Thomas Kean
Encyclopedia
Thomas Howard Kean is an American
Republican Party
politician
, who served as the 48th Governor
of New Jersey
from 1982 to 1990. Kean is best known globally, however, for his 2002 appointment as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
, widely known as the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for investigating the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks
and providing recommendations to prevent future terrorist attacks. He was appointed to this post by U.S. President George W. Bush
. Upon the completion of his second term as Governor, he served as the president of Drew University
for 15 years, until his retirement in 2005.
to a long line of New Jersey
politicians. His mother was Elizabeth Howard and his father, Robert Kean
, was a U.S. Representative
. His grandfather Hamilton Fish Kean
and great-uncle John Kean
both served as U.S. Senators
. His second great-uncle was Hamilton Fish
, a U.S. Senator, governor of New York
, and Secretary of State
. Kean's relative, William Livingston
, was a delegate to the Continental Congress
and the first governor of New Jersey.
Kean was initially educated at The Potomac School
in Washington, D.C.
When he reached the fourth grade, he entered St. Albans School
. In 1946, at the age of eleven, his parents then enrolled him at St. Mark's School
in Southborough, Massachusetts
, the alma mater of his father and two older brothers.
After graduating from St. Mark's, he attended Princeton University
in Princeton, New Jersey
, where he received his B.A. in history in 1957. After working on his father's unsuccessful senatorial campaign, and as a history teacher for three years at St. Mark's School
, Kean attended Teachers College, Columbia University
in New York City and earned his M.A. in history.
Kean was a longtime resident of Livingston, New Jersey
.
and government
, Kean was elected, in 1967, as a Republican to the New Jersey General Assembly
.
At the start of the Assembly session in 1972, Democratic leadership had wanted to name S. Howard Woodson
of Trenton
as Speaker, until Assemblyman David Friedland
made a deal as one of four Democrats who voted to give the minority Republicans control of the General Assembly, electing Kean as Assembly Speaker. Woodson would have been the Assembly's first African American
Speaker, and charges of racism were leveled by fellow Democrats against Friedland. In the next Assembly, in 1974, the Democrats united behind Woodson for Speaker; Kean then became the minority leader of the Assembly. In 1973, he briefly served as acting New Jersey Governor
During the 1976 presidential campaign
, Kean served as Gerald Ford's
campaign manager for the state of New Jersey.
. Kean was unable to obtain the endorsement of many county Republican chairmen, or Gerald Ford, despite having served as his campaign director for the state of New Jersey the previous year. Bateman defeated Kean and won the nomination, though Bateman went on to lose the general election to Brendan Byrne
.
After the election, Governor Byrne appointed Kean as a commissioner on the board of the New Jersey Highway Authority. Kean also worked as a political commentator on New Jersey public television
.
Kean defeated U.S. Representative James Florio
in the closest election in New Jersey gubernatorial election history; Kean won by 1,797 votes. The election was controversial, due to the involvement of the Republican National Committee
, who appointed a Ballot Security Task Force
, allegedly to intimidate voters.
Kean proved hugely popular in office. In striking contrast to his slim 1981 victory, he won re-election in 1985 with the largest margin of victory in the history of New Jersey gubernatorial races, defeating Peter Shapiro
, then Essex
County Executive
, 71%-24%. Kean won every municipality in the state except Audubon Park
and Chesilhurst
in Camden County
and Roosevelt
in Monmouth County
.
in New Orleans
. The same year, he also authored a book, The Politics of Inclusion, published by Free Press, which urged political cooperation among historically divided interest groups and politicians.
, Kean left office in January, 1990 as one of the most popular political figures in New Jersey political history. Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester
, New Jersey Congressman Bob Franks
, and other leading New Jersey and national Republican figures began their political and public policy careers in his state administration. He was succeeded by Florio, who won a landslide victory in November 1989.
The Rutgers Program on the Governor, at the Eagleton Institute of Politics
, has started the Thomas H. Kean Archive.
, a small liberal arts university in Madison, New Jersey
. Kean's considerable standing as a popular former governor of the state was helpful as he undertook an upgrading of the university's campus and academic programs. Extremely popular among the student body, Kean served as Drew's President until 2005. While at Drew, Kean taught a political science seminar and served as advisor to That Medieval Thing and Alpha Phi Omega.
, Bill Clinton
(with whom he had worked closely in the National Governors Association
) and George W. Bush
, who saw Kean as an important national political ally.
Former Heritage Foundation
foreign policy analyst Michael Johns
and other national policy and political leaders were recruited by Kean to support and help administer his growing involvement in a broad range of national policy initiatives in the fields of education, environmental, low-income housing, foreign policy and other issues. As Governor, Kean had some degree of national recognition as the spokesperson for a New Jersey tourism commercial, in which he cited the state's tourism motto: "New Jersey and You: Perfect Together." With Johns' support, Kean also quickly established foreign policy and national security credentials following his Governorship that ultimately proved important in his gaining appointment by President George W. Bush to head the 9/11 Commission.
