Mansfield, Mike, 1903-2001
Enlarge text Shrink text-
Personality
- The Panama bases ... report, 1948.
- Charting a new course, 1976title page (Mike Mansfield)
- Interview with Ambassador Michael J. Mansfield, 1981.
- Bio. dir. of the U.S. Congress WWW site, Feb. 10, 2006(Mansfield, Michael Joseph (Mike); d. Oct. 5, 2001)
- Biographical directory of the U.S. Congress website, July 29, 2013(Mansfield, Michael Joseph (Mike), a Representative and a Senator from Montana; born in New York City, March 16, 1903; moved with his family to Great Falls, Cascade County, Mont., in 1906; attended the public schools in Great Falls; served as a seaman when only fourteen years old in the United States Navy during the First World War, as a private in the United States Army in 1919-1920, and as a private first class in the United States Marine Corps 1920-1922; worked as a miner and mining engineer in Butte, Mont., 1922-1930; attended the Montana School of Mines at Butte in 1927 and 1928; graduated from Montana State University at Missoula in 1933, and received a masters degree from that institution in 1934; also attended the University of California at Los Angeles in 1936 and 1937; professor of history and political science at the Montana State University 1933-1942; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-eighth Congress; reelected to the four succeeding Congresses (January 31943-January 3, 1953); was not a candidate for reelection in 1952, having become a candidate for the Senate; chairman, Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures (Eighty-first Congress); was elected to the United States Senate in 1952; reelected in 1958, 1964, and 1970 and served from January 3, 1953, to January 3, 1977; Democratic whip 1957-1961; majority leader 1961-1977; chairman, Committee on Rules and Administration (Eighty-seventh Congress), Select Committee on Secret and Confidential Documents (Ninety-second Congress), Special Committee on Secret and Confidential Documents (Ninety-third Congress); was not a candidate for reelection in 1976; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan 1977-1988; East Asian advisor, Goldman, Sachs; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 19, 1989; was a resident of Washington, D.C. until his death due to congestive heart failure on October 5, 2001; interment in Arlington National Cemetery)
Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American Democratic Party politician and diplomat who represented Montana in the United States House of Representatives from 1943 to 1953 and United States Senate from 1953 to 1977. As the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus from 1961 to 1977, Mansfield shepherded Great Society programs through the Senate; his tenure of exactly sixteen years was the longest of any party leader in Senate history, until the record was broken by Mitch McConnell in 2023. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mansfield grew up in Great Falls, Montana. He lied about his age to serve in the United States Navy during World War I. After the war, he became a professor of history and political science at the University of Montana. He won election to the House of Representatives and served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during World War II. In 1952, he defeated incumbent Republican Senator Zales Ecton to take a seat in the Senate. Mansfield served as Senate Majority Whip from 1957 to 1961. Mansfield ascended to Senate Majority Leader after Lyndon B. Johnson resigned from the Senate to become vice president. In the later years of the Vietnam War, he opposed escalation of American involvement and supported President Richard Nixon's plans for Vietnamization. After retiring from the Senate, Mansfield served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988. Mansfield is the longest-serving American ambassador to Japan in history. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mansfield also worked as a senior adviser on East Asian affairs to Goldman Sachs.
Read more on Wikipedia >