Cleve Benedict | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia | |
| In office January 16, 1989 – January 18, 1993 | |
| Governor | Gaston Caperton |
| Preceded by | Gus Douglass |
| Succeeded by | Gus Douglass |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's2nd district | |
| In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Harley Orrin Staggers |
| Succeeded by | Harley O. Staggers Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cleveland Keith Benedict (1935-03-21)March 21, 1935 (age 90) Harrisburg,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingPinckney |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) |
Cleveland Keith Benedict (born March 21, 1935) is an American politician. A member of theRepublican Party, he servedone term in theUnited States House of Representatives forWest Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 1981 to 1983.
Benedict was born in 1935 inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated fromThe Hill School in 1953 and then studied atPrinceton University, graduating with an A.B. in history in 1957.[1] As part of his undergraduate degree, Benedict wrote a senior thesis titled "The Rise of the Natural Sciences and their Impact uponOxford andCambridge."[2] He later attended a school for cattlemen inKansas and settled nearLewisburg, West Virginia.
Benedict held several appointed positions in the Republican state administration ofArch Moore from 1969 to 1977. In 1970, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the state Senate's 11th District.
Benedict was the Republican nominee for theUnited States House of Representatives in the2nd congressional district in 1980. The incumbent,Harley O. Staggers, had retired and theDemocratic Party had gone through a bruising 10-way primary election. The Democrats also faced the burden of the unpopular federal administration ofJimmy Carter and state administration ofJay Rockefeller, both of whom carried the state, but lost the 2nd District by large margins.
Benedict won the general election and was subsequently appointed to theCommittee on Energy and Commerce.
In 1982, Benedict decided, at the urging ofHoward Baker, to forgo re-election and challenge incumbent senatorRobert C. Byrd in the statewide race for theUnited States Senate. He was unsuccessful, although his campaign made great note of Byrd's record of high office in theKu Klux Klan, his avoidance of service inWorld War II, and the fact that Byrd, then alone among members of Congress, owned no home in the state he represented. His campaign represented the last serious and well-funded effort to unseat Byrd, spending $1,098,218.
Benedict was then appointed as a deputy assistant secretary in theDepartment of Energy. In 1988, he ran for statewide election as commissioner of theWest Virginia Department of Agriculture, winning by a large margin. He chose not to seek re-election in 1992, choosing instead to run forGovernor of West Virginia. That November, he was defeated by a large margin in a three-way race. He finished behind incumbent governorGaston Caperton.
Benedict has