Arlen Specter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| United States Senator fromPennsylvania | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Richard Schweiker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Pat Toomey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 19thDistrict Attorney of Philadelphia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1966 – January 7, 1974 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | James C. Crumlish Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | F. Emmett Fitzpatrick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1930-02-12)February 12, 1930 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | October 14, 2012(2012-10-14) (aged 82) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic (1951–1965, 2009–2012) Republican (1965–2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania (BA) Yale University (LLB) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Snarlin' Arlen[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service |  United States Air Force | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1951–1953 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | .svg) First lieutenant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Specter opens aSenate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of theDOJ Civil Rights Division Recorded November 16, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as aUnited States Senator fromPennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was aDemocrat from 1951 to 1965,[2][3][4] then aRepublican from 1965 until 2009, when heswitched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he was the longest-servingsenator from Pennsylvania, having represented the state for 30 years.
Specter was born inWichita, Kansas, to immigrant Russian/Ukrainian Jewish parents. He graduated from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and served with theUnited States Air Force during theKorean War. Specter later graduated fromYale Law School and opened a law firm withMarvin Katz, who would later become a federal judge. Specter served as assistant counsel for theWarren Commission investigating theassassination of John F. Kennedy and helped formulate the "single-bullet theory". In 1965, Specter was electedDistrict Attorney of Philadelphia, a position that he held until 1973.
During his 30-year Senate career, Specter staked out a spot in the political center.[5][6] He served as Chair of theSenate Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2007. In 2006, Specter was selected byTime as one of America's Ten Best Senators.[7] Specter lost his 2010 re-election bid in theDemocratic primary to formerU.S. Navyvice admiralJoe Sestak, who then lost to RepublicanPat Toomey in thegeneral election. Toomey succeeded Specter on January 3, 2011.
In 1993, Specter underwent a surgery to remove a brain tumor.[8] In early 2005 he was diagnosed withHodgkin's lymphoma, but continued his work in the Senate while undergoing chemotherapy. He died from complications ofnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma on October 14, 2012.
Specter was born inWichita, Kansas, the youngest child of Lillie (née Shanin) and Harry Specter, who grew up in the Bachkuryne village ofCherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. Specter was Jewish,[9] and wrote in his memoir,Passion for Truth, that his father's family was the only Jewish family in the village.[10] The family lived at 940 South Emporia Street in Wichita before moving toRussell, Kansas, where he graduated from Russell High School in 1947.[11][12] Russell is also the hometown of fellow politicianBob Dole (who graduated from Russell High School in 1941). Specter said that his father weighed items from his junkyard on a scale owned by Dole's father Doran Dole (who owned a granary). He said his brother Morton and Dole's brother Kenny were contemporaries and friends.[12]
Specter's father served in theU.S. infantry duringWorld War I, and was badly wounded. During theGreat Depression, Specter's father was a fruit peddler, a tailor, and a junkyard owner. After graduating from Russell High School,[13] Arlen Specter studied first at theUniversity of Oklahoma. He transferred to theUniversity of Pennsylvania, majored ininternational relations, and graduatedPhi Beta Kappa in 1951. While at Penn, Specter was a member of thePi Lambda Phi fraternity. Specter said the family moved to Philadelphia when his sister Shirley was of a marriageable age because there were no other Jews in Russell.[12]
During theKorean War, Specter served stateside in theUnited States Air Force from 1951 to 1953 and obtained the rank offirst lieutenant as an officer in theAir Force Office of Special Investigations.[14][15][16]
In 1953, he marriedJoan Levy.[17] In 1979, she was elected to one of the two allotted minority party at-large seats on thePhiladelphia City Council. She held the seat for four terms, until she was defeated for re-election in 1995 byFrank Rizzo Jr.[18] The couple had two sons.[19] Specter graduated fromYale Law School in 1956, while serving as editor of theYale Law Journal. Afterward, Specter opened a law practice, Specter & Katz, withMarvin Katz, who served as aFederal District Court Judge inPhiladelphia, until his death in October 2010. Specter representedIra Einhorn, known as "The Unicorn Killer," aiding him to get a very low bail for a murder charge (which Einhorn subsequently jumped). Specter became an assistant district attorney underDistrict AttorneyJames C. Crumlish Jr., and was a member of theDemocratic Party.
