Ted Stevens Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Ted Stevens
OCCUPATION: U.S. Representative
BIRTH DATE: November 18, 1923
DEATH DATE: August 09, 2010
EDUCATION: Oregon State University, University of California, Los Angeles, Harvard Law Schoo
PLACE OF BIRTH: Indianapolis, Indiana
PLACE OF DEATH: Aleknagik, Alaska
Full Name: Theodore Fulton Stevens
AKA: Ted Stevens
Nickname: "Uncle Ted"

Best Known For

Ted Stevens was a U.S. senator from Alaska, and the longest-serving Republican senator in American history (1968-2009).

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Ted Stevens

APA Style

Ted Stevens. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 10:06, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818.

Harvard Style

Ted Stevens. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818 [Accessed 25 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Ted Stevens." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 10:06 http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818.

MHRA Style

"Ted Stevens," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818 [accessed May 25, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Ted Stevens," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818 (accessed May 25, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Ted Stevens [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818.

Bluebook Style

Ted Stevens, http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818 (last visited May 25, 2013).

AMA Style

Ted Stevens. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/ted-stevens-338818. Accessed May 25, 2013.

Synopsis

Ted Stevens was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 18, 1923. After stints in the U.S. Justice and Interior departments, Stevens was elected as a state representative for Alaska in 1964. He was re-elected seven times, becoming the longest-serving Republican senator in history. He championed the "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400 million pork transportation project designed to link two islands. Stevens died in a plane crash in 2010, in Alaska.

Early Life

Ted Stevens was born Theodore Fulton Stevenson November 18, 1923, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The third of four children, Stevens's father, George, was an accountant before the stock market crashed in 1929. His parents soon divorced and eventually sent him to live with his aunt in Redondo Beach, California. After graduating from high school in 1942, Stevens attended Oregon State University for a semester, studying engineering.

Stevens left college to serve in World War II, flying with the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946. He flew C-46s in Asia in support of the Flying Tigers and earned several medals, including a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal. After the war, Stevens received a bachelor's degree in political science from University of California, Los Angeles in 1947 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950.

Stevens worked in the Washington, D.C., law offices of Northcutt Ely and was eventually assigned to handle the legal affairs of Emil Usibelli, the founder of Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska. Stevens was later offered a job in Fairbanks with Usibelli's Alaska attorney, Charles Clasby.

Political Office

After stints in the U.S. Justice and Interior departments, Stevens was elected as a state representative in 1964. He was re-elected in 1966, serving as House Majority Leader. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate on December 24, 1968, as a Republican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Democrat E. L. “Bob” Bartlett. Stevens then won the seat in a special election in 1970.

Re-elected in 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996 and 2002, Stevens rose to the office of president pro tempore of the Senate, third in line for the presidency (behind the Vice President and Speaker of the House) in 2003. He was replaced four years later by Robert Byrd after Democrats took back control of the Senate.

Though affectionately nicknamed "Uncle Ted," Stevens was known for his temper. He was also known for championing "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400 million pork transportation project designed to link two relatively uninhabited islands.

Personal Life

Stevens married Ann Cherrington in 1952. They had five children together. In 1978, the couple were passengers in a Learjet that crash-landed at Anchorage International Airpor. Ann was killed, but Stevens was one of two survivors. Following months of recovery, Stevens married his second wife, Catherine Chandler, in 1980. They have one daughter.

In 2000, he was named "Alaskan of the Century" and the Alaska Legislature passed a bill to rename the airport in Anchorag as Ted Stevens International Airport.