Ted Stevens
Encyclopedia
Theodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was a United States Senator
from Alaska
, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history. He was President pro tempore
in the 108th and 109th Congresses from January 3, 2003, to January 3, 2007, and the third senator to hold the title of President pro tempore emeritus.
Stevens served for six decades in the American public sector
, beginning with his service in World War II
. In the 1950s, he held senior positions in the Eisenhower
Interior Department
. He played key roles in legislation that shaped Alaska's economic and social development, including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act
, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
, and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. He was also known for his sponsorship of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978
, which resulted in the establishment of the United States Olympic Committee
.
In 2008, Stevens was embroiled in a federal corruption trial as he ran for re-election to the Senate
. He was found guilty, and eight days later was narrowly defeated at the polls. However, prior to sentencing, the indictment was dismissed--effectively vacating the conviction--when a Justice Department
probe found evidence of gross prosecutorial misconduct
.
Stevens died on August 9, 2010, when a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter he and several others were flying in crashed while en route to a private fishing lodge.
, the third of four children, in a small cottage built by his paternal grandfather after the marriage of his parents, Gertrude S. (née Chancellor) and George A. Stevens. The family later lived in Chicago, where George Stevens was an accountant before the stock market crash of 1929
instigated the Great Depression
, ending his job. Around this time, when Ted Stevens was six years old, his parents divorced, and Stevens and his three siblings went back to Indianapolis to live with their paternal grandparents, followed shortly thereafter by their father, who developed problems with his eyes and went blind for several years. Stevens's mother moved to California and sent for Stevens's siblings as she could afford to, but Stevens stayed in Indianapolis helping to care for his father and a mentally disabled cousin, Patricia Acker, who also lived with the family. The only adult in the household with a job was Stevens's grandfather. Stevens helped to support the family by working as a newsboy, and would later remember selling many newspapers on March 1, 1932, when newspaper headlines blared the news of the Lindbergh kidnapping
.
In 1934, Stevens's grandfather punctured a lung in a fall down a tall flight of stairs, contracted pneumonia
, and died. Stevens's father, George, died in 1957 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, of lung cancer. Stevens and his cousin Patricia moved to Manhattan Beach, California
, to live with Patricia's mother, Gladys Swindells. Stevens attended Redondo Union High School
, participating in extracurricular activities including working on the school newspaper and becoming a member of a student theater group – a service society affiliated with the YMCA - and, during his senior year, the Lettermen's Society. Stevens also worked at jobs before and after school, but still had time for surfing with his friend Russell Green, son of the president of Signal Gas and Oil Company, who remained a close friend throughout Stevens's life.
to study engineering, attending for a semester. With World War II
in progress, Stevens attempted to join the Navy
and serve in Naval Aviation
, but failed the vision exam. He corrected his vision through a course of prescribed eye exercises, and in 1943 he was accepted into an Army Air Force Air Cadet
program at Montana State College
. After scoring near the top of an aptitude test for flight training, Stevens was transferred to preflight training in Santa Ana, California
; and received his wings early in 1944.
Stevens served in the China-Burma-India theater
with the Fourteenth Air Force
Transport Section, which supported the "Flying Tigers
", from 1944 to 1946. He and other pilots in the transport section flew C-46
and C-47
transport planes, often without escort, mostly in support of Chinese units fighting the Japanese. Stevens received the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying behind enemy lines, the Air Medal
, and the Yuan Hai Medal awarded by the Chinese Nationalist government
. He was discharged from the Army Air Forces in March 1946.
(UCLA), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in political science
in 1947. While at UCLA, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity (Theta Rho chapter). He applied to law school at Stanford
and the University of Michigan
, but on the advice of his friend Russell Green's father to "look East," he applied to Harvard Law School
, which he ended up attending. Stevens's education was partly financed by the G.I. Bill; he made up the difference by selling his blood, borrowing money from an uncle, and working several jobs – including one as a bartender
in Boston. During the summer of 1949, Stevens was a research assistant in the office of the U.S. Attorney
for the Southern District of California
, now the Central District of California.
While at Harvard, Stevens wrote a paper on maritime law which received honorable mention for the Addison Brown prize, a Harvard Law School award made for the best essay by a student on a subject related to private international law or maritime law. The essay later became a Harvard Law Review
article whose scholarship Justice Jay Rabinowitz
of the Alaska Supreme Court
praised 45 years later, telling the Anchorage Daily News
in 1994 that the high court had issued a recent opinion citing the article. Stevens graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950.
, law offices of Northcutt Ely. Twenty years earlier Ely had been executive assistant to Secretary of the Interior
Ray Lyman Wilbur
during the Hoover
administration, and by 1950 headed a prominent law firm specializing in natural resources issues. One of Ely's clients, Emil Usibelli, founder of the Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska
, was trying to sell coal to the military, and Stevens was assigned to handle his legal affairs.
Early in 1952, Stevens married Ann Mary Cherrington, a Democrat
and the adopted daughter of University of Denver
chancellor Ben Mark Cherrington. She had graduated from Reed College
in Portland, Oregon
, and during Truman's administration had worked for the State Department
.
On December 4, 1978, the crash of a Learjet 25
C at Anchorage International Airport
killed five people. Ted Stevens survived; his wife, Ann, did not. The building which houses the Alaska chapter of the American Red Cross
at 235 East Eighth Avenue in Anchorage
is named the Ann Stevens Building in her honor. There is also a reading room at the Loussac
Library in Anchorage which is named for her.
Stevens and his first wife, Ann, had three sons: Ben, Walter, and Ted; and two daughters: Susan and Beth. Democratic Governor Tony Knowles
appointed Ben
to the Alaska Senate
in 2001, where he served as the president of the state senate until the fall of 2006.
Ted Stevens remarried in 1980; he and his second wife, Catherine, had a daughter, Lily.
Stevens spent many years living at the Knik Arms, a six-story residential building constructed in 1950 on the western edge of downtown Anchorage. In his earlier years in the Senate, he would often point to this residence when trying to drive home the point that he was not of means and had not achieved such through his Senate service.
Stevens's last home was in Girdwood
, a ski resort community located near the southern edge of Anchorage's city limits and about 40 miles (64.4 km) by road from downtown Anchorage
. The house was originally purchased as a vacation home before Stevens began living there full-time.
, writing position papers for the campaign on western water law and lands. By the time Eisenhower won the election that November, Stevens had acquired contacts who told him, "We want you to come over to Interior." Stevens left his job with Ely, but a job in the Eisenhower administration didn't come through as a result of a temporary hiring freeze instituted by Eisenhower in an effort to reduce spending.
Instead, Stevens was offered a job with the Fairbanks, Alaska
, law firm of Emil Usibelli's Alaska attorney, Charles Clasby, whose firm – Collins and Clasby – had just lost one of its attorneys. Stevens and his wife had met and liked both Usibelli and Clasby, and decided to make the move. Loading up their 1947 Buick and traveling on a $600 loan from Clasby, they drove across country from Washington, D.C., and up the Alaska Highway
in the dead of winter, arriving in Fairbanks in February 1953. Stevens later recalled kidding Gov. Walter Hickel
about the loan. "He likes to say that he came to Alaska with 37 cents in his pocket," he said of Hickel. "I came $600 in debt." Ann Stevens recalled in 1968 that they made the move to Alaska "on a six-month trial basis."
In Fairbanks, Stevens cultivated the city's Republican establishment. He befriended conservative newspaper publisher C.W. Snedden, who had purchased the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
in 1950. Snedden's wife Helen later recalled that her husband and Stevens were "like father and son." "The only problem Ted had was that he had a temper," she told a reporter in 1994, crediting her husband with helping to steady Stevens "like you would do with your children" and with teaching Stevens the art of diplomacy.
for Fairbanks during the Truman administration, informed U.S. District Judge Harry Pratt that he would be resigning effective August 15, 1953, having already delayed his resignation by several months at the request of Justice Department
officials newly appointed by Eisenhower. The latter had asked McNeally to delay his resignation until Eisenhower could appoint a replacement. Despite Stevens's short tenure as an Alaska resident and his relative lack of trial or criminal law
experience, Pratt asked Stevens to serve in the position until Eisenhower acted. Stevens agreed. "I said, 'Sure, I'd like to do that,' " Stevens recalled years later. "Clasby said, 'It's not going to pay you as much money, but, if you want to do it, that's your business.' He was very pissed that I decided to go." Most members of the Fairbanks Bar Association were outraged at the appointment of a newcomer, and members in attendance at the association's meeting that December voted to support Carl Messenger for the permanent appointment, an endorsement seconded by the Alaska Republican Party Committee for the Fairbanks-area judicial division. However, Stevens was favored by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, by Senator William F. Knowland
of California, and by the Republican National Committee
, (Alaska itself had no Senators at this time, as it was still a territory
). Eisenhower sent Stevens's nomination to the U.S. Senate
, which confirmed him on March 30, 1954.
Stevens soon gained a reputation as an active prosecutor who vigorously prosecuted violations of federal and territorial liquor, drug, and prostitution laws, characterized by Fairbanks area homesteader Niilo Koponen (who later served in the Alaska State House of Representatives from 1982–1991) as "this rough tough shorty of a district attorney who was going to crush crime." Stevens sometimes accompanied U.S. Marshals
on raids. As recounted years later by Justice Jay Rabinowitz
, "U.S. marshals went in with Tommy guns and Ted led the charge, smoking a stogie and with six guns on his hips." However, Stevens himself has said the colorful stories spread about him as a pistol-packing D.A. were greatly exaggerated, and recalled only one incident when he carried a gun: on a vice raid to the town of Big Delta
about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Fairbanks, he carried a holstered gun on a marshal's suggestion.
Stevens also became known for his explosive temper, which was focused particularly on a criminal defense lawyer named Warren A. Taylor
who would later go on to become the Alaska Legislature
's first Speaker of the House in the First Alaska State Legislature
. "Ted would get red in the face, blow up and stalk out of the courtroom," a former court clerk later recalled of Stevens's relationship with Taylor.