Beginning in 1990, Kean for the first time began expressing views on foreign policy and national security matters, views that generally mirrored those of the Republican Party. In a December 15, 1991 speech to The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Kean endorsed the free trade
initiatives under way by the administration of then-President George H. W. Bush
. He also advocated continued U.S. aid to anti-communist resistance forces in Afghanistan
, Angola
, and to those engaged in supporting democratic change in the former Soviet Union
. "To those supporting the Afghan resistance," Kean told the Heritage Foundation audience in 1991, "I say, carry on."
Kean quickly was appointed to the boards of several important foreign policy bodies, including the U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy
(NED), which was heavily engaged in supporting democracy
-building programs in former Eastern bloc
and other nations around the world, and a Presidential advisory commission on a post-Castro
Cuba
, chaired by former U.S. Presidential Republican candidate Steve Forbes
.
Several years later, in 1997, Kean was appointed as an Advisory Board member of President Clinton's One America Initiative
, designed to help heal racial divides in the nation.
, political pressure grew for an independent commission to independently investigate why the attacks were not prevented by U.S. national security organizations, including the Central Intelligence Agency
, Department of Defense
, National Security Agency
and others, and to provide recommendations for preventing future terrorist attacks.
Kean serves as a co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) at the Bipartisan Policy Center
.
Bush initially selected former Nixon's
Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger
to head the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission
). But on December 13, 2002, Kissinger resigned as the Commission's Chairman, under pressure because of potential conflicts with his global business consultancy.
Noting Kean's post-gubernatorial foreign policy involvement and his reputation as a consensus-oriented political leader, Bush nominated Kean to succeed Kissinger in leading the important and politically-sensitive Commission. The Commission is widely considered the most important independent U.S. government commission since the Warren Commission
, which was charged with investigating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy
, and perhaps the most important in American history given its mammoth responsibility for investigating the causes of the first foreign attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812
, and recommending steps to defend the U.S. from future attacks. Kean's appointment to head the Commission, and later the work and final report of the Commission, drew substantial global attention.
Once the Commission began its work, some critics argued that Kean, the Commission members, and the Commission staff almost all had various business and political conflicts that made it difficult to lay blame on their political allies. One prominent example was the Commission's Staff Director, Philip D. Zelikow
, who had served on George W. Bush's Presidential transition team and had worked closely with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
, a key Commission witness, in the George H. W. Bush administration.
Kean has also been criticized for using his role as the chairman of the 9/11 Commission in order to make profit, such as his book, Without Precedent. Some also argue that his endorsement of the television movie, The Path to 9/11
, was misguided. The film features some scenes which are known to be false, according to those involved and the official 9/11 Commission Report. Kean was also a paid consultant to the film and was credited as an executive producer
.
On April 4, 2004, Kean again stated that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented, saying that the United States government should have acted sooner to dismantle al-Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats. "When we actually saw bin Laden on the ground, using the Predator or other means, did we have...actionable intelligence? Should we have sent a cruise missile into a site where he was at that point? I think those early opportunities are clear. We had him. We saw him. I think maybe we could have done something about it."
On July 22, 2004, the Commission issued its final report, the 9/11 Commission Report
, which concluded that the CIA and the FBI
had ill-served President Bush and the American people in failing to predict or prevent the September 11 attacks, which the report concluded was preventable.
, titled Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, was released regarding the September 11 attacks and the September 11 Commission.
In the book, Kean and Hamilton write that the 9/11 Commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by The Pentagon
and Federal Aviation Administration
that it considered an investigation into possible deception by these government bodies concerning their response to the attacks.
miniseries The Path to 9/11
, which aired nationally and without commercial interruption on September 10, 2006. On September 11, the second part of the miniseries aired, also without commercial interruption, with the exception of a 20-minute break at 9pm ET, when President Bush addressed the nation on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
While not technically considered a documentary by ABC, prior to its airing, the series drew criticism for misrepresenting facts leading up the September 11 attacks. Many former high-ranking Clinton administration officials, including Clinton himself, and other scholars, publicly questioned the accuracy of the miniseries and asked that it not be aired. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
called the miniseries' portrayal of her "false and defamatory." Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen
Barbara Bodine
also strongly criticized her character's portrayal, complaining in the Los Angeles Times
about the "mythmakers" who created the film, calling the project "false." The film depicts Clinton and his administration with being aloof in addressing the al-Qaeda threat, failing to intervene in ways that could have prevented the attack, and being too absorbed in the political dimensions of the Monica Lewinsky
scandal to properly defend the nation's national security interests.