Specter worked for theWarren Commission, which investigated theassassination ofJohn F. Kennedy, at the recommendation ofRepresentativeGerald Ford, who was then one of the Commissioners. As an assistant for the commission, he co-wrote the proposal of[20] the "single bullet theory", which suggested the non-fatal wounds to Kennedy and wounds toTexas GovernorJohn Connally were caused by the same bullet. This was a crucial assertion for the Warren Commission, since if the two had been wounded by separate bullets within such a short time frame, that would have demonstrated the presence of a second assassin and therefore aconspiracy.[21] Regarding this particular subject, theUnited States House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that JFK's assassination was probably a product of a conspiracy, but this conclusion was based partially on acoustic evidence that was later called into question.[citation needed]
In 1965, Specter ran for Philadelphiadistrict attorney against his former boss, incumbent James C. Crumlish Jr.[2][3] However, the city's Democratic leaders, such asPeter Camiel, did not want Specter as their candidate, so he switched parties and ran as a Republican, prompting Crumlish to call him "Benedict Arlen".[2][3][22] Specter defeated Crumlish by 36,000 votes.[2] Although he was a supporter of capital punishment, as a prosecutor he questioned the fairness of the Pennsylvania death penalty statute in 1972.[23]
In 1967 he was the Republican Party standard bearer, together with City Controller candidate,Tom Gola, in the Philadelphia mayoral campaign against the Democratic incumbentJames Tate. Two of their slogans were, "We need THESE guys to watch THOSE guys" and "They're younger, they're tougher, and nobody owns them!"[24] He served two four-year terms as district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, but was handily defeated in his bid for a third term in 1973 by noted criminal defense attorneyF. Emmett Fitzpatrick.[25][26]
In1976, Specter ran in the Republican primary for theU.S. Senate and was defeated byJohn Heinz. In1978, he was defeated in the primary forGovernor of Pennsylvania byDick Thornburgh.[27] After several years in private practice with the Philadelphia law firmDechert, Price & Rhoads, Specter ran again for the U.S. Senate in1980. This time, he won, and assumed office in January 1981.
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In 1988, he co-sponsored an amendment to theFair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing, and financing of the nation's housing. The amendment strengthened the ability of theOffice of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to enforce the Fair Housing Act and expanded the protected classes to include disabled persons and families with children. In 1998 and 1999, Specter criticized the Republican Party for theimpeachment of PresidentBill Clinton. Believing that Clinton had not received a fair trial, Specter citedScots law to render a verdict of "not proven" on Clinton's impeachment.[28] However, his verdict was recorded as "not guilty" in the Senate records.[29]
In October 1999, Specter was one of four Senate Republicans to vote in favor of theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The treaty was designed to ban underground nuclear testing and was the first major international security pact to be defeated in the Senate since theTreaty of Versailles.[30][31]
On October 11, 2002, Specter voted in favor ofH.J.Res.114 authorizing theIraq War.[32]
In a 2002PoliticsPAFeature story designating politicians withyearbook superlatives, he was named the "Toughest to Work For".[33] In 2003, thePennsylvania Report, a subscription-based political newsletter, described Specter as one of the "vanishing breed of Republican moderates", and described his political stance as "'Pennsylvania first' middle of-the-road politics", even though he was known as an "avid Republican partisan".[34]
Soon after the2004 election, Specter stepped into the public spotlight as a result of controversial statements about his views of the future of theSupreme Court. At a press conference, he stated:
When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturnRoe v. Wade, I think [confirmation] is unlikely. The president is well aware of what happened, when a number of his nominees were sent up, with thefilibuster.... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning.
Activist groups interpreted his comments as warnings toPresident George W. Bush about the implications of nominating Supreme Court justices who were opposed to theRoe v. Wade decision. Specter maintained that his comments were a prediction, not a warning. He met with many conservative Republican senators, and based on assurances he gave them, he was recommended for the Judiciary Committee's chairmanship in late 2004.[35][36] He officially assumed that position when the 109th Congress convened on January 4, 2005.[37]
On March 9, 2006, a revision of theUSA PATRIOT Act was signed into law. It amended the process for interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, a clause Specter wrote during his chairmanship of theSenate Judiciary Committee.[38] The change allowed theBush Administration to appoint interim U.S. attorneys withoutterm limits, and without confirmation by the Senate. The Bush administration used the law to place at least eight interim attorneys into office in 2006. Specter claimed that the changes were added by staff memberBrett Tolman.[39] For more information, seedismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy.