In 1956, in a trial which received national headlines, Stevens prosecuted Jack Marler, a former Internal Revenue Service
agent accused of failing to file tax returns. Marler's first trial, which was handled by a different prosecutor, had ended in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. For the second trial, Stevens was up against Edgar Paul Boyko
, a flamboyant Anchorage
attorney who built his defense of Marler on the theory of no taxation without representation
, citing the Territory of Alaska
's lack of representation in the U.S. Congress
. As recalled by Boyko, his closing argument to the jury was a rabble-rousing appeal for the jury to "strike a blow for Alaskan freedom," claiming that "this case was the jury's chance to move Alaska toward statehood." Boyko remembered that "Ted had done a hell of a job in the case," but Boyko's tactics paid off, and Marler was acquitted on April 3, 1956. Following the acquittal, Stevens issued a statement saying, "I don't believe the jury's verdict is an expression of resistance to taxes or law enforcement or the start of a Boston Tea Party
. I do believe, however, that the decision will be a blow to the hopes for Alaska statehood."
, was promoted by Secretary of the Interior
Douglas McKay
to the Secretary's office. Bennett successfully lobbied McKay to replace him in his old job with Stevens, and Stevens returned to Washington, D.C.
, to take up the position. By the time he arrived in June 1956, McKay had resigned in order to run for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Oregon
and Fred Andrew Seaton
had been appointed to replace him. Seaton, a newspaper publisher from Nebraska, was a close friend of Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
publisher C.W. Snedden, and in common with Snedden was an advocate of Alaska statehood, unlike McKay, who had been lukewarm in his support. Seaton asked Snedden if he knew any Alaskan who could come to Washington, D.C. to work for Alaska statehood; Snedden replied that the man he needed—Stevens—was already there working in the Department of the Interior
. The fight for Alaska statehood became Stevens's principal work at Interior. "He did all the work on statehood," Roger Ernst, Seaton's assistant secretary for public land management, later said of Stevens. "He wrote 90 percent of all the speeches. Statehood was his main project." A sign on Stevens's door proclaimed his office "Alaskan Headquarters" and Stevens became known at the Department of the Interior as "Mr. Alaska."
Efforts to make Alaska a state had been going on since 1943, and had nearly come to fruition during the Truman
administration in 1950 when a statehood bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, only to die in the Senate. The national Republican Party opposed statehood for Alaska, in part out of fear that Alaska would elect Democrats to Congress. At the time Stevens arrived in the Washington, D.C., to take up his new job, a constitutional convention to write an Alaska constitution had just been concluded on the campus of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. The 55 delegates also elected three unofficial representatives – all Democrats – as unofficial delegates to Congress: Ernest Gruening
and William Egan
as U.S. Senators and Ralph Rivers as U.S. representative.
President Eisenhower, a Republican, regarded Alaska as too large and sparsely populated to be economically self-sufficient as a state, and furthermore saw statehood as an obstacle to effective defense of Alaska should the Soviet Union
seek to invade it. Eisenhower was especially worried about the sparsely populated areas of northern and western Alaska. In March 1954, he had drawn a line on a map indicating his opinion of the portions of Alaska which he felt ought to remain in federal hands even if Alaska were granted statehood.
Seaton and Stevens worked with Gen. Nathan Twining
, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
, who had served in Alaska; and Jack L. Stempler, a top Defense Department
attorney, to create a compromise that would address Eisenhower's concerns. Much of their work was conducted in a hospital room at Walter Reed Army Hospital
, where Seaton was being treated for back problems. Their work concentrated on refining the line on the map that Eisenhower had drawn in 1954, one which became known as the PYK Line after three rivers – the Porcupine
, Yukon
, and Kuskokwim
– whose courses defined much of the line. The PYK Line was the basis for Section 10 of the Alaska Statehood Act
, which Stevens wrote. Under Section 10, the land north and west of the PYK Line – which included the entirety of Alaska's North Slope
, the Seward Peninsula
, most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
, the western portions of the Alaska Peninsula
, and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands
—would be part of the new state, but the President would be granted emergency powers to establish special national defense withdrawals in those areas if deemed necessary. "It's still in the law but it's never been exercised," Stevens later recollected. "Now that the problem with Russia is gone, it's surplusage. But it is a special law that only applies to Alaska."
Stevens also took part – illegally – in lobbying for the statehood bill, working closely with the Alaska Statehood Committee from his office at Interior. Stevens hired Margaret Atwood, daughter of Anchorage Times
publisher Robert Atwood, who was chairman of the Alaska Statehood Committee, to work with him in the Interior Department. "We were violating the law," Stevens told a researcher in an October 1977 oral history interview for the Eisenhower Library
. "[W]e were lobbying from the executive branch, and there's been a statute against that for a long time.... We more or less, I would say, masterminded the House and Senate attack from the executive branch." Stevens and the younger Atwood created file cards on members of Congress based on "whether they were Rotarians or Kiwanians or Catholics or Baptists and veterans or loggers, the whole thing," Stevens said in the 1977 interview. "And we'd assigned these Alaskans to go talk to individual members of the Senate and split them down on the basis of people that had something in common with them." The lobbying campaign extended to presidential press conferences. "We set Ike up quite often at press conferences by planting questions about Alaska statehood," Stevens said in the 1977 interview. "We never let a press conference go by without getting someone to try to ask him about statehood." Newspapers were also targeted, according to Stevens. "We planted editorials in weeklies and dailies and newspapers in the district of people we thought were opposed to us or states where they were opposed to us so that suddenly they were thinking twice about opposing us."
The Alaska Statehood Act
became law with Eisenhower's signature on July 7, 1958, and Alaska formally was admitted to statehood on January 3, 1959, when Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Proclamation.
and became a member of Operation Rampart, a group in favor of building the Rampart Dam
, a hydroelectric project on the Yukon River
. Elected to the Alaska House of Representatives
in 1964, he became House majority leader in his second term.
. Rasmuson lost the general election to Democrat Mike Gravel
. In December 1968, after the death of Alaska's other senator, Democrat Bob Bartlett
, Governor Wally Hickel
appointed Stevens to the U.S. Senate. Since Gravel took office 10 days after Stevens did, Stevens was Alaska's senior senator for all but 10 days of his forty-year tenure in the Senate – a unique distinction.
In a special election in 1970, Stevens won the right to finish the remainder of Bartlett's term. He won the seat in his own right in 1972, and was reelected in 1978
, 1984
, 1990
, 1996
and 2002 elections
. His final term expired in January 2009. Since his first election to a full term in 1972, Stevens never received less than 66% of the vote before his 2008 defeat for re-election.
Stevens lost his Senate re-election bid in 2008
. He won the Republican primary in August and was defeated by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich
in the general election.
) from 1977 to 1985. In 1994, after the Republicans took control of the Senate, Stevens was appointed Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee
. Stevens became the Senate's President Pro Tempore when Republicans regained control of the chamber as a result of the 2002 mid-term elections, during which the previous most senior Republican senator and former President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond
retired.
After Howard Baker
retired in 1984, Stevens sought the position of Republican (and then-Majority) leader, running against Bob Dole
, Dick Lugar, Jim McClure
and Pete Domenici
. As Republican whip, Stevens was theoretically the favorite to succeed Baker, but lost to Dole in a fourth ballot.
Stevens chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee
from 1997 to 2005, except for the 18 months when Democrats controlled the chamber. The chairmanship gave Stevens considerable influence among fellow Senators, who relied on him for home-state project funds. Even before becoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Stevens secured large sums of federal money for the state of Alaska. Due to Republican Party rules that limited committee chairmanships to six years, Stevens gave up the Appropriations gavel at the start of the 109th Congress
, in January 2005.
He chaired the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
during the 109th Congress, becoming the committee's ranking member after the Democrats regained control of the Senate for the 110th Congress. He resigned his ranking-member position on the committee due to his indictment.
At various times, Stevens also served as Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
, the Senate Ethics Committee
, the Arms Control Observer Group, and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress
.
Due to Stevens's long tenure and that of the state's sole congressman, Don Young
, Alaska was considered to have clout in national politics well beyond its small population (the state was long the smallest in population and is currently 47th, ahead of only Wyoming
, North Dakota
and Vermont
).
Senators Olympia Snowe
(R-ME) and Byron Dorgan
(D-ND) cosponsored and spoke on behalf of an amendment that would have inserted strong network neutrality
mandates into the bill. In between speeches by Snowe and Dorgan, Stevens gave a vehement 11-minute speech using colorful language to explain his opposition to the amendment. Stevens referred to the Internet
as "not a big truck
," but a "series of tubes
" that could be clogged with information. Stevens also confused the terms Internet
and e-mail
. Soon after, Stevens's interpretation of how the Internet works became a topic of amusement and ridicule in the blogosphere
. The phrases "the Internet is not a big truck" and "series of tubes" became internet memes and were prominently featured on U.S. television shows including Comedy Central
's The Daily Show
. In obituaries, he was remembered however as the "grandfather of net neutrality"
Cnet
Journalist Declan McCullagh
called "series of tubes" an "entirely reasonable" metaphor
for the Internet, noting that some computer operating system
s use the term 'pipes
' to describe interprocess communication.
Stevens was a long-standing proponent of logging
and championed a plan that would allow 2400000 acres (9,712.5 km²) of roadless old growth forest
to be clear-cut. Stevens stated that this would revive Alaska's timber industry and bring jobs to unemployed loggers; however, the proposal would mean that thousands of miles of roads would be constructed at the expense of the United States Forest Service
, judged to cost taxpayers $200,000 per job created.
. According to On the Issues
and NARAL, Ted Stevens had a mildly pro-life
voting record, despite some notable pro-choice
votes.
However, as a former member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership
, Stevens supported human embryonic stem cell research.
However, in September 2007, Stevens said:
reported that Stevens had taken advantage of lax Senate rules to use his political influence to obtain a large amount of his personal wealth. According to the article, while Stevens was already a millionaire "thanks to investments with businessmen who received government contracts or other benefits with his help," the lawmaker who is in charge of $800 billion a year, writes "preferences he wrote into law," from which he then benefits.
May 29, 2007, the Anchorage Daily News reported that the FBI and a federal grand jury were investigating an extensive remodeling project at Stevens's home in Girdwood. Stevens's Alaska home was raided by the FBI and IRS on July 30, 2007. The remodeling work doubled the size of the modest home. Public records show that the house was 2471 square feet (230 m²) after the remodeling and that the property was valued at $271,300 in 2003, including a $5,000 increase in land value. The remodel in 2000 was organized by Bill Allen
, a founder of the VECO Corporation – an oil-field service company – and has been estimated to have cost VECO and the various contractors $250,000 or more. However, the residential contractor who finished the renovation for VECO, Augie Paone, "believes the [Stevens's] remodeling could have cost – if all the work was done efficiently – around $130,000 to $150,000, close to the figure Stevens cited last year." The Stevens paid $160,000 for the renovations "and assumed that covered everything."
