Guide Note:
Arlen Specter is the senior Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, and the 16th most senior Senator currently serving in Congress. He took office on January 5, 1981.
Fast Facts:
- Born February 12, 1930 in Wichita, Kansas
- Assumed office: January 5, 1981
- Party: Republican
- Spouse: Joan Specter
- Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania and Yale University
- Previous Occupation: Lawyer/District Attorney
- Diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease in 2005
- Longest-serving Senator in Pennsylvania history
- Religion: Jewish
Law Career and Warren Commission
Specter studied law at Yale University before starting his career as a lawyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was appointed by President Gerald Ford to the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and is credited with suggesting the "magic bullet theory," postulating that a single bullet could have caused non-fatal wounds to both Kennedy and another passenger in his car, Governor John Connally.
Political Career
Specter unsuccessfully ran for Philadelphia's mayor in 1967, for the Senate in 1976 and in the 1978 Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary.
Specter eventually won a Senate seat in 1980, after Republican incumbent Richard Schweiker stepped down. He has a primarily moderate record, and has memorably taken on his Party's leadership and direction on some major issues, including the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, the nomination of Robert Bork to The U.S. Supreme Court and the domestic surveillance policies of The Bush Administration.
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