Specter was very critical of Bush'swiretapping of U.S. citizens without warrants. When the story first broke, he called the effort "inappropriate" and "clearly and categorically wrong". He said that he intended to hold hearings into the matter early in 2006, and hadAlberto Gonzales appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for the program. (However, Specter declined to force Gonzales to testify under oath.) On January 15, 2006, Specter mentionedimpeachment and criminal prosecution as potential remedies if Bush proved to have broken the law, though he downplayed the likelihood of such an outcome.
On April 9, 2006, speaking onFox News about the Bush administration's leaking of classified intelligence, Specter stated: "The President of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people."[40] However, he did vote for the2008 amendments to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which placed federalelectronic searches almost entirely within theexecutive branch.[41]
During the2007–2008 National Football League season, Specter wrote toNFL commissionerRoger Goodell concerning the destruction ofNew England Patriots"Spygate" tapes. Specter, a devout and longtimePhiladelphia Eagles fan, wondered if there was a link between the tapes and theirSuper Bowl victory over the Eagles in2005. On February 1, 2008, Goodell stated that the tapes were destroyed because "they confirmed what I already knew about the issue". Specter released a follow-up statement:
My strong preference is for the NFL to activate a Mitchell-type investigation, I have been careful not to call for a Congressional hearing because I believe the NFL should step forward and embrace an independent inquiry and Congress is extraordinarily busy on other matters. If the NFL continues to leave a vacuum, Congress may be tempted to fill it.[42]
Starting in 2007, Specter sponsored legislation[43] to fix a long-standing inequity in American law that shut out a majority ofU.S. Armed Forces service members convicted in courts-martial from appealing their convictions to theU.S. Supreme Court.[44]
In 2007, Specter co-sponsored the Equal Justice for United States Military Personnel Act of 2007 with SenatorsDianne Feinstein (D-Calif.),Hillary Clinton (D-NY) andRuss Feingold (D-Wis.).[43] But the bill failed in the 110th Congress, and Specter again co-sponsored the measure in the 2009 111th Congress.[45] In December 2008, Specter was involved in a controversy as a result of telling "Polish jokes" at New York's Rainbow Room while speaking at the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Club.[46]
Specter voted in favor of the Senate's version of theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 10, 2009; he was one of only three Republicans to break ranks with the party and support the bill, which was favored by PresidentBarack Obama and was unanimously supported by the Democratic senators.[47] As a result of his support, many in the Republican mainstream began calling for his removal from office.[48]
Specter was instrumental in ensuring that the act allocated an additional $10 billion to theNational Institutes of Health over the next two years.[49] In August 2009, more than ten years before the globalCOVID-19 pandemic, he joined Pennsylvania congressmanJason Altmire in leading a congressional hearing investigating whether the federal government should fund a national vaccine production center.[50][51][52]
In late April 2009, facing the prospect of a tough Republican primary in 2010, Specter decided to switch to the Democratic Party, putting the Democrats on the "precipice" of a 60-seat majority that would allow them to pass legislation without Republican votes. Nevertheless, his new Democratic colleagues refused to let him retain his nearly 30 years of seniority on Senate committees. This effectively reduced him to the status of a freshman and greatly curtailed his influence in the chamber.[53]
In October 2009, Specter called for the repeal of theDefense of Marriage Act, which he had supported in 1996.[54] In November 2009, Specter introduced a bill to requiretelevising U.S. Supreme Court proceedings, and explained that "[t]he Supreme Court makes pronouncements on constitutional and federal law that have direct impacts on the rights of Americans. Those rights would be substantially enhanced by televising the oral arguments of the Court so that the public can see and hear the issues presented."[55]
Specter's career in the United States Senate ended on January 3, 2011, after his primary defeat toJoe Sestak. He was succeeded by Republican U.S. RepresentativePat Toomey, who won the general election against Sestak.
Specter was chairman of theSenate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1995, when the Republicans gained control of the Senate, until 1997, when he became chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. He chaired that committee until 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005, during the times the Republicans controlled the Senate. He also chaired the Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2007.