In June, the Anchorage Daily News reported that a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., heard evidence in May about the expansion of Stevens's Girdwood home and other matters connecting Stevens to VECO. In mid-June, FBI agents questioned several aides who work for Stevens as part of the investigation. In July, Washingtonian
magazine reported that Stevens had hired "Washington's most powerful and expensive lawyer", Brendan Sullivan Jr
., in response to the investigation. In 2006, during wiretapped conversations with Bill Allen, Stevens expressed worries over potential misunderstandings and legal complications arising from the sweeping federal investigations into Alaskan politics. On the witness stand, "Allen testified that VECO staff who had worked on his own house had charged 'way too much,' leaving him uncertain how much to invoice Stevens for when he had his staff work on the senator's house ... that he would be embarrassed to bill Stevens for overpriced labor on the house, and said he concealed some of the expense."
may have enriched a former aide. Currently the United States Department of Commerce
and the Interior Department
's inspector general are investigating "how millions of dollars that Stevens (R-Alaska) obtained for the nonprofit Alaska SeaLife Center
were spent." According to CNN, "Among the questions is how about $700,000 of nearly $4 million directed to the National Park Service wound up being paid to companies associated with Trevor McCabe, a former legislative director for Stevens."
so that he could have the opportunity to clear his name promptly and requested that the trial be held before the 2008 election.
US District Court
Judge in Washington DC Emmet G. Sullivan
, on October 2, 2008, denied the mistrial petition of Stevens's chief counsel, Brendan Sullivan
, due to allegations of withholding evidence by prosecutors. Thus, the latter were admonished, and would submit themselves for internal probe by the United States Department of Justice
. Brady v. Maryland
requires prosecutors to give a defendant all information for defense. Judge Sulllivan had earlier admonished the prosecution for sending home to Alaska a witness who might have helped the defense.
The case was prosecuted by Principal Deputy Chief Brenda K. Morris, Trial Attorneys Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division
's Public Integrity Section
, headed by Chief William M. Welch II; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini and James A. Goeke from the District of Alaska.
(D-NJ) in 1981 (although Senator David Durenberger
(R-MN) pled guilty to a felony more recently, in 1995). Stevens faced a maximum penalty of five years per charge. His sentencing hearing was originally arranged February 25, but his attorneys told Judge Emmet Sullivan they would file applications to dispute the verdict by early December. However, it was thought unlikely that he would have seen significant time in prison.
Within a few days of his conviction, Stevens faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. Both parties' presidential candidates, Barack Obama
and John McCain
, were quick to call for Stevens to stand down. Obama said that Stevens needed to resign to help "put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling in Washington." McCain said that Stevens "has broken his trust with the people" and needed to step down—a call echoed by his running mate, Sarah Palin
, governor of Stevens's home state. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
, as well as fellow Republican Senators Norm Coleman
, John Sununu
and Gordon Smith also called for Stevens to resign. McConnell said there would be "zero tolerance" for a convicted felon serving in the Senate—strongly hinting that he would support Stevens's expulsion from the Senate unless Stevens resigned first. Late on November 1, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
confirmed that he would schedule a vote on Stevens's expulsion, saying that "a convicted felon is not going to be able to serve in the United States Senate." Had Stevens been expelled after winning election, a special election would have been held to fill the seat through the remainder of the term, until 2014. Some speculated Palin would have tried to run for the Senate via this special election. No sitting Senator has been expelled since the Civil War
.
Nonetheless, during a debate with his opponent Mark Begich
days after his conviction, Stevens continued to claim innocence. "I have not been convicted. I have a case pending against me, and probably the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct by the prosecutors that is known." Stevens also cited plans to appeal. Begich went on to defeat Stevens by 3,724 votes.
On November 13, Senator Jim DeMint
of South Carolina
announced he would move to have Stevens expelled from the Senate Republican Conference
(caucus) regardless of the results of the election. Losing his caucus membership would cost Stevens his committee assignments. However, DeMint later decided to postpone offering his motion, saying that while there were enough votes to throw Stevens out, it would be a moot point if Stevens lost his reelection bid. Stevens ended up losing the Senate race, and on November 20, 2008, gave his last speech to the Senate, which was met with a rare Senate standing ovation.
In February 2009, FBI agent Chad Joy filed a whistleblower affidavit, alleging that prosecutors and FBI agents conspired to withhold and conceal evidence that could have resulted in a verdict of "not guilty." In his affidavit, Joy alleged that prosecutors intentionally sent a key witness back to Alaska after the witness performed poorly during a mock cross examination. The witness, Rocky Williams, later notified the defense attorneys that his testimony would undercut the prosecution's claim that his company had spent its own money renovating Sen. Stevens's house. Joy further alleged that the prosecutors intentionally withheld Brady material including redacted prior statements of a witness, and a memo from Bill Allen stating that Sen. Stevens probably would have paid for the goods and services if asked. Joy further alleged that a female FBI agent had an inappropriate relationship with Allen, who also gave gifts to FBI agents and helped one agent's relative get a job.
As a result of Joy's affidavit and claims by the defense that prosecutorial misconduct caused an unfair trial, Judge Sullivan ordered a hearing to be held on February 13, 2009, to determine whether a new trial should be ordered. At the February 13 hearing the judge held the prosecutors in contempt for failing to deliver documents to Stevens's legal counsel. Judge Sullivan called this conduct "outrageous."
, Paul O'Brien submitted a "Motion of The United States To Set Aside The Verdict And Dismiss The Indictment With Prejudice" in connection with case No. 08-231 early on April 1, 2009. Federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan
soon signed the order, and since it occurred prior to sentencing it had the effect of vacating Stevens's conviction. During the trial, Sullivan expressed concern and anger regarding prosecutorial conduct and related issues. Holder, who had taken office only three months earlier, was reportedly very angry at the prosecutors' apparent withholding of exculpatory evidence
, and wanted to send a message that prosecutorial misconduct
would not be tolerated under his watch. After Sullivan held the prosecutors in contempt, Holder replaced the entire trial team, including top officials in the public integrity section.
The final straw for Holder, according to numerous reports, was the discovery of a previously undocumented interview with Bill Allen, the prosecution's star witness, that raised the possibility prosecutors had knowingly allowed Allen to perjure
himself on the stand. Allen stated that the fair market value
of the repairs to Stevens's house was around $80,000 — far less than the $250,000 he said it cost at trial. More seriously, Allen said in the interview that he didn't recall talking to Bob Persons, a friend of Stevens, regarding the repair bill for Stevens's house. This directly contradicted Allen's testimony at trial, in which he claimed Stevens asked him to give Persons a note Stevens sent him asking for a bill on the repair work. At trial, Allen said Persons had told him the note shouldn't be taken seriously because "Ted's just covering his ass." Even without the notes, Stevens's attorneys claimed that they thought Allen was lying about the conversation.
Later that day, Stevens's attorney, Brendan Sullivan, said that Holder's decision was forced by "extraordinary evidence of government corruption." He also claimed that prosecutors not only withheld evidence, but "created false testimony that they gave us and actually presented false testimony in the courtroom" - two incidents that would have made it very likely that the convictions would have been overturned on appeal.
On April 7, 2009 federal judge Sullivan formally accepted Holder's motion to set aside the verdict and throw out the indictment, based on what Sullivan called the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he'd ever seen. He also initiated a criminal contempt investigation of six members of the prosecution. Although an internal probe by the Office of Professional Responsibility
was already underway, Sullivan said he was not willing to trust it due to the "shocking and disturbing" nature of the misconduct.
.
The Ted Stevens Foundation is a charity established to "assist in educating and informing the public about the career of Senator Ted Stevens". The chairman is Tim McKeever, a lobbyist who was treasurer of Stevens's 2004 campaign. In May 2006, McKeever said that the charity was "nonpartisan and nonpolitical," and that Stevens does not raise money for the foundation, although he has attended some fund-raisers.
When discussing issues that were especially important to him (such as opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to oil drilling), Stevens wore a necktie with The Incredible Hulk
on it to show his seriousness. Marvel Comics
has sent him free Hulk paraphernalia and has thrown a Hulk party for him.
November 18, 2003, the Senator's 80th birthday, was declared Senator Ted Stevens Appreciation Day by Governor of Alaska Frank H. Murkowski.
On December 21, 2005, Senator Stevens said that the vote to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
"has been the saddest day of my life."
Stevens delivered a eulogy of Gerald R. Ford at the 38th President's funeral ceremony on December 30, 2006.
On April 13, 2007, Senator Stevens was recognized as being the longest serving Republican senator in history with a career spanning over 38 years. His colleague Sen. Daniel Inouye
(D-HI) referred to Stevens as "The Strom Thurmond
of the Arctic Circle."
administrator Sean O'Keefe
, were in a plane crash about 17 miles north of Dillingham, Alaska
, while en route to a private fishing lodge. Dave Dittman, a friend of Stevens, first reported that he had been told that Stevens had died in the incident, but later released a statement saying "that has not been confirmed." Stevens was confirmed dead in the crash via a statement from his family. He and others were aboard a single-engine Turbo Otter, a DeHavilland DH3T reportedly registered to Anchorage-based GCI Communication. As Stevens's death was confirmed, Alaskan and national political figures from all sides of the political spectrum spoke highly of the man many Alaskans knew as "Uncle Ted." Senator Lisa Murkowski
said of Stevens: "His entire life was dedicated to public service—from his days as a pilot in World War II to his four decades of service in the United States Senate. He truly was the greatest of the ‘Greatest Generation." Senator Mark Begich
stated, "Over his four decades of public service in the U.S. Senate, Senator Stevens was a forceful advocate for Alaska who helped transform our state in the challenging years after Statehood" and former president George H. W. Bush
released a statement that "Ted Stevens loved the Senate; he loved Alaska; and he loved his family — and he will be dearly missed."
, former Governor Sarah Palin
, current Governor Sean Parnell
and three other former governors, 11 senators, 9 former senators, and 2 congressman, and many other dignitaries from state and federal governments, the armed forces, and abroad. Stevens was interred at Arlington National Cemetery
on September 28.
|-
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history. He was President pro tempore
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body...
in the 108th and 109th Congresses from January 3, 2003, to January 3, 2007, and the third senator to hold the title of President pro tempore emeritus.
Stevens served for six decades in the American public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
, beginning with his service in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In the 1950s, he held senior positions in the Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
Interior Department
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
. He played key roles in legislation that shaped Alaska's economic and social development, including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in...
, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act is a United States federal law signed by Richard Nixon on November 16, 1973 that authorized the building of an oil pipeline connecting the North Slope of Alaska to Port Valdez...
, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was a United States federal law passed in 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year....
, and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. He was also known for his sponsorship of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978
Amateur Sports Act of 1978
The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, , establishes a United States Olympic Committee and provides for national governing bodies for each Olympic sport...
, which resulted in the establishment of the United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
.
In 2008, Stevens was embroiled in a federal corruption trial as he ran for re-election to the Senate
United States Senate election in Alaska, 2008
The 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens ran for re-election. It was one of the ten Senate races that U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, predicted as...
. He was found guilty, and eight days later was narrowly defeated at the polls. However, prior to sentencing, the indictment was dismissed--effectively vacating the conviction--when a Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
probe found evidence of gross prosecutorial misconduct
Prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which may have broken the law, because the prosecution acted in an "inappropriate" or "unfair" manner. Such arguments may involve...
.
Stevens died on August 9, 2010, when a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter he and several others were flying in crashed while en route to a private fishing lodge.
Childhood and youth
Stevens was born November 18, 1923, in Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, the third of four children, in a small cottage built by his paternal grandfather after the marriage of his parents, Gertrude S. (née Chancellor) and George A. Stevens. The family later lived in Chicago, where George Stevens was an accountant before the stock market crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
instigated the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, ending his job. Around this time, when Ted Stevens was six years old, his parents divorced, and Stevens and his three siblings went back to Indianapolis to live with their paternal grandparents, followed shortly thereafter by their father, who developed problems with his eyes and went blind for several years. Stevens's mother moved to California and sent for Stevens's siblings as she could afford to, but Stevens stayed in Indianapolis helping to care for his father and a mentally disabled cousin, Patricia Acker, who also lived with the family. The only adult in the household with a job was Stevens's grandfather. Stevens helped to support the family by working as a newsboy, and would later remember selling many newspapers on March 1, 1932, when newspaper headlines blared the news of the Lindbergh kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
.
In 1934, Stevens's grandfather punctured a lung in a fall down a tall flight of stairs, contracted pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, and died. Stevens's father, George, died in 1957 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, of lung cancer. Stevens and his cousin Patricia moved to Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
, to live with Patricia's mother, Gladys Swindells. Stevens attended Redondo Union High School
Redondo Union High School
Redondo Union High School is a public high school in Redondo Beach, California.Redondo Union High School is a part of the Redondo Beach Unified School District....
, participating in extracurricular activities including working on the school newspaper and becoming a member of a student theater group – a service society affiliated with the YMCA - and, during his senior year, the Lettermen's Society. Stevens also worked at jobs before and after school, but still had time for surfing with his friend Russell Green, son of the president of Signal Gas and Oil Company, who remained a close friend throughout Stevens's life.
Military service
After graduating from high school in 1942, Stevens enrolled at Oregon State UniversityOregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
to study engineering, attending for a semester. With World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in progress, Stevens attempted to join the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and serve in Naval Aviation
Naval aviation
Naval aviation is the application of manned military air power by navies, including ships that embark fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. In contrast, maritime aviation is the operation of aircraft in a maritime role under the command of non-naval forces such as the former RAF Coastal Command or a...
, but failed the vision exam. He corrected his vision through a course of prescribed eye exercises, and in 1943 he was accepted into an Army Air Force Air Cadet
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
program at Montana State College
Montana State University - Bozeman
Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
. After scoring near the top of an aptitude test for flight training, Stevens was transferred to preflight training in Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
; and received his wings early in 1944.
Stevens served in the China-Burma-India theater
China Burma India Theater of World War II
China Burma India Theater was the name used by the United States Army for its forces operating in conjunction with British and Chinese Allied air and land forces in China, Burma, and India during World War II...
with the Fourteenth Air Force
Fourteenth Air Force
The Fourteenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command . It is headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California....
Transport Section, which supported the "Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
", from 1944 to 1946. He and other pilots in the transport section flew C-46
C-46 Commando
The Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando was a transport aircraft originally derived from a commercial high-altitude airliner design. It was instead used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces as well as the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps under the designation R5C...
and C-47
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
transport planes, often without escort, mostly in support of Chinese units fighting the Japanese. Stevens received the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying behind enemy lines, the Air Medal
Air Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
, and the Yuan Hai Medal awarded by the Chinese Nationalist government
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
. He was discharged from the Army Air Forces in March 1946.
Higher education and law school
After the war, Stevens attended the University of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(UCLA), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
in 1947. While at UCLA, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity (Theta Rho chapter). He applied to law school at Stanford
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
and the University of Michigan
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
, but on the advice of his friend Russell Green's father to "look East," he applied to Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, which he ended up attending. Stevens's education was partly financed by the G.I. Bill; he made up the difference by selling his blood, borrowing money from an uncle, and working several jobs – including one as a bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
in Boston. During the summer of 1949, Stevens was a research assistant in the office of the U.S. Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
for the Southern District of California
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties in California: Imperial and San Diego. In terms of filed indictments, it is one of the busiest criminal districts in the United States...
, now the Central District of California.
While at Harvard, Stevens wrote a paper on maritime law which received honorable mention for the Addison Brown prize, a Harvard Law School award made for the best essay by a student on a subject related to private international law or maritime law. The essay later became a Harvard Law Review
Harvard Law Review
The Harvard Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School.-Overview:According to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, the Review is the most cited law review and has the second-highest impact factor in the category "law" after the...
article whose scholarship Justice Jay Rabinowitz
Jay Rabinowitz
Jay Andrew Rabinowitz was an American lawyer, jurist, and Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court four non-consecutive terms remaining active as a justice from February 1965 to February 1997.-Early life and career:Rabinowitz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish-American family...
of the Alaska Supreme Court
Alaska Supreme Court
The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court in the State of Alaska's judicial department . The supreme court is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices, who are all appointed by the governor of Alaska and face judicial retention elections and who choose one of their own...
praised 45 years later, telling the Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage Daily News
The Anchorage Daily News is a daily newspaper based in Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States. It is often referred to colloquially as either "the Daily News" or "the ADN"...
in 1994 that the high court had issued a recent opinion citing the article. Stevens graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950.
Early legal career
After graduation, Stevens went to work in the Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, law offices of Northcutt Ely. Twenty years earlier Ely had been executive assistant to Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Ray Lyman Wilbur
Ray Lyman Wilbur
Ray Lyman Wilbur was an American medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior.-Early life:...
during the Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
administration, and by 1950 headed a prominent law firm specializing in natural resources issues. One of Ely's clients, Emil Usibelli, founder of the Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska
Healy, Alaska
Healy is a census-designated place in and the borough seat of Denali Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 971 at the 2007 census.-Geography:Healy is located at ....
, was trying to sell coal to the military, and Stevens was assigned to handle his legal affairs.
Marriage and family
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and the adopted daughter of University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
chancellor Ben Mark Cherrington. She had graduated from Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, and during Truman's administration had worked for the State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
.
On December 4, 1978, the crash of a Learjet 25
Learjet 25
|-See also:-References:* Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. ISBN 0-354-00538-3.-External links:**...
C at Anchorage International Airport
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Inter-terminal:...
killed five people. Ted Stevens survived; his wife, Ann, did not. The building which houses the Alaska chapter of the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
at 235 East Eighth Avenue in Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
is named the Ann Stevens Building in her honor. There is also a reading room at the Loussac
Zachariah J. Loussac
-Biography:Zachariah Joshua Loussac was born to Jewish parents in Pokrov , Russia in 1882. As an engineering student, he came under scrutiny for an interest in "some of the more liberal literature of the time."...
Library in Anchorage which is named for her.
Stevens and his first wife, Ann, had three sons: Ben, Walter, and Ted; and two daughters: Susan and Beth. Democratic Governor Tony Knowles
Tony Knowles (politician)
Anthony Carroll Knowles is an American Democratic politician and businessman who served as the seventh Governor of Alaska from December 1994 to December 2002. Barred from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004 and again for governor in...
appointed Ben
Ben Stevens
Ben Stevens is an American politician and former President of the Alaska State Senate. He is a Republican and the son of former United States Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in United States Senate history.- Career :...
to the Alaska Senate
Alaska Senate
The Alaska Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The Senate consists of twenty members, each of whom represents an equal amount of districts with populations of about 31,347 people . Senators serve four-year terms, without term...
in 2001, where he served as the president of the state senate until the fall of 2006.
Ted Stevens remarried in 1980; he and his second wife, Catherine, had a daughter, Lily.
Stevens spent many years living at the Knik Arms, a six-story residential building constructed in 1950 on the western edge of downtown Anchorage. In his earlier years in the Senate, he would often point to this residence when trying to drive home the point that he was not of means and had not achieved such through his Senate service.
Stevens's last home was in Girdwood
Girdwood, Alaska
Girdwood is an unincorporated year-round ski resort community within the Municipality of Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies in a valley in the Chugach Mountains near the end of the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, 36 miles southeast of Anchorage proper.It is surrounded by seven permanent...
, a ski resort community located near the southern edge of Anchorage's city limits and about 40 miles (64.4 km) by road from downtown Anchorage
Downtown (Anchorage)
Downtown Anchorage is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Anchorage, Alaska. Considered the central business district of Anchorage, Downtown has many office buildings, cultural points of interest, shopping areas, as well as dining and nightlife attractions...
. The house was originally purchased as a vacation home before Stevens began living there full-time.
Prostate cancer
Stevens was a survivor of prostate cancer and had publicly disclosed his cancer. He was nominated for the first Golden Glove Awards for Prostate Cancer by the National Prostate Cancer Coalition (NPCC). He advocated the creation of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program for Prostate Cancer at the Department of Defense which has funded nearly $750 million for prostate cancer research. Stevens was a recipient of the Presidential Citation by the American Urological Association for significantly promoting urology causes.Early Alaska career
In 1952, while still working for Norcutt Ely, Stevens volunteered for the presidential campaign of Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, writing position papers for the campaign on western water law and lands. By the time Eisenhower won the election that November, Stevens had acquired contacts who told him, "We want you to come over to Interior." Stevens left his job with Ely, but a job in the Eisenhower administration didn't come through as a result of a temporary hiring freeze instituted by Eisenhower in an effort to reduce spending.