Kean defended the docudrama in July 2006 and until the eve of the broadcast, declining to disclose the amount of his payment from ABC for supporting the project.
publicly released a video, featuring its Deputy Chief Ayman al-Zawahri urging all Muslim
s to unite in a holy war
against the U.S. in Iraq
and elsewhere. The 95-minute video was discovered and released by U.S. intelligence sources and, in addition to al-Zawahri's comments, prominently featured video excerpts of Kean citing al-Qaeda as one of the most formidable security threats that the U.S. has ever confronted, presumably with the intention of bolstering the morale of al-Qaeda supporters through Kean's citation of the magnitude of the movement's strength and threat. Comments by Kean cited on the video include a reference to the fact that al-Qaeda remains as strong in 2007 as it was before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The video also appeared to validate that al-Qaeda was closely monitoring U.S. political developments, especially including the work of the September 11 Commission, which Kean chaired. It also suggested that al-Qaeda intended to focus not just on engaging the West in Iraq, but also in other countries. "As for the second half of the long-term plan," al-Zawahri says on the video, "it consists of hurrying to the fields of Jihad like Afghanistan
, Iraq and Somalia
for Jihadi preparation and training."
, including ARAMARK
, Hess Corporation
, Pepsi Bottling Group
, and major financial firms CIT Group Incorporated
and Franklin Templeton Investments
.
Since 1993, Kean has also been on the board of UnitedHealth Group
, a large health insurance firm. In 2006, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
began investigating the conduct of the company's management and directors. Additionally, the Internal Revenue Service
and prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light after a series of probing articles in The Wall Street Journal
in May 2006, which reported on the apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options by UnitedHealth Group's management. The backdating allegedly occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, including Kean, who sat on the company's compensation committee during three crucial years, according to the Journal. Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing Kean and the other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty.
In 2004, Kean's compensation from UnitedHealth Group alone was more than $650,000; in that year, as a corporate director, he missed more than a quarter of the company's board-related meetings.
. Kean's son, Tom, Jr., is a New Jersey State Senator
and Minority Leader
of the New Jersey Senate
, representing New Jersey's 21st district. Kean Jr. was the Republican
Senatorial
nominee in the November 2006 general election
, losing to Democrat
Bob Menendez. The race was expected to be close, but Menendez won by a 9-point margin.
Kean is also a weekly columnist for The Star-Ledger
, a Newark, New Jersey
newspaper, where he and former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne
(his immediate predecessor as New Jersey Governor) address issues of the day in a column titled "Kean-Byrne Dialogue". Although the two sometimes disagree (as Kean is a Republican, while Byrne is a Democrat), they occasionally see eye to eye on topics, and both men have expressed great mutual respect for each other.
Kean is an advisor to, and has been inducted into, Alpha Phi Omega
, a national service fraternity.
Kean is a partner in Quad Partners, a private equity firm that invests in the education industry.
On November 19, 2007, Kean endorsed John McCain
for the 2008 presidential race
.
in Union Township
, New Jersey
is named after the Kean political dynasty. In 1958 the school, then named Newark State College, moved from Newark, New Jersey
to the Kean family estate in Union Township. The university is located at the ancestral home of the Kean and William Livingston
families at Liberty Hall
, a National Historic Landmark on the Liberty Hall Campus of Kean University. In 1973, Newark State was named Kean College of New Jersey in honor of the Kean family and the school attaind university status in 1997. The Keans maintain close ties with Liberty Hall and Kean University.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, who served as the 48th Governor
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
from 1982 to 1990. Kean is best known globally, however, for his 2002 appointment as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
, widely known as the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for investigating the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
and providing recommendations to prevent future terrorist attacks. He was appointed to this post by U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Upon the completion of his second term as Governor, he served as the president of Drew University
Drew University
Drew University is a private university located in Madison, New Jersey.Originally established as the Drew Theological Seminary in 1867, the university later expanded to include an undergraduate liberal arts college in 1928 and commenced a program of graduate studies in 1955...
for 15 years, until his retirement in 2005.
Early life and education
Kean was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to a long line of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
politicians. His mother was Elizabeth Howard and his father, Robert Kean
Robert Kean
Robert Winthrop Kean was a Republican politician who represented New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty years.-Biography:...
, was a U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. His grandfather Hamilton Fish Kean
Hamilton Fish Kean
Hamilton Fish Kean was a U.S. senator from New Jersey.Kean was the son of Lucy and John Kean. He was related to several prominent American politicians including his great-grandfather John Kean , his brother John Kean , and his son Robert Kean...
and great-uncle John Kean
John Kean (New Jersey)
John Kean was an American lawyer, banker and Republican Party politician from Elizabeth, New Jersey. He represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate from 1899 to 1911 and served two separate terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1883 to 1885, and from 1887 to 1889...
both served as U.S. Senators
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...