In1980, Specter became the Republican nominee for Senate when Republican incumbentRichard Schweiker announced his retirement. He faced the formerMayor of Pittsburgh,Pete Flaherty. Specter won the election by a 2.5% margin. He was later re-elected in1986,1992,1998, and2004, despite 1992 and 1998 being bad years for Republicans. Specter ran forre-election in 2010, for the first time as a Democrat, but was defeated in the primary.[56]
On March 31, 1995, Specter announced his candidacy for President of the United States, to challenge the incumbentBill Clinton. He entered the race as an alternative to the stereotypical religious conservative image. He was critical ofPat Buchanan,Pat Robertson, andRalph Reed, saying all three were far too conservative.[57]
His campaign focused on balancing the federal budget, strict crime laws, and establishing relations withNorth Korea.[58] His candidacy was not expected to succeed in winning the Republican nomination due to the overwhelmingly large number ofsocial conservatives in the Republican Party. He was, however, able to gain support. Fellow Pennsylvania SenatorRick Santorum was supportive of his candidacy.[59] Other supportive Republicans were hopeful Specter could trim the party's "far-right fringe". Although his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful at wooing conservatives, it was widely believed he could have had a strong showing among independents. On November 23, 1995, before the start of the primaries, Specter suspended his campaign to endorseKansas SenatorBob Dole.
In 2004, Specter faced a challenge in the Republicanprimary election from conservative CongressmanPat Toomey, whose campaign theme was that Specter was not conservative enough. The match-up was closely watched nationally, being seen as a symbolic clash between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party. However, most of the state and national Republican establishment, including the state's other senator at the time,Rick Santorum, closed ranks behind Specter. Specter was supported by PresidentGeorge W. Bush. Specter narrowly avoided a major upset with 51% of the primary vote. Once Specter defeated the challenge from the right, he was able to enjoy great support from independents and some Democrats in his race againstU.S. RepresentativeJoe Hoeffel, the Democratic nominee.[60] Hoeffel trailed Specter in name recognition, campaign funds, and poll results.[61] Although the two minor candidates in the race were seen as more conservative than Specter, they were only able to take 5.39 percent of the vote, and Specter was easily re-elected.
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Specter was up for re-election to the Senate in 2010, and expressed his plans to run again. On March 18, 2009, Specter said that he was not considering running as an independent. He said, "To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for re-election in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket."[62] Subsequently, Specter's 2004 conservative GOP primary challenger,Pat Toomey, announced he would again run for the Republican nomination in the Republican senatorial primary.[63]
However, on April 28, 2009, Specter stated that, "As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party".[64] He said that he was switching party affiliation and would run as a Democrat in the 2010 election.[64][65][66]
In the same announcement, Specter also said that he had "surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls and have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak".[64] A March 2009 Quinnipiac poll indicated that Specter trailed his likely primary challenger,Pat Toomey, by 14% (41% for Toomey, 27% for Specter).[67] Additional polling found that 70% of Pennsylvania Republicans disapproved of his vote in favor of theStimulus Bill[68] and that 52 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans disapproved of the job he was doing.[67] Following Specter's switching parties,Republican National Committee chairmanMichael Steele criticized his leaving the Republican Party, claiming that Specter had "flipped the bird" at the GOP.[69]
On February 6, 2010, thePennsylvania Democratic Party overwhelmingly endorsed Specter at the Democratic State Committee's annual endorsement convention, which was held inLancaster County, Pennsylvania.[70] He received more votes thanJoe Sestak, winning more than 77% of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee members vote, far in excess of the 2/3 threshold needed to claim the endorsement.[71] Sestak, however, went on to win the Democratic primary nomination on May 18.[72]
Following the primary, Specter endorsed Sestak in the general election. Toomey defeated Sestak, 51% to 49%.[73][74]
According to theNational Journal, Specter voted with Democrats 90% of the time after switching parties, while, as a Republican, he split his votes between both parties.[75] According toFiveThirtyEight, during January–March 2009 Specter voted with the Democrats 58% of the time. Following the support of the stimulus package and the entrance ofPat Toomey in the Republican primary, Specter began to vote 16% with Democrats. When switching to become a Democrat, he voted 69% with his new party initially, untilJoe Sestak entered the Democratic primary and Specter started to vote with Democrats 97% of the time.[76]
Specter stated that he was "personally opposed to abortion", but was "asupporter of a woman's right to choose."[77][78] He received a 20% rating fromNARAL Pro-Choice America in 2005 based on certain votes related to the regulation of abortion. In 2008, he received 100%.[79]
Specter's record onLGBT rights was mixed. He voted to prohibit job discrimination based onsexual orientation and was a co-sponsor of theMatthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.[80] Specter was opposed tosame-sex marriage, but was also opposed to a federal ban and supportedcivil unions.[81] He also became opposed to theDefense of Marriage Act, which he once supported. Specter voted in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the lame-duck session of the111th Congress.