Instead, Stevens was offered a job with the Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
, law firm of Emil Usibelli's Alaska attorney, Charles Clasby, whose firm – Collins and Clasby – had just lost one of its attorneys. Stevens and his wife had met and liked both Usibelli and Clasby, and decided to make the move. Loading up their 1947 Buick and traveling on a $600 loan from Clasby, they drove across country from Washington, D.C., and up the Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway
The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon...
in the dead of winter, arriving in Fairbanks in February 1953. Stevens later recalled kidding Gov. Walter Hickel
Walter Joseph Hickel
Walter Joseph "Wally" Hickel was an industrialist, focused mostly on construction and real estate development, and a politician of the Republican and Alaskan Independence parties from the U.S. state of Alaska. Hickel served as the second and eighth Governor of Alaska...
about the loan. "He likes to say that he came to Alaska with 37 cents in his pocket," he said of Hickel. "I came $600 in debt." Ann Stevens recalled in 1968 that they made the move to Alaska "on a six-month trial basis."
In Fairbanks, Stevens cultivated the city's Republican establishment. He befriended conservative newspaper publisher C.W. Snedden, who had purchased the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a morning daily newspaper that serves the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the United States state of Alaska. It is the farthest north daily newspaper in the United States, and...
in 1950. Snedden's wife Helen later recalled that her husband and Stevens were "like father and son." "The only problem Ted had was that he had a temper," she told a reporter in 1994, crediting her husband with helping to steady Stevens "like you would do with your children" and with teaching Stevens the art of diplomacy.
U.S. Attorney
Stevens had been with Charles Clasby's law firm for six months when Bob McNeally, a Democrat appointed as U.S. AttorneyUnited States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
for Fairbanks during the Truman administration, informed U.S. District Judge Harry Pratt that he would be resigning effective August 15, 1953, having already delayed his resignation by several months at the request of Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
officials newly appointed by Eisenhower. The latter had asked McNeally to delay his resignation until Eisenhower could appoint a replacement. Despite Stevens's short tenure as an Alaska resident and his relative lack of trial or criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
experience, Pratt asked Stevens to serve in the position until Eisenhower acted. Stevens agreed. "I said, 'Sure, I'd like to do that,' " Stevens recalled years later. "Clasby said, 'It's not going to pay you as much money, but, if you want to do it, that's your business.' He was very pissed that I decided to go." Most members of the Fairbanks Bar Association were outraged at the appointment of a newcomer, and members in attendance at the association's meeting that December voted to support Carl Messenger for the permanent appointment, an endorsement seconded by the Alaska Republican Party Committee for the Fairbanks-area judicial division. However, Stevens was favored by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, by Senator William F. Knowland
William F. Knowland
William Fife Knowland was a United States politician, newspaperman, and Republican Party leader. He was a U.S. Senator representing California from 1945 to 1959. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1953-1955, and as Minority Leader from 1955-1959. He was defeated in his 1958 run for...
of California, and by the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
, (Alaska itself had no Senators at this time, as it was still a territory
Organized incorporated territories of the United States
Organized incorporated territories are those territories of the United States that are both incorporated and organized .Through most of U.S...
). Eisenhower sent Stevens's nomination to the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, which confirmed him on March 30, 1954.
Stevens soon gained a reputation as an active prosecutor who vigorously prosecuted violations of federal and territorial liquor, drug, and prostitution laws, characterized by Fairbanks area homesteader Niilo Koponen (who later served in the Alaska State House of Representatives from 1982–1991) as "this rough tough shorty of a district attorney who was going to crush crime." Stevens sometimes accompanied U.S. Marshals
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
on raids. As recounted years later by Justice Jay Rabinowitz
Jay Rabinowitz
Jay Andrew Rabinowitz was an American lawyer, jurist, and Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court four non-consecutive terms remaining active as a justice from February 1965 to February 1997.-Early life and career:Rabinowitz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish-American family...
, "U.S. marshals went in with Tommy guns and Ted led the charge, smoking a stogie and with six guns on his hips." However, Stevens himself has said the colorful stories spread about him as a pistol-packing D.A. were greatly exaggerated, and recalled only one incident when he carried a gun: on a vice raid to the town of Big Delta
Big Delta, Alaska
Big Delta is a census-designated place in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 749 at the 2000 census...
about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Fairbanks, he carried a holstered gun on a marshal's suggestion.
Stevens also became known for his explosive temper, which was focused particularly on a criminal defense lawyer named Warren A. Taylor
Warren A. Taylor
Warren Arthur Taylor was an American Democratic politician from Alaska active during its territorial period and first years of statehood. He became the first Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives....
who would later go on to become the Alaska Legislature
Alaska Legislature
The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution, consisting of the lower Alaska House of Representatives, with 40 members, and the upper house Alaska Senate, with 20 members...
's first Speaker of the House in the First Alaska State Legislature
1st Alaska State Legislature
The 1st Alaska State Legislature served during 1959 and 1960. All of its members were elected on November 25, 1958, when Alaska was in its last days as a territory.-Terms:...
. "Ted would get red in the face, blow up and stalk out of the courtroom," a former court clerk later recalled of Stevens's relationship with Taylor.
In 1956, in a trial which received national headlines, Stevens prosecuted Jack Marler, a former Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
agent accused of failing to file tax returns. Marler's first trial, which was handled by a different prosecutor, had ended in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. For the second trial, Stevens was up against Edgar Paul Boyko
Edgar Paul Boyko
Edgar Paul Boyko was an Alaskan attorney. He served as Attorney General for the State of Alaska under the administration of Governor Walter Hickel from 1967 to 1968.-Biography:...
, a flamboyant Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
attorney who built his defense of Marler on the theory of no taxation without representation
No taxation without representation
"No taxation without representation" is a slogan originating during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution...
, citing the Territory of Alaska
Alaska Territory
The Territory of Alaska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 24, 1912, until January 3, 1959, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska...
's lack of representation in the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. As recalled by Boyko, his closing argument to the jury was a rabble-rousing appeal for the jury to "strike a blow for Alaskan freedom," claiming that "this case was the jury's chance to move Alaska toward statehood." Boyko remembered that "Ted had done a hell of a job in the case," but Boyko's tactics paid off, and Marler was acquitted on April 3, 1956. Following the acquittal, Stevens issued a statement saying, "I don't believe the jury's verdict is an expression of resistance to taxes or law enforcement or the start of a Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
. I do believe, however, that the decision will be a blow to the hopes for Alaska statehood."
Alaska statehood
In March 1956, Stevens's friend Elmer Bennett, legislative counsel in the Department of the InteriorUnited States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
, was promoted by Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Douglas McKay
Douglas McKay
James Douglas McKay was an American businessman and politician from Oregon. A native of the state, he served in World War I before he became a successful businessman, mainly as a car dealership owner in the capital city of Salem. A Republican, he served as a city councilor and mayor of Salem...
to the Secretary's office. Bennett successfully lobbied McKay to replace him in his old job with Stevens, and Stevens returned to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to take up the position. By the time he arrived in June 1956, McKay had resigned in order to run for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Fred Andrew Seaton
Fred Andrew Seaton
Frederick Andrew Seaton was United States Secretary of the Interior during Dwight Eisenhower's administration.-Biography:Seaton was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up and attended high school in Manhattan, Kansas...
had been appointed to replace him. Seaton, a newspaper publisher from Nebraska, was a close friend of Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a morning daily newspaper that serves the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the United States state of Alaska. It is the farthest north daily newspaper in the United States, and...
publisher C.W. Snedden, and in common with Snedden was an advocate of Alaska statehood, unlike McKay, who had been lukewarm in his support. Seaton asked Snedden if he knew any Alaskan who could come to Washington, D.C. to work for Alaska statehood; Snedden replied that the man he needed—Stevens—was already there working in the Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
. The fight for Alaska statehood became Stevens's principal work at Interior. "He did all the work on statehood," Roger Ernst, Seaton's assistant secretary for public land management, later said of Stevens. "He wrote 90 percent of all the speeches. Statehood was his main project." A sign on Stevens's door proclaimed his office "Alaskan Headquarters" and Stevens became known at the Department of the Interior as "Mr. Alaska."
Efforts to make Alaska a state had been going on since 1943, and had nearly come to fruition during the Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
administration in 1950 when a statehood bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, only to die in the Senate. The national Republican Party opposed statehood for Alaska, in part out of fear that Alaska would elect Democrats to Congress. At the time Stevens arrived in the Washington, D.C., to take up his new job, a constitutional convention to write an Alaska constitution had just been concluded on the campus of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. The 55 delegates also elected three unofficial representatives – all Democrats – as unofficial delegates to Congress: Ernest Gruening
Ernest Gruening
Ernest Henry Gruening was an American journalist and Democrat who was the Governor of the Alaska Territory from 1939 until 1953, and a United States Senator from Alaska from 1959 until 1969.-Early life:...
and William Egan
William Allen Egan
William Allen Egan was an American Democratic politician. He served as the first Governor of the State of Alaska from January 3, 1959 to 1966, and the fourth Governor from 1970 to 1974...
as U.S. Senators and Ralph Rivers as U.S. representative.
President Eisenhower, a Republican, regarded Alaska as too large and sparsely populated to be economically self-sufficient as a state, and furthermore saw statehood as an obstacle to effective defense of Alaska should the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
seek to invade it. Eisenhower was especially worried about the sparsely populated areas of northern and western Alaska. In March 1954, he had drawn a line on a map indicating his opinion of the portions of Alaska which he felt ought to remain in federal hands even if Alaska were granted statehood.
Seaton and Stevens worked with Gen. Nathan Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining, KBE was a United States Air Force General, born in Monroe, Wisconsin. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1957...
, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
, who had served in Alaska; and Jack L. Stempler, a top Defense Department
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
attorney, to create a compromise that would address Eisenhower's concerns. Much of their work was conducted in a hospital room at Walter Reed Army Hospital
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
, where Seaton was being treated for back problems. Their work concentrated on refining the line on the map that Eisenhower had drawn in 1954, one which became known as the PYK Line after three rivers – the Porcupine
Porcupine River
The Porcupine River is a river that runs through Alaska and the Yukon. Having its source in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, it flows north, veers to the southwest, goes through the community of Old Crow, Yukon, flowing into the Yukon River at Fort Yukon, Alaska...
, Yukon
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
, and Kuskokwim
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
– whose courses defined much of the line. The PYK Line was the basis for Section 10 of the Alaska Statehood Act
Alaska Statehood Act
The Alaska Statehood Act was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958, allowing Alaska to become the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.-History: the road to Statehood:...
, which Stevens wrote. Under Section 10, the land north and west of the PYK Line – which included the entirety of Alaska's North Slope
Alaska North Slope
The Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western side of Point Barrow, and the Beaufort Sea on the eastern.The region contains the...