. His second great-uncle was Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
, a U.S. Senator, governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
, and Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
. Kean's relative, William Livingston
William Livingston
William Livingston served as the Governor of New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War and was a signer of the United States Constitution.-Early life:...
, was a delegate to the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
and the first governor of New Jersey.
Kean was initially educated at The Potomac School
The Potomac School
The Potomac School is an independent K–12 coeducational college preparatory school in McLean, Virginia, USA located on one campus, three miles from Washington, D.C. Founded in 1904, the School emphasizes academic, athletic and artistic excellence together with character development and...
in 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....
When he reached the fourth grade, he entered St. Albans School
St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.)
St. Albans School is an independent college preparatory school for boys in grades 4–12, located in Washington, D.C. The school is named after Saint Alban, traditionally regarded as the first British martyr. Within the St...
. In 1946, at the age of eleven, his parents then enrolled him at St. Mark's School
St. Mark's School (Massachusetts)
St. Mark’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, preparatory school, situated on in Southborough, Massachusetts, from Boston. It was founded in 1865 as an all-boys' school by Joseph Burnett, a wealthy native of Southborough who developed and marketed the world-famous Burnett Vanilla Extract . ...
in Southborough, Massachusetts
Southborough, Massachusetts
Southborough is an affluent town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It incorporates the smaller villages of Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville. Its name is often informally shortened to Southboro, a usage seen on many area signs and maps. Its population was 9,767 at the 2010...
, the alma mater of his father and two older brothers.
After graduating from St. Mark's, he attended Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, where he received his B.A. in history in 1957. After working on his father's unsuccessful senatorial campaign, and as a history teacher for three years at St. Mark's School
St. Mark's School (Massachusetts)
St. Mark’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, preparatory school, situated on in Southborough, Massachusetts, from Boston. It was founded in 1865 as an all-boys' school by Joseph Burnett, a wealthy native of Southborough who developed and marketed the world-famous Burnett Vanilla Extract . ...
, Kean attended Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
in New York City and earned his M.A. in history.
Kean was a longtime resident of Livingston, New Jersey
Livingston, New Jersey
Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 29,366.Livingston was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813, from portions of Caldwell Township and Springfield...
.
New Jersey political career
Originally a teacher of historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
, Kean was elected, in 1967, as a Republican to the New Jersey General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
.
At the start of the Assembly session in 1972, Democratic leadership had wanted to name S. Howard Woodson
S. Howard Woodson
Samuel Howard Woodson, Jr. was an American pastor, civil rights leader, and Democratic Party politician from New Jersey. He was the first African American to serve as Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly.-Biography:...
of Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
as Speaker, until Assemblyman David Friedland
David Friedland
David J. Friedland is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Hudson County, New Jersey who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature, serving in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1966 to 1974 and then was elected to the Senate, serving from 1978 until his conviction...
made a deal as one of four Democrats who voted to give the minority Republicans control of the General Assembly, electing Kean as Assembly Speaker. Woodson would have been the Assembly's first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
Speaker, and charges of racism were leveled by fellow Democrats against Friedland. In the next Assembly, in 1974, the Democrats united behind Woodson for Speaker; Kean then became the minority leader of the Assembly. In 1973, he briefly served as acting New Jersey Governor
During the 1976 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1976
The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic...
, Kean served as Gerald Ford's
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
campaign manager for the state of New Jersey.
1977 gubernatorial loss and aftermath
In 1977, Kean ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the governor of New Jersey. Although he spent most of his career as a political moderate, in this race Kean ran to the right of New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Raymond BatemanRaymond Bateman
Raymond H. Bateman "Ray" is an American Republican Party politician, who represented the 16th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate in the 1960s and 70s, and was the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in 1977...
. Kean was unable to obtain the endorsement of many county Republican chairmen, or Gerald Ford, despite having served as his campaign director for the state of New Jersey the previous year. Bateman defeated Kean and won the nomination, though Bateman went on to lose the general election to Brendan Byrne
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne is an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, who served as the 47th Governor of New Jersey, from 1974 to 1982.-Early life and education:...
.
After the election, Governor Byrne appointed Kean as a commissioner on the board of the New Jersey Highway Authority. Kean also worked as a political commentator on New Jersey public television
New Jersey Network
The New Jersey Network, or NJN, was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service for television and the National Public Radio for radio, broadcasting their programming as well as producing and...
.
