches". The History Channel. http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_222.html.
- ^ Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine on YouTube
- ^ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1988&f=0&off=0&elect=0
- ^ "Former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen dies". MSNBC. May 23, 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12934110/ns/politics/. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ a b "Lloyd Bentsen Biography". US Department of the Treasury. https://ustreas.gov/education/history/secretaries/lmbentsen.shtml. Retrieved March 26, 2011.[dead link]
- ^ George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human. A Political Education, 1999
- ^ Bradsher, Keith (December 6, 1994). "Bentsen is Poised to Leave Cabinet Officials Confirm". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/06/us/bentsen-is-poised-to-leave-cabinet-officials-confirm.html. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbh5pKexJr4&feature=related
- ^ "Clinton honors Bentsen at service". USA Today. May 31, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-30-clinton-bentsen_x.htm. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ http://www.uthouston.edu/imm/centers/senator-lloyd-and-b.a.-bentsen-center-for-stroke-research.htm
External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lloyd Bentsen |
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Reuters: "Former Senator, Treasury chief Bentsen dies" May 23, 2006
- Houston Chronicle: "Former Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen dies" May 23, 2006
- Oral History Interview with Lloyd Bentsen, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob Packwood |
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee 1987–1993 |
Succeeded by Pat Moynihan |
| Preceded by Nicholas F. Brady |
United States Secretary of the Treasury Served under: Bill Clinton 1993–1994 |
Succeeded by Robert Rubin |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by Milton West |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th congressional district 1948–1955 |
Succeeded by Joe M. Kilgore |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by Ralph Yarborough |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Texas 1971–1993 Served alongside: John Tower, Phil Gramm |
Succeeded by Bob Krueger |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Wendell H. Ford |
Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee 1983–1985 |
Succeeded by George J. Mitchell |
| Preceded by Geraldine Ferraro |
Democratic Party Vice Presidential nominee 1988 |
Succeeded by Al Gore |
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Michael Stanley Dukakis (American statesman) |
| Robert Edward Rubin (American statesman & businessman) |
| Leave It to the Limeliters (1964 Album by The Limeliters) |
 | When did Lloyd Bentsen die? Read answer... |
| When was Lloyd Bentsen born? Read answer... |
| Were is Lloyd from? Read answer... |
 | Was Lloyd Bentsen a democrat or a republican? |
| Is Emily Lloyd related to Christopher Lloyd? |
| Is Eric Lloyd max Lloyds brother? |
Copyrights:
 |
 | Oxford Dictionary of Political Biography. A Dictionary of Political Biography. Copyright © 1998, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Lloyd Bentsen. Read more |
- What college did Lloyd Bentsen go to?
- How old is Lloyd Bentsen?
- How old was Lloyd Bentsen at death?
- What is Lloyd Bentsen's birthday?
- Was Lloyd Bentsen in the military?
- What education did Lloyd Bentsen have as a child?
- Where did Lloyd bentsen go to high school?
Mentioned in
- Michael Stanley Dukakis (American statesman)
- Robert Edward Rubin (American statesman & businessman)
- Leave It to the Limeliters (1964 Album by The Limeliters)
- James Danforth Quayle (US politician)
- George Herbert Walker Bush (American president)
- Carla Anderson Hills
- Daniel Patrick Moynihan
- Maxine Waters
- New Holland N.V.
- Ron Kirk
- Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
- George E. Curry
- Margaret Leach
- United States vice-presidential debate, 1988