Jack Reed biography

Synopsis

Jack Reed is the U.S. Senator for Rhode Island (D). Before being elected to office, he studied at West Point and spent eight years in active duty military service. He was elected to the Rhode Island senate in 1984 and served three terms. In 1990, he won a seat in the House and served there three terms. In 2002, he was re-elected with 78% of the vote, the same year he voted against the Iraq war.

Profile

Senator. Born John Francis Reed on November 12, 1949, and raised in Cranston, Rhode Island, just outside of Providence.

His father, Joe, was a World War II veteran and a school janitor who worked his way up to become custodial supervisor of Cranston's school system. His mother Mary was a homemaker. Reed graduated from the private LaSalle Academy in Providence and earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. Upon graduation in 1971, Reed earned a degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Reed also spent eight years in active duty military service. He was an Army Ranger and a paratrooper. He served in the 82nd Airborne Division as an Infantry Platoon Leader and in the 325th Infantry Regiment as a Company Commander and later as a Battalion Staff Officer. He returned to West Point in 1978 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences.

Reed resigned from the Army as a Captain in 1979 and enrolled at Harvard Law School. In 1982, he graduated from Harvard and served a year as an associate with the Washington, DC law firm of Sutherland, Asbill, and Brennan. In 1983, he returned to Rhode Island and joined the Providence law firm of Edwards and Angell.

Reed was elected to the Rhode Island State Senate in 1984 and served for three terms. In 1990, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and also served there for three terms.

In 1996, Reed was elected to the U.S. Senate. He was re-elected with 78% of the vote in 2002, the same year he voted against the Iraq war authorization

Senator Reed married to Julia Hart in 2005. They have a daughter, Emily, born in 2007.