1981 gubernatorial victory and 1985 re-election
Kean fared better four years later, in 1981, when he again ran for Governor. Kean made campaign promises to foster job creation, clean up toxic waste sites, reduce crime, and to preserve home rule. He also received the endorsement of Gerald Ford his second time running for governor.Kean defeated U.S. Representative James Florio
James Florio
James Joseph "Jim" Florio is a Democratic politician who served as the 49th Governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994, the first Italian American to hold the position...
in the closest election in New Jersey gubernatorial election history; Kean won by 1,797 votes. The election was controversial, due to the involvement of 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...
, who appointed a Ballot Security Task Force
Ballot Security Task Force
The National Ballot Security Task Force was a controversial group founded in 1981 by the Republican National Committee located in New Jersey, as a means to win a gubernatorial election...
, allegedly to intimidate voters.
Kean proved hugely popular in office. In striking contrast to his slim 1981 victory, he won re-election in 1985 with the largest margin of victory in the history of New Jersey gubernatorial races, defeating Peter Shapiro
Peter Shapiro (politician)
Peter Shapiro is a financial executive and former politician from New Jersey. He was the youngest person ever elected to the New Jersey General Assembly and went on to serve as Essex County executive and as the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1985 against incumbent Thomas Kean.-...
, then Essex
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
County Executive
County executive
A county executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a county. This position is common in the United States.The executive may be an elected or an appointed position...
, 71%-24%. Kean won every municipality in the state except Audubon Park
Audubon Park, New Jersey
Audubon Park is a Borough in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 1,023.Audubon Park was incorporated as a borough on July 3, 1947, from portions of Audubon Borough, based on the results of a referendum held on October 28, 1947,...
and Chesilhurst
Chesilhurst, New Jersey
Chesilhurst is a Borough in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 1,634. New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Chesilhurst last among the towns rated in its 2008 rankings of "Best Places to Live" in New Jersey .Chesilhurst was...
in Camden County
Camden County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the 2010 Census the population of Camden County was 60.28% Non-Hispanic white, 18.45% Non-Hispanic black, 1.12% Hispanic blacks, 0.17% Non-Hispanic Native American, 0.15% Hispanic Native Americans, 5.07% Non-Hispanic Asian, and 0.14% non-Hispanics reporting some other race...
and Roosevelt
Roosevelt, New Jersey
Roosevelt was originally called Jersey Homesteads, and was created during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The town was home to a cooperative farming and manufacturing project...
in Monmouth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
.
1988 Republican Convention speech
In 1988, reflecting his stature as an up-and-coming leader of the Republican Party's moderate wing, Kean delivered the keynote speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention1988 Republican National Convention
The 1988 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its conclave in one of the five states known as the Deep South, coming on the...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. The same year, he also authored a book, The Politics of Inclusion, published by Free Press, which urged political cooperation among historically divided interest groups and politicians.
Gubernatorial legacy
Limited to two consecutive terms as governor by the New Jersey State ConstitutionNew Jersey State Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the state has been governed by three constitutions...
, Kean left office in January, 1990 as one of the most popular political figures in New Jersey political history. Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester
Doug Forrester
Douglas Forrester is an American businessman in New Jersey. He was the 2002 Republican nominee for New Jersey U.S. Senator and the 2005 Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey. Forrester was defeated by his two Democratic opponents, Frank Lautenberg and then-U.S. Senator Jon Corzine,...
, New Jersey Congressman Bob Franks
Bob Franks
Robert Douglas "Bob" Franks was a Republican politician. He was a former U.S. Representative from New Jersey.-Biography:...
, and other leading New Jersey and national Republican figures began their political and public policy careers in his state administration. He was succeeded by Florio, who won a landslide victory in November 1989.
The Rutgers Program on the Governor, at the Eagleton Institute of Politics
Eagleton Institute of Politics
The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University was established in 1956 with an endowment from Florence Peshine Eagleton , and it focuses on state and national politics through education, and public service.-Background:...
, has started the Thomas H. Kean Archive.
Drew University
Following the end of his second Gubernatorial term, Kean was named President of Drew UniversityDrew University
Drew University is a private university located in Madison, New Jersey.Originally established as the Drew Theological Seminary in 1867, the university later expanded to include an undergraduate liberal arts college in 1928 and commenced a program of graduate studies in 1955...
, a small liberal arts university in Madison, New Jersey
Madison, New Jersey
Madison is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the population was 16,530. It also is known as "The Rose City".-Geography:Madison is located at ....
. Kean's considerable standing as a popular former governor of the state was helpful as he undertook an upgrading of the university's campus and academic programs. Extremely popular among the student body, Kean served as Drew's President until 2005. While at Drew, Kean taught a political science seminar and served as advisor to That Medieval Thing and Alpha Phi Omega.