Specter strongly opposed mostgun control measures. He voted against theBrady Bill, background checks atgun shows, the ban onassault weapons, andtrigger locks for handguns.[82]
He supportedaffirmative action, and voted for theCivil Rights Act of 1991, receiving a 76 percent rating from theNAACP in 2008.[83]
Specter voted in favor of thebill establishingMartin Luther King Jr. Day as afederal holiday and theCivil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to overridePresident Reagan's veto).[84][85][86] Specter voted against thenomination of Robert Bork to theU.S. Supreme Court, but voted in favor of the nominations ofClarence Thomas,John Roberts, andSamuel Alito. Specter described Anita Hill's testimony during Thomas' nomination as "perjurious in its entirety."[87]
In 1995, he was the only Republican to vote to limit tax cuts to individuals with incomes of less than one million dollars. He voted againstCAFTA. Specter also supported an increase in the federalminimum wage. He was a leading supporter of theU.S. Public Service Academy.
On immigration, Specter supported a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program", which opponents callamnesty. He introduced Senate bill S. 2611 (theComprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006) on April 6, 2006, which was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2006, before reaching a stalemate in the House.[88]
On May 3, 2009, Specter went onMeet the Press and was asked, "Would you support health care reform that puts up a government-run public plan to compete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company?" Specter responded with "no."[89][90] Two months later, he changed his position.[91]
Specter believed a single-payer healthcare system should not be "taken off the table", according to an interview he had withJohn King onCNN.[92]
Onhealth care reform, Specter was a co-sponsor of theHealthy Americans Act, a proposal he supported during both the 110th and 111th Congresses. Specter voted for thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the healthcare bill passed through the Senate by every Democratic senator, on a party-line vote.[93]
In May 2012, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, and Weill Cornell Medical College presented Specter with the annual Public Service Award for his work in expanding mental health care.[94]
Specter received a 61% rating from theAFL–CIO.[95] He voted forcloture on theEmployee Free Choice Act in 2007. In early 2009, Specter announced he would not be voting for cloture on the same act in the 111th Congress.[96] After Specter switched parties, he changed his position on the issue again, and wrote a letter to the unions indicating he supportedcard check legislation.
Spurred by the 2010Robbins v. Lower Merion School District case, in which two high schools admitted to secretly taking 66,000 webcam photos and screenshots of students in their homes on school-issued laptops, Specter held a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs on March 29, 2010.[97] He said: "The issue is one of surreptitious eavesdropping. Unbeknownst to people, their movements and activities were under surveillance."[97] He said that Lower Merion's use of laptop cameras for surveillance convinced him that new federal legislation was needed to regulate electronic privacy.[98][99]
Specter then introduced legislation in April 2010 to amend the federalWiretap Act to clarify that it is illegal to capture silent visual images inside another person's home. He said: "This is going to become law. You have a very significant invasion of privacy with these webcams, as more information is coming to light."[100] Speaking on the floor of the Senate, he said:
Many of us expect to be subject to ... video surveillance when we leave our homes and go out each day—at the ATM, at traffic lights, or in stores, for example. What we do not expect is to be under visual surveillance in our homes, in our bedrooms, and, most especially, we do not expect it for our children in our homes.[101]
The Jewish daily newspaperThe Forward reported in the wake of theJuly 2009 organ trafficking scandal in the U.S. involving Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn that an Organ Trafficking Prohibition Act of 2009, sponsored by Specter, had yet to be officially introduced in the U.S.[102]
Specter criticized the federal government's policy on cancer, stating the day afterJack Kemp—the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former congressman—died of cancer, that Kemp would still be alive if the federal government had done a better job funding cancer research.[103]
On February 16, 2011, Specter wrote a letter to President Obama. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he stated thatJonathan Pollard should be pardoned. He stated, "Unfortunately, spying is not an uncommon practice even between allies and friendly nations."[104]
During the fall of 2011, Specter was an adjunct professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught a course on the relationship between Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on separation of powers and the confirmation process.[105] For this course theNational Jurist named him as one of the "23 professors to take before you die."[106]
On December 21, 2011, Specter donated toPhiladelphia University nearly 2,700 boxes of historical papers and memorabilia dating from his career as a Philadelphia district attorney to his service as a United States senator, including materials associated with his role as assistant counsel on the Warren Commission. The collection will be jointly managed by theUniversity of Pittsburgh, which will house, organize, and manage the collection. The universities will collaborate on related education programing that will consequently provide access to the archives on both ends of the state.[107] The Specter Collection will also support The Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy at Philadelphia University.