, the Seward Peninsula
Seward Peninsula
The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, and Kotzebue Sound, just below the Arctic Circle...
, most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
The Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta is one of the largest river deltas in the world, roughly the size of Oregon. It is located where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers empty into the Bering Sea on the west coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. The delta, which mostly consists of tundra, is protected as part of the...
, the western portions of the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
, and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands
Pribilof Islands
The Pribilof Islands are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of Unalaska and 200 miles southwest of Cape Newenham. The Siberia coast is roughly northwest...
—would be part of the new state, but the President would be granted emergency powers to establish special national defense withdrawals in those areas if deemed necessary. "It's still in the law but it's never been exercised," Stevens later recollected. "Now that the problem with Russia is gone, it's surplusage. But it is a special law that only applies to Alaska."
Stevens also took part – illegally – in lobbying for the statehood bill, working closely with the Alaska Statehood Committee from his office at Interior. Stevens hired Margaret Atwood, daughter of Anchorage Times
Anchorage Times
The Anchorage Times was a daily newspaper published in Anchorage, Alaska that became known for the pro-business political stance of longtime publisher and editor, Robert Atwood. Competition from the McClatchy-owned Anchorage Daily News forced it out of business in 1992.-History:The Anchorage Times...
publisher Robert Atwood, who was chairman of the Alaska Statehood Committee, to work with him in the Interior Department. "We were violating the law," Stevens told a researcher in an October 1977 oral history interview for the Eisenhower Library
Eisenhower Presidential Center
The Eisenhower Presidential Center, officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum or Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, includes the Eisenhower presidential library, President Dwight David Eisenhower's boyhood home, Museum, and gravesite...
. "[W]e were lobbying from the executive branch, and there's been a statute against that for a long time.... We more or less, I would say, masterminded the House and Senate attack from the executive branch." Stevens and the younger Atwood created file cards on members of Congress based on "whether they were Rotarians or Kiwanians or Catholics or Baptists and veterans or loggers, the whole thing," Stevens said in the 1977 interview. "And we'd assigned these Alaskans to go talk to individual members of the Senate and split them down on the basis of people that had something in common with them." The lobbying campaign extended to presidential press conferences. "We set Ike up quite often at press conferences by planting questions about Alaska statehood," Stevens said in the 1977 interview. "We never let a press conference go by without getting someone to try to ask him about statehood." Newspapers were also targeted, according to Stevens. "We planted editorials in weeklies and dailies and newspapers in the district of people we thought were opposed to us or states where they were opposed to us so that suddenly they were thinking twice about opposing us."
The Alaska Statehood Act
Alaska Statehood Act
The Alaska Statehood Act was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958, allowing Alaska to become the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.-History: the road to Statehood:...
became law with Eisenhower's signature on July 7, 1958, and Alaska formally was admitted to statehood on January 3, 1959, when Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Proclamation.
Alaska House of Representatives
After returning to Alaska, Stevens practiced law in AnchorageAnchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
and became a member of Operation Rampart, a group in favor of building the Rampart Dam
Rampart Dam
The Rampart Dam or Rampart Canyon Dam was a project proposed in 1954 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dam the Yukon River in Alaska for hydroelectric power...
, a hydroelectric project on the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
. Elected to the Alaska House of Representatives
Alaska House of Representatives
The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of about 15,673 people . Members serve two-year terms without term limits...
in 1964, he became House majority leader in his second term.
Elections
In 1968, Stevens ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, but lost in the primary to Anchorage Mayor Elmer E. RasmusonElmer E. Rasmuson
Elmer E. Rasmuson was an Alaskan banker and philanthropist. He was Mayor of Anchorage from 1964 to 1967.-Origins and education:...
. Rasmuson lost the general election to Democrat Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
. In December 1968, after the death of Alaska's other senator, Democrat Bob Bartlett
Bob Bartlett
Edward Lewis "Bob" Bartlett was an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party.Bartlett was born in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from the University of Alaska in 1925, Bartlett began his career in politics...
, Governor Wally Hickel
Walter Joseph Hickel
Walter Joseph "Wally" Hickel was an industrialist, focused mostly on construction and real estate development, and a politician of the Republican and Alaskan Independence parties from the U.S. state of Alaska. Hickel served as the second and eighth Governor of Alaska...
appointed Stevens to the U.S. Senate. Since Gravel took office 10 days after Stevens did, Stevens was Alaska's senior senator for all but 10 days of his forty-year tenure in the Senate – a unique distinction.
In a special election in 1970, Stevens won the right to finish the remainder of Bartlett's term. He won the seat in his own right in 1972, and was reelected in 1978
United States Senate elections, 1978
The United States Senate election of 1978 in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. The Democrats lost a net of three seats to the Republicans, leaving the balance of the chamber 58-41 in favor of the Democrats....
, 1984
United States Senate elections, 1984
The 1984 elections to the United States Senate coincided with the landslide re-election of President Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election...
, 1990
United States Senate elections, 1990
Elections to one-third of the seats in the United States Senate were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republicans. This was in keeping with the trend that the party of the President often loses seats in a midterm...
, 1996
United States Senate elections, 1996
The 1996 elections to the United States Senate coincided with the 1996 presidential election, in which Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore were reelected President and Vice President of the United States, respectively....
and 2002 elections
United States Senate elections, 2002
The 2002 United States Senate election featured a series of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. Senators who were elected in 1996, known as Senate...
. His final term expired in January 2009. Since his first election to a full term in 1972, Stevens never received less than 66% of the vote before his 2008 defeat for re-election.
Stevens lost his Senate re-election bid in 2008
United States Senate election in Alaska, 2008
The 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens ran for re-election. It was one of the ten Senate races that U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, predicted as...
. He won the Republican primary in August and was defeated by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich
Mark Begich
Mark Peter Begich is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. A former mayor of Anchorage, he served on the Anchorage Assembly for almost ten years prior to being elected mayor in 2003...
in the general election.
Committees and leadership positions
Stevens served as the Assistant Republican Leader (WhipWhip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
) from 1977 to 1985. In 1994, after the Republicans took control of the Senate, Stevens was appointed Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee
United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, with administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualifications of members of the Senate, including responsibility for dealing with contested elections.The committee...
. Stevens became the Senate's President Pro Tempore when Republicans regained control of the chamber as a result of the 2002 mid-term elections, during which the previous most senior Republican senator and former President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
retired.
After Howard Baker
Howard Baker
Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...
retired in 1984, Stevens sought the position of Republican (and then-Majority) leader, running against Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
, Dick Lugar, Jim McClure
James A. McClure
James Albertus "Jim" McClure was an American politician from the state of Idaho, most notably serving as a Republican in the U.S. Senate....
and Pete Domenici
Pete Domenici
Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici is an American Republican politician, who served six terms as a United States Senator from New Mexico, from 1973 to 2009, the longest tenure in the state's history....
. As Republican whip, Stevens was theoretically the favorite to succeed Baker, but lost to Dole in a fourth ballot.
Stevens chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate....
from 1997 to 2005, except for the 18 months when Democrats controlled the chamber. The chairmanship gave Stevens considerable influence among fellow Senators, who relied on him for home-state project funds. Even before becoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Stevens secured large sums of federal money for the state of Alaska. Due to Republican Party rules that limited committee chairmanships to six years, Stevens gave up the Appropriations gavel at the start of the 109th Congress
109th United States Congress
The One Hundred Ninth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, during the fifth and sixth years of George W. Bush's presidency. House members...
, in January 2005.
He chaired the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate in charge of all senate matters related to the following subjects:* Coast Guard* Coastal zone management* Communications...
during the 109th Congress, becoming the committee's ranking member after the Democrats regained control of the Senate for the 110th Congress. He resigned his ranking-member position on the committee due to his indictment.
At various times, Stevens also served as Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
, the Senate Ethics Committee
United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee...
, the Arms Control Observer Group, and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
Due to Stevens's long tenure and that of the state's sole congressman, Don Young
Don Young
Donald Edwin "Don" Young is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1973. He is a member of the Republican Party.Young is the 6th most senior U.S. Representative and the 2nd most senior Republican Representative, as well as the 2nd most senior Republican in Congress as a whole...
, Alaska was considered to have clout in national politics well beyond its small population (the state was long the smallest in population and is currently 47th, ahead of only Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
and Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
).
Internet and network neutrality
On June 28, 2006, the Senate commerce committee was in the final day of three days of hearings, during which the Committee members considered over 200 amendments to an omnibus telecommunications bill. Senator Stevens authored the bill, S. 2686, the Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006.Senators Olympia Snowe
Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe , née Bouchles, is the senior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes, including whether to end filibusters. She and her fellow Senator from Maine, Susan Collins,...
(R-ME) and Byron Dorgan
Byron Dorgan
Byron Leslie Dorgan is a former United States Senator from North Dakota and is now a senior policy advisor for a Washington, DC law firm. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. In the Senate, he was Chairman of the Democratic...
(D-ND) cosponsored and spoke on behalf of an amendment that would have inserted strong network neutrality
Network neutrality
Network neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...
mandates into the bill. In between speeches by Snowe and Dorgan, Stevens gave a vehement 11-minute speech using colorful language to explain his opposition to the amendment. Stevens referred to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as "not a big truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
," but a "series of tubes
Series of tubes
"Series of tubes" is a phrase coined originally as an analogy by then-United States Senator Ted Stevens to describe the Internet in the context of opposing network neutrality. On June 28, 2006, he used this metaphor to criticize a proposed amendment to a committee bill...
" that could be clogged with information. Stevens also confused the terms Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
. Soon after, Stevens's interpretation of how the Internet works became a topic of amusement and ridicule in the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
. The phrases "the Internet is not a big truck" and "series of tubes" became internet memes and were prominently featured on U.S. television shows including Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. In obituaries, he was remembered however as the "grandfather of net neutrality"
Cnet
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
Journalist Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh is an American journalist and columnist for CBSNews.com. He specializes in computer security and privacy issues. He is notable, among other things, for his early involvement with the media interpretation of U.S...
called "series of tubes" an "entirely reasonable" metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for the Internet, noting that some computer operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s use the term 'pipes
Pipeline (Unix)
In Unix-like computer operating systems , a pipeline is the original software pipeline: a set of processes chained by their standard streams, so that the output of each process feeds directly as input to the next one. Each connection is implemented by an anonymous pipe...
' to describe interprocess communication.
Logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
and championed a plan that would allow 2400000 acres (9,712.5 km²) of roadless old growth forest
Old growth forest
An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
to be clear-cut. Stevens stated that this would revive Alaska's timber industry and bring jobs to unemployed loggers; however, the proposal would mean that thousands of miles of roads would be constructed at the expense of the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
, judged to cost taxpayers $200,000 per job created.
Abortion
Stevens considered himself pro-choicePro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
. According to On the Issues
On the Issues
On The Issues or OnTheIssues is a non-partisan, non-profit organization providing information to voters about candidates, primarily via their web site. This organization was started in 1996, went non-profit in 2000, and is currently run primarily by volunteers.The president and CEO of On the...
and NARAL, Ted Stevens had a mildly pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
voting record, despite some notable pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
votes.
However, as a former member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership
Republican Main Street Partnership
The Republican Main Street Partnership is a group of moderate members of the United States Republican Party. They tend away from the dominant social conservatism of many Republicans and towards a moderate fiscal conservatism and limited government to a degree. The group is the rough equivalent of...
, Stevens supported human embryonic stem cell research.
Global warming
Stevens, once an avowed critic of anthropogenic climate change, began actively supporting legislation to combat climate change in early 2007. "Global climate change is a very serious problem for us, becoming more so every day," he said at a Senate hearing, adding that he was "concerned about the human impacts on our climate."However, in September 2007, Stevens said:
We're at the end of a long, long term of warming. 700 to 900 years of increased temperature, a very slow increase. We think we're close to the end of that. If we're close to the end of that, that means that we'll starting getting cooler gradually, not very rapidly, but cooler once again and stability might come to this region for a period of another 900 years.
Criticism of political positions and actions
As a Senator, Ted Stevens was subject to criticism:- Citizens Against Government WasteCitizens Against Government WasteCitizens Against Government Waste is a 501 non-profit organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, 'government watchdog', and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes...
has accused Stevens of pork barrelPork barrelPork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
politics and keeps a list of his projects. - Additionally, he received criticism for introducing a bill in January 2007 that would heavily restrict access to social networking sites from public schools and libraries. Sites falling under the language of this bill could include MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, DiggDiggDigg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
, WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
and RedditRedditreddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
. - In 2007, Stevens added $3.5 million into a Senate spending bill to help finance an airport to serve a remote Alaskan island. The airstrip would connect the roughly 100 permanent residents of AkutanAkutan, AlaskaAkutan is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 713 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the population was 812.-Geography:Akutan is located at...
, but the biggest beneficiary is the Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp.Trident SeafoodsTrident Seafoods is the largest seafood company in the United States. It manages a network of fishing ships, processing plants, and a vertically integrated distributorship of its products. Founded in 1973, and based in Seattle, Washington, the company acquired Tyson Seafoods in 1999. Trident...
that operates "one of the world's largest seafood processing plants on the volcanic island in the Aleutians." In December 2006, a federal grand jury investigating political corruption in Alaska ordered Trident and other seafood companies to produce documents about ties to the senator's son, former Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board Chairman Ben Stevens. Trident's chief executive, Charles Bundrant, was a longtime supporter of Sen. Stevens, and Bundrant with his family contributed $17,300 since 1995 to Ted Stevens's political campaigns and $10,800 to his leadership PAC while Bundrant also gave $55,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Controversies
In December 2003, the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that Stevens had taken advantage of lax Senate rules to use his political influence to obtain a large amount of his personal wealth. According to the article, while Stevens was already a millionaire "thanks to investments with businessmen who received government contracts or other benefits with his help," the lawmaker who is in charge of $800 billion a year, writes "preferences he wrote into law," from which he then benefits.
Home remodeling and VECO
Bill Allen (corporate CEO)
William J. "Bill" Allen is the co-founder and former CEO of the Alaska oilfield services company VECO Corporation. VECO Corporation was an Alaska-based oil pipeline service and construction company. Bill Allen was born in New Mexico and at the age of 16 left for the oil fields of Alaska to become...
, a founder of the VECO Corporation – an oil-field service company – and has been estimated to have cost VECO and the various contractors $250,000 or more. However, the residential contractor who finished the renovation for VECO, Augie Paone, "believes the [Stevens's] remodeling could have cost – if all the work was done efficiently – around $130,000 to $150,000, close to the figure Stevens cited last year." The Stevens paid $160,000 for the renovations "and assumed that covered everything."
In June, the Anchorage Daily News reported that a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., heard evidence in May about the expansion of Stevens's Girdwood home and other matters connecting Stevens to VECO. In mid-June, FBI agents questioned several aides who work for Stevens as part of the investigation. In July, Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
magazine reported that Stevens had hired "Washington's most powerful and expensive lawyer", Brendan Sullivan Jr
Brendan Sullivan
Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr. is a senior partner of the law firm Williams & Connolly. Sullivan is probably best known for the role he served, in the late 1980s, as defense counsel for United States Marines Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal...
., in response to the investigation. In 2006, during wiretapped conversations with Bill Allen, Stevens expressed worries over potential misunderstandings and legal complications arising from the sweeping federal investigations into Alaskan politics. On the witness stand, "Allen testified that VECO staff who had worked on his own house had charged 'way too much,' leaving him uncertain how much to invoice Stevens for when he had his staff work on the senator's house ... that he would be embarrassed to bill Stevens for overpriced labor on the house, and said he concealed some of the expense."
Former aide McCabe
The Justice Department is also examining whether federal funds that Stevens steered to the Alaska SeaLife CenterAlaska SeaLife Center
The Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska’s premier public aquarium and Alaska's only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility , is located on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward in the U.S. state of Alaska...
may have enriched a former aide. Currently the United States Department of Commerce
United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...
and the Interior Department
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
's inspector general are investigating "how millions of dollars that Stevens (R-Alaska) obtained for the nonprofit Alaska SeaLife Center
Alaska SeaLife Center
The Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska’s premier public aquarium and Alaska's only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility , is located on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward in the U.S. state of Alaska...
were spent." According to CNN, "Among the questions is how about $700,000 of nearly $4 million directed to the National Park Service wound up being paid to companies associated with Trevor McCabe, a former legislative director for Stevens."
Bob Penney
In September 2007, The Hill reported that Stevens had "steered millions of federal dollars to a sportfishing industry group founded by Bob Penney, a longtime friend." In 1998, Stevens invested $15,000 in a Utah land deal managed by Penney; in 2004, Stevens sold his share of the property for $150,000.Indictment
On July 29, 2008, Stevens was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of failing to properly report gifts, a felony, and found guilty at trial three months later (October 27, 2008). The charges relate to renovations to his home and alleged gifts from VECO Corporation, claimed to be worth more than $250,000. The indictment followed a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for possible corruption by Alaskan politicians and was based on Stevens's relationship with Bill Allen. Allen, then an oil service company executive, had earlier pleaded guilty – with sentencing suspended pending his cooperation in gathering evidence and giving testimony in other trials – to bribing several Alaskan state legislators, including a disputed claim about Stevens's son, former State Senator Ben Stevens. Stevens declared, "I'm innocent," and pleaded not guilty to the charges in a federal district court on July 31, 2008. Stevens asserted his right to a speedy trialSpeedy trial
Speedy trial refers to one of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to defendants in criminal proceedings. The right to a speedy trial, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, is intended to ensure that defendants are not subjected to unreasonably lengthy incarceration prior to a fair...
so that he could have the opportunity to clear his name promptly and requested that the trial be held before the 2008 election.
US District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
Judge in Washington DC Emmet G. Sullivan
Emmet G. Sullivan
Emmet G. Sullivan is a US District Court Judge in Washington, D.C.Judge Emmet G. Sullivan was born in Washington, D.C. and attended public schools in the District of Columbia until his graduation from McKinley High School in 1964...
, on October 2, 2008, denied the mistrial petition of Stevens's chief counsel, Brendan Sullivan
Brendan Sullivan
Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr. is a senior partner of the law firm Williams & Connolly. Sullivan is probably best known for the role he served, in the late 1980s, as defense counsel for United States Marines Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal...
, due to allegations of withholding evidence by prosecutors. Thus, the latter were admonished, and would submit themselves for internal probe by the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. Brady v. Maryland
Brady v. Maryland
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the prosecution had withheld from the criminal defendant certain evidence. The defendant challenged his conviction, arguing it had been contrary to the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United...
requires prosecutors to give a defendant all information for defense. Judge Sulllivan had earlier admonished the prosecution for sending home to Alaska a witness who might have helped the defense.
The case was prosecuted by Principal Deputy Chief Brenda K. Morris, Trial Attorneys Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division
United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States, except those specifically assigned to other divisions. Criminal Division attorneys prosecute many nationally significant cases and formulate and...
's Public Integrity Section
Public Integrity Section
The Public Integrity Section is a section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice charged with combating political corruption at all levels of government through the prosecution of corrupt federal, state, and local elected and appointed public officials.-Administrative...
, headed by Chief William M. Welch II; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini and James A. Goeke from the District of Alaska.
Guilty verdict and consequences
On October 27, 2008, Stevens was found guilty of all seven counts of making false statements. Stevens was only the fifth sitting senator to be convicted by a jury in U.S. history, and the first since Senator Harrison A. WilliamsHarrison A. Williams
Harrison Arlington "Pete" Williams, Jr. was a Democrat who represented New Jersey in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate . Williams was convicted on May 1, 1981 for taking bribes in the Abscam sting operation, and resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1982...
(D-NJ) in 1981 (although Senator David Durenberger
David Durenberger
David Ferdinand Durenberger is an American politician and a former Republican member of the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.- Early life :...
(R-MN) pled guilty to a felony more recently, in 1995). Stevens faced a maximum penalty of five years per charge. His sentencing hearing was originally arranged February 25, but his attorneys told Judge Emmet Sullivan they would file applications to dispute the verdict by early December. However, it was thought unlikely that he would have seen significant time in prison.
Within a few days of his conviction, Stevens faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. Both parties' presidential candidates, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, were quick to call for Stevens to stand down. Obama said that Stevens needed to resign to help "put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling in Washington." McCain said that Stevens "has broken his trust with the people" and needed to step down—a call echoed by his running mate, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, governor of Stevens's home state. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Republican Minority Leader.- Early life, education, and military service :...