Involvement beginning in 1990
While leading Drew University, Kean also continued to expand his role as a national political leader, forging close working relationships with the administrations of George H. W. BushGeorge 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...
, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
(with whom he had worked closely in the National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
) and George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, who saw Kean as an important national political ally.
Former Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
foreign policy analyst Michael Johns
Michael Johns (executive)
Michael Johns is an American health care executive, former federal government of the United States official and conservative policy analyst and writer.-Biography:...
and other national policy and political leaders were recruited by Kean to support and help administer his growing involvement in a broad range of national policy initiatives in the fields of education, environmental, low-income housing, foreign policy and other issues. As Governor, Kean had some degree of national recognition as the spokesperson for a New Jersey tourism commercial, in which he cited the state's tourism motto: "New Jersey and You: Perfect Together." With Johns' support, Kean also quickly established foreign policy and national security credentials following his Governorship that ultimately proved important in his gaining appointment by President George W. Bush to head the 9/11 Commission.
Beginning in 1990, Kean for the first time began expressing views on foreign policy and national security matters, views that generally mirrored those of the Republican Party. In a December 15, 1991 speech to The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Kean endorsed the free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
initiatives under way by the administration of then-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...
. He also advocated continued U.S. aid to anti-communist resistance forces in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, and to those engaged in supporting democratic change in the former 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....
. "To those supporting the Afghan resistance," Kean told the Heritage Foundation audience in 1991, "I say, carry on."
Kean quickly was appointed to the boards of several important foreign policy bodies, including the U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
(NED), which was heavily engaged in supporting democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
-building programs in former Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
and other nations around the world, and a Presidential advisory commission on a post-Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, chaired by former U.S. Presidential Republican candidate Steve Forbes
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...
.
Several years later, in 1997, Kean was appointed as an Advisory Board member of President Clinton's One America Initiative
One America Initiative
On June 14, 1997, U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton announced One America in the 21st Century: The President's Initiative on Race. This initiative, established with , was a critical element in President Clinton's effort to prepare his country to embrace diversity...
, designed to help heal racial divides in the nation.
Heading the September 11 Commission
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States by al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, political pressure grew for an independent commission to independently investigate why the attacks were not prevented by U.S. national security organizations, including the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
and others, and to provide recommendations for preventing future terrorist attacks.
Kean serves as a co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) at the Bipartisan Policy Center
Bipartisan Policy Center
The is a non-profit organization that "drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation, and respectful dialogue." Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell, "BPC combines politically-balanced policymaking...
.
Bush appoints Kean
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
to head the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
). But on December 13, 2002, Kissinger resigned as the Commission's Chairman, under pressure because of potential conflicts with his global business consultancy.
Noting Kean's post-gubernatorial foreign policy involvement and his reputation as a consensus-oriented political leader, Bush nominated Kean to succeed Kissinger in leading the important and politically-sensitive Commission. The Commission is widely considered the most important independent U.S. government commission since the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
, which was charged with investigating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, and perhaps the most important in American history given its mammoth responsibility for investigating the causes of the first foreign attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, and recommending steps to defend the U.S. from future attacks. Kean's appointment to head the Commission, and later the work and final report of the Commission, drew substantial global attention.
Criticisms of Kean's 9/11 Chairmanship
Just as some had criticized Kissinger's nomination, Kean's leadership of the Commission also drew some criticism. Some alleged that Kean did not have the depth of foreign policy and national security expertise needed to manage an investigation so integral to the future of American national security. Supporters of Kean in the Bush administration and elsewhere, however, countered that Kean's work since 1990 as a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy, the post-Castro Cuba Commission and his foreign policy and national security commentary and analysis following his Governorship established adequate national security and foreign policy credentials for him to assume such a critically important assignment.Once the Commission began its work, some critics argued that Kean, the Commission members, and the Commission staff almost all had various business and political conflicts that made it difficult to lay blame on their political allies. One prominent example was the Commission's Staff Director, Philip D. Zelikow
Philip D. Zelikow
Philip D. Zelikow is an American diplomat, academic and author. He has worked as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and Counselor of the United States Department of State...
, who had served on George W. Bush's Presidential transition team and had worked closely with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, a key Commission witness, in the George H. W. Bush administration.
Kean has also been criticized for using his role as the chairman of the 9/11 Commission in order to make profit, such as his book, Without Precedent. Some also argue that his endorsement of the television movie, The Path to 9/11
The Path to 9/11
The Path to 9/11 was a two-part miniseries that aired in the United States on ABC television from September 10 – 11, 2006, and also in other countries. The film dramatizes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.The film...
, was misguided. The film features some scenes which are known to be false, according to those involved and the official 9/11 Commission Report. Kean was also a paid consultant to the film and was credited as an executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
.