The center will be a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to promoting greater understanding of public policy issues both foreign and domestic. The center will strive to accomplish these goals through support for research, educational programming, and exhibitions inspired, in part, by the senator's career and the permanent collection of his historic papers. The center will be managed by thePaul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia University will be located in Roxboro House, which is located nearby on campus.
Parts of Roxboro House date back to 1799. The Georgian period house constructed of frame and clapboard was expanded in 1810. At one point in its history, Roxboro House was owned by Dr. Caspar Wistar who published the first American textbook of anatomy in 1811. Wistar was president of the American Philosophical Society and his friend, Thomas Nuttall, a famous botanist, named the Wisteria vine after him. In 1965, the Philadelphia Historical Commission added this house to its list of registered buildings (No. 141). Prior to the university's purchase of the property in 1998, the house was being used as abed and breakfast establishment.
US Squash announced it was building a new squash center in Philadelphia that is to be named the Arlen Specter US Squash Center. The construction of the Arlen Specter US Squash Center began in 2019 and was completed in 2021.[108]
On February 16, 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form ofHodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer. Despite this, Specter continued working duringchemotherapy. He ended treatment on July 22. SenatorJohn Sununu (R-NH) shaved his head to show solidarity with Specter, who was temporarily bald while undergoing chemotherapy. On April 15, 2008, Specter announced his cancer had returned, at a stage "significantly less advanced than his Hodgkin's disease when it was originally diagnosed in 2005."[109][110] He underwent a second round of chemotherapy, which ended on July 14, 2008.[111]
On August 28, 2012, it was announced that Specter was battling a "serious form of cancer" and hospitalized. He was diagnosed six weeks earlier with a new form of the disease.[112]On September 7, 2012, he was released from a Philadelphia hospital, but was expected to return there for additional treatment.[113]
Specter died from complications ofnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma, aged 82, on October 14, 2012, at his home in Philadelphia.[114][115] Statements of condolence were issued by President and Mrs. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Mrs. Biden, the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, and by many of his colleagues and former opponents in the U.S. Congress, the Pennsylvania legislature, and the city of Philadelphia, among many others. Senator Specter, while he had been accused of alienating both parties due to certain positions he took and due to the two times he switched parties, among other issues, was nonetheless respected by many as a principled statesman who did much for his state and country, including by those in politics and the legislature, both in Pennsylvania and his home state, Kansas, as well as across the U.S. and beyond. He was the longest-serving of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senators. As a sign of this respect and out of mourning, President Obama ordered U.S. flags to be lowered to half-staff at public institutions and military bases in Washington, D.C., and the rest of the country on his day of interment.[116]
The following table links to theCongressional Record hosted by theLibrary of Congress. All the specifics and actions taken for each individual piece of legislation that Specter either sponsored or cosponsored can be viewed in detail there. "Original bills" and "'Original amendments" indicate instances where Sen. Specter pledged to support the legislation at the time it was initially introduced and entered into the Senate record, rather than later in the legislative process.
| Senator Arlen Specter – U.S. Senate – [D-PA] |
|---|
Note: The numbers for the current session of Congress may no longer reflect the actual numbers as they are still actively in session. TheTHOMAS database shows Sen. Arlen Specter has withdrawn his one-time support of legislation by adding his cosponsorship to introduced legislation a total of five times during the time this statistic first started being compiled by them:
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| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | District Attorney of Philadelphia 1966–1974 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forMayor of Philadelphia 1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromPennsylvania (Class 3) 1980,1986,1992,1998,2004 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | United States Senator (Class 3) from Pennsylvania 1981–2011 Served alongside:John Heinz,Harris Wofford,Rick Santorum,Bob Casey | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Intelligence Committee 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Veterans' Affairs Committee 1997–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Veterans' Affairs Committee 2003–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Judiciary Committee 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| Notes | † Never officially seated | |
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs | ||
|---|---|---|
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