, as well as fellow Republican Senators Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
, John Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
and Gordon Smith also called for Stevens to resign. McConnell said there would be "zero tolerance" for a convicted felon serving in the Senate—strongly hinting that he would support Stevens's expulsion from the Senate unless Stevens resigned first. Late on November 1, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...
confirmed that he would schedule a vote on Stevens's expulsion, saying that "a convicted felon is not going to be able to serve in the United States Senate." Had Stevens been expelled after winning election, a special election would have been held to fill the seat through the remainder of the term, until 2014. Some speculated Palin would have tried to run for the Senate via this special election. No sitting Senator has been expelled since the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Nonetheless, during a debate with his opponent Mark Begich
Mark Begich
Mark Peter Begich is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. A former mayor of Anchorage, he served on the Anchorage Assembly for almost ten years prior to being elected mayor in 2003...
days after his conviction, Stevens continued to claim innocence. "I have not been convicted. I have a case pending against me, and probably the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct by the prosecutors that is known." Stevens also cited plans to appeal. Begich went on to defeat Stevens by 3,724 votes.
On November 13, Senator Jim DeMint
Jim DeMint
James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
announced he would move to have Stevens expelled from the Senate Republican Conference
Republican Conference of the United States Senate
The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the Republican Senators in the United States Senate, who currently number 47. Over the last century, the mission of the Conference has expanded and been shaped as a means of informing the media of the opinions and activities of Senate...
(caucus) regardless of the results of the election. Losing his caucus membership would cost Stevens his committee assignments. However, DeMint later decided to postpone offering his motion, saying that while there were enough votes to throw Stevens out, it would be a moot point if Stevens lost his reelection bid. Stevens ended up losing the Senate race, and on November 20, 2008, gave his last speech to the Senate, which was met with a rare Senate standing ovation.
In February 2009, FBI agent Chad Joy filed a whistleblower affidavit, alleging that prosecutors and FBI agents conspired to withhold and conceal evidence that could have resulted in a verdict of "not guilty." In his affidavit, Joy alleged that prosecutors intentionally sent a key witness back to Alaska after the witness performed poorly during a mock cross examination. The witness, Rocky Williams, later notified the defense attorneys that his testimony would undercut the prosecution's claim that his company had spent its own money renovating Sen. Stevens's house. Joy further alleged that the prosecutors intentionally withheld Brady material including redacted prior statements of a witness, and a memo from Bill Allen stating that Sen. Stevens probably would have paid for the goods and services if asked. Joy further alleged that a female FBI agent had an inappropriate relationship with Allen, who also gave gifts to FBI agents and helped one agent's relative get a job.
As a result of Joy's affidavit and claims by the defense that prosecutorial misconduct caused an unfair trial, Judge Sullivan ordered a hearing to be held on February 13, 2009, to determine whether a new trial should be ordered. At the February 13 hearing the judge held the prosecutors in contempt for failing to deliver documents to Stevens's legal counsel. Judge Sullivan called this conduct "outrageous."
Convictions voided and indictment dismissed
On behalf of U.S. Attorney General Eric HolderEric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
, Paul O'Brien submitted a "Motion of The United States To Set Aside The Verdict And Dismiss The Indictment With Prejudice" in connection with case No. 08-231 early on April 1, 2009. Federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan
Emmet G. Sullivan
Emmet G. Sullivan is a US District Court Judge in Washington, D.C.Judge Emmet G. Sullivan was born in Washington, D.C. and attended public schools in the District of Columbia until his graduation from McKinley High School in 1964...
soon signed the order, and since it occurred prior to sentencing it had the effect of vacating Stevens's conviction. During the trial, Sullivan expressed concern and anger regarding prosecutorial conduct and related issues. Holder, who had taken office only three months earlier, was reportedly very angry at the prosecutors' apparent withholding of exculpatory evidence
Exculpatory evidence
Exculpatory evidence is the evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial, which clears or tends to clear the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to prove guilt....
, and wanted to send a message that prosecutorial misconduct
Prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which may have broken the law, because the prosecution acted in an "inappropriate" or "unfair" manner. Such arguments may involve...
would not be tolerated under his watch. After Sullivan held the prosecutors in contempt, Holder replaced the entire trial team, including top officials in the public integrity section.
The final straw for Holder, according to numerous reports, was the discovery of a previously undocumented interview with Bill Allen, the prosecution's star witness, that raised the possibility prosecutors had knowingly allowed Allen to perjure
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
himself on the stand. Allen stated that the fair market value
Fair market value
Fair market value is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market. An estimate of fair market value may be founded either on precedent or...
of the repairs to Stevens's house was around $80,000 — far less than the $250,000 he said it cost at trial. More seriously, Allen said in the interview that he didn't recall talking to Bob Persons, a friend of Stevens, regarding the repair bill for Stevens's house. This directly contradicted Allen's testimony at trial, in which he claimed Stevens asked him to give Persons a note Stevens sent him asking for a bill on the repair work. At trial, Allen said Persons had told him the note shouldn't be taken seriously because "Ted's just covering his ass." Even without the notes, Stevens's attorneys claimed that they thought Allen was lying about the conversation.
Later that day, Stevens's attorney, Brendan Sullivan, said that Holder's decision was forced by "extraordinary evidence of government corruption." He also claimed that prosecutors not only withheld evidence, but "created false testimony that they gave us and actually presented false testimony in the courtroom" - two incidents that would have made it very likely that the convictions would have been overturned on appeal.
On April 7, 2009 federal judge Sullivan formally accepted Holder's motion to set aside the verdict and throw out the indictment, based on what Sullivan called the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he'd ever seen. He also initiated a criminal contempt investigation of six members of the prosecution. Although an internal probe by the Office of Professional Responsibility
Office of Professional Responsibility
The Office of Professional Responsibility is part of the United States Department of Justice responsible for investigating attorneys employed by the DOJ who have been accused of misconduct or crimes in their professional functions...
was already underway, Sullivan said he was not willing to trust it due to the "shocking and disturbing" nature of the misconduct.
Personal life
Stevens was voted Alaskan of the Century in 2000 by the Alaskan of the Year Committee. In the same year, the Alaska Legislature renamed the Anchorage airport, the largest in Alaska, to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International AirportTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport
-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Inter-terminal:...
.
The Ted Stevens Foundation is a charity established to "assist in educating and informing the public about the career of Senator Ted Stevens". The chairman is Tim McKeever, a lobbyist who was treasurer of Stevens's 2004 campaign. In May 2006, McKeever said that the charity was "nonpartisan and nonpolitical," and that Stevens does not raise money for the foundation, although he has attended some fund-raisers.
When discussing issues that were especially important to him (such as opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...
to oil drilling), Stevens wore a necktie with The Incredible Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
on it to show his seriousness. Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
has sent him free Hulk paraphernalia and has thrown a Hulk party for him.
November 18, 2003, the Senator's 80th birthday, was declared Senator Ted Stevens Appreciation Day by Governor of Alaska Frank H. Murkowski.
On December 21, 2005, Senator Stevens said that the vote to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...
"has been the saddest day of my life."
Stevens delivered a eulogy of Gerald R. Ford at the 38th President's funeral ceremony on December 30, 2006.
On April 13, 2007, Senator Stevens was recognized as being the longest serving Republican senator in history with a career spanning over 38 years. His colleague Sen. Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate...
(D-HI) referred to Stevens as "The Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
of the Arctic Circle."
Death and legacy
On August 9, 2010, Stevens, along with seven other passengers including former NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
administrator Sean O'Keefe
Sean O'Keefe
Sean O'Keefe is the CEO of EADS North America, a subsidiary of the European aerospace firm EADS, a former Administrator of NASA, and former chancellor of Louisiana State University . O'Keefe is also a former member of the board of directors of DuPont...
, were in a plane crash about 17 miles north of Dillingham, Alaska
Dillingham, Alaska
- Natural resources :Dillingham was once known as the Pacific salmon capital of the world and commercial fishing remains an important part of the local economy...
, while en route to a private fishing lodge. Dave Dittman, a friend of Stevens, first reported that he had been told that Stevens had died in the incident, but later released a statement saying "that has not been confirmed." Stevens was confirmed dead in the crash via a statement from his family. He and others were aboard a single-engine Turbo Otter, a DeHavilland DH3T reportedly registered to Anchorage-based GCI Communication. As Stevens's death was confirmed, Alaskan and national political figures from all sides of the political spectrum spoke highly of the man many Alaskans knew as "Uncle Ted." Senator Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski is the senior U.S. Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She was appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski. After losing a Republican primary in 2010, she became the second person ever to win a U.S...
said of Stevens: "His entire life was dedicated to public service—from his days as a pilot in World War II to his four decades of service in the United States Senate. He truly was the greatest of the ‘Greatest Generation." Senator Mark Begich
Mark Begich
Mark Peter Begich is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. A former mayor of Anchorage, he served on the Anchorage Assembly for almost ten years prior to being elected mayor in 2003...
stated, "Over his four decades of public service in the U.S. Senate, Senator Stevens was a forceful advocate for Alaska who helped transform our state in the challenging years after Statehood" and former president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
released a statement that "Ted Stevens loved the Senate; he loved Alaska; and he loved his family — and he will be dearly missed."
Memorial services
Several hundred people attended a memorial mass for Stevens at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage on Monday, August 16, 2010. On Tuesday, mourners paid their respects as he lay in a closed casket at All Saints Episcopal Church, also in Anchorage. His funeral on Wednesday at Anchorage Baptist Temple was attended by some 3,000 people, including Vice-President Joe BidenJoe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
, former Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, current Governor Sean Parnell
Sean Parnell
Sean R. Parnell is an American Republican politician who is the tenth and current Governor of Alaska. He succeeded Sarah Palin following her resignation, and was sworn in at the Governor's Picnic in Fairbanks on July 26, 2009...
and three other former governors, 11 senators, 9 former senators, and 2 congressman, and many other dignitaries from state and federal governments, the armed forces, and abroad. Stevens was interred at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
on September 28.
See also
- Alaska political corruption probe
- List of fatalities from aviation accidents
- Mount StevensMount Stevens (Alaska)Mount Stevens is a mountain located in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.Mount Stevens is flanked to the northwest by Mount Hunter, and is about south of Mount McKinley....
External links
- Timeline: Ted Stevens from the Anchorage Daily NewsAnchorage Daily NewsThe Anchorage Daily News is a daily newspaper based in Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States. It is often referred to colloquially as either "the Daily News" or "the ADN"...
- Ted Stevens News from The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Obituary from BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- Ted Stevens Paper Projects from Alaska & Polar Regions Collections of Elmer E. Rasmuson & BioSciences LibrariesElmer E. Rasmuson LibraryThe Elmer E. Rasmuson Library is the largest library in the U.S. state of Alaska, housing just under a million volumes. It is located on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. It is named in honor of Elmer E...
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