Kean on bin Laden: "We had him"
In December 2003, Kean said that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented, stating: "As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done. This was not something that had to happen."On April 4, 2004, Kean again stated that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented, saying that the United States government should have acted sooner to dismantle al-Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats. "When we actually saw bin Laden on the ground, using the Predator or other means, did we have...actionable intelligence? Should we have sent a cruise missile into a site where he was at that point? I think those early opportunities are clear. We had him. We saw him. I think maybe we could have done something about it."
On July 22, 2004, the Commission issued its final report, the 9/11 Commission Report
9/11 Commission Report
The 9/11 Commission Report, formally named Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
, which concluded that the CIA and the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
had ill-served President Bush and the American people in failing to predict or prevent the September 11 attacks, which the report concluded was preventable.
Without Precedent
On August 15, 2006, a book by Kean and 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee H. HamiltonLee H. Hamilton
Lee Herbert Hamilton is a former member of the United States House of Representatives and currently a member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. A member of the Democratic Party, Hamilton represented the 9th congressional district of Indiana from 1965 to 1999...
, titled Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, was released regarding the September 11 attacks and the September 11 Commission.
In the book, Kean and Hamilton write that the 9/11 Commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
that it considered an investigation into possible deception by these government bodies concerning their response to the attacks.
ABC's The Path to 9/11
Kean served as a paid consultant and spokesman for the ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
miniseries The Path to 9/11
The Path to 9/11
The Path to 9/11 was a two-part miniseries that aired in the United States on ABC television from September 10 – 11, 2006, and also in other countries. The film dramatizes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.The film...
, which aired nationally and without commercial interruption on September 10, 2006. On September 11, the second part of the miniseries aired, also without commercial interruption, with the exception of a 20-minute break at 9pm ET, when President Bush addressed the nation on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
While not technically considered a documentary by ABC, prior to its airing, the series drew criticism for misrepresenting facts leading up the September 11 attacks. Many former high-ranking Clinton administration officials, including Clinton himself, and other scholars, publicly questioned the accuracy of the miniseries and asked that it not be aired. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
called the miniseries' portrayal of her "false and defamatory." Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
Barbara Bodine
Barbara Bodine
Barbara K. Bodine is a American academic and former diplomat.-Education:Bodine earned her B.A. in Political Science and Asian Studies magna cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She became a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, Gamma Rho chapter, fraternity for women...
also strongly criticized her character's portrayal, complaining in the Los Angeles Times
Los 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....
about the "mythmakers" who created the film, calling the project "false." The film depicts Clinton and his administration with being aloof in addressing the al-Qaeda threat, failing to intervene in ways that could have prevented the attack, and being too absorbed in the political dimensions of the Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
scandal to properly defend the nation's national security interests.
Kean defended the docudrama in July 2006 and until the eve of the broadcast, declining to disclose the amount of his payment from ABC for supporting the project.
July 2007 al-Qaeda video cites Kean comments on al-Qaeda's strength
On July 4, 2007, the terrorist group al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
publicly released a video, featuring its Deputy Chief Ayman al-Zawahri urging all Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s to unite in a holy war
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
against the U.S. in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and elsewhere. The 95-minute video was discovered and released by U.S. intelligence sources and, in addition to al-Zawahri's comments, prominently featured video excerpts of Kean citing al-Qaeda as one of the most formidable security threats that the U.S. has ever confronted, presumably with the intention of bolstering the morale of al-Qaeda supporters through Kean's citation of the magnitude of the movement's strength and threat. Comments by Kean cited on the video include a reference to the fact that al-Qaeda remains as strong in 2007 as it was before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The video also appeared to validate that al-Qaeda was closely monitoring U.S. political developments, especially including the work of the September 11 Commission, which Kean chaired. It also suggested that al-Qaeda intended to focus not just on engaging the West in Iraq, but also in other countries. "As for the second half of the long-term plan," al-Zawahri says on the video, "it consists of hurrying to the fields of Jihad like Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Iraq and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
for Jihadi preparation and training."
Corporate boards
As of 2004, Kean was a member of a number of corporate board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, including ARAMARK
Aramark
Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American foodservice, facilities, and clothing provider supplying businesses, educational institutions, sports facilities, federal and state prisons, and health care institutions. It is headquartered at the Aramark Tower in Center City,...
, Hess Corporation
Hess Corporation
The Hess Corporation is an integrated oil company based in New York City. The company explores, produces, transports, and refines crude oil and natural gas. Vertically completing the logistical chain, about 1,360 Hess branded filling stations market gasoline to consumers in 16 states along the...
, Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. was the world's largest bottler of Pepsi-Cola beverages. PBG sales of Pepsi-Cola beverages accounted for more than one-half of the Pepsi-Cola beverages sold in the United States and Canada and about 40 percent worldwide...
, and major financial firms CIT Group Incorporated
CIT Group Incorporated
CIT Group Inc. is a United States bank holding company founded in 1908 with more than $35 billion in finance and leasing assets. It provides financing and leasing capital to its more than one million small business and middle market clients and their customers across more than 30 industries...
and Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources Inc. is a holding company which, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton Investments; it is an investment firm originally founded in New York in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN, in honor of Benjamin...
.
Since 1993, Kean has also been on the board of UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a diversified health and "well-being" company. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group offers a spectrum of products and services through two operating businesses: United Healthcare and Optum. Through its family of subsidiaries and divisions,...
, a large health insurance firm. In 2006, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
began investigating the conduct of the company's management and directors. Additionally, the 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...
and prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light after a series of probing articles in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
in May 2006, which reported on the apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options by UnitedHealth Group's management. The backdating allegedly occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, including Kean, who sat on the company's compensation committee during three crucial years, according to the Journal. Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing Kean and the other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty.
In 2004, Kean's compensation from UnitedHealth Group alone was more than $650,000; in that year, as a corporate director, he missed more than a quarter of the company's board-related meetings.
Personal
Kean and his wife Deborah have three children, a daughter, Alexandra, and twin sons, Tom and Reed. They live in Bedminster Township, New JerseyBedminster Township, New Jersey
Bedminster Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 8,165....
. Kean's son, Tom, Jr., is a New Jersey State Senator
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
and Minority Leader
Minority leader
In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat, with their counterpart being of the opposite party. The position...
of the New Jersey Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
, representing New Jersey's 21st district. Kean Jr. was the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senatorial
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...
nominee in the November 2006 general election
New Jersey United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Bob Menendez will represent New Jersey in the United States Senate for a six-year term ending January 2013. The seat was previously held by Democratic Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine...
, losing to Democrat
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...
Bob Menendez. The race was expected to be close, but Menendez won by a 9-point margin.
Kean is also a weekly columnist for The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, a Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
newspaper, where he and former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne is an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, who served as the 47th Governor of New Jersey, from 1974 to 1982.-Early life and education:...
(his immediate predecessor as New Jersey Governor) address issues of the day in a column titled "Kean-Byrne Dialogue". Although the two sometimes disagree (as Kean is a Republican, while Byrne is a Democrat), they occasionally see eye to eye on topics, and both men have expressed great mutual respect for each other.
Kean is an advisor to, and has been inducted into, Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
, a national service fraternity.
Kean is a partner in Quad Partners, a private equity firm that invests in the education industry.
On November 19, 2007, Kean endorsed 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....
for the 2008 presidential race
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
.
Trivia
Kean University of New JerseyKean University
Kean University is a coeducational, public research university located in Union and Hillside, New Jersey, United States. Kean University serves its students in the liberal arts, the sciences, and the professions with a dedication to intellectual and cultural growth and is best known for its...
in Union Township
Union Township, Union County, New Jersey
Union is a Township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. In the 18th century, the area that is now Union was then called Connecticut Farms...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
is named after the Kean political dynasty. In 1958 the school, then named Newark State College, moved from Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
to the Kean family estate in Union Township. The university is located at the ancestral home of the Kean and William Livingston
William Livingston
William Livingston served as the Governor of New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War and was a signer of the United States Constitution.-Early life:...
families at Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall , in Dublin, Ireland is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union...
, a National Historic Landmark on the Liberty Hall Campus of Kean University. In 1973, Newark State was named Kean College of New Jersey in honor of the Kean family and the school attaind university status in 1997. The Keans maintain close ties with Liberty Hall and Kean University.
External links
- Thomas H. Kean biography at 9/11 Commission Official Web Site.
- New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean biography, National Governors AssociationNational Governors AssociationThe National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
. - Governor Tom Kean, a biography by Alvin S. Felzenberg, Rutgers University Press.
- "A View from Outside the Beltway: Winning Policy Themes for the 1990s", by Thomas Kean, Heritage Lecture #357, Heritage FoundationHeritage FoundationThe Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
, December 15, 1991. - "9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon", The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, August 2, 2006. - "Stonewalled by the C.I.A.", op-ed by Kean and Lee H. HamiltonLee H. HamiltonLee Herbert Hamilton is a former member of the United States House of Representatives and currently a member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. A member of the Democratic Party, Hamilton represented the 9th congressional district of Indiana from 1965 to 1999...
, New York Times, January 2, 2008. - Thomas Kean interview on CNN's "The Situation Room" regarding CIA's refusal to disclose al-Qaeda interview tapes to 9/11 Commission, January 2, 2008.
- The Thomas H. Kean Archive, Rutgers Program on the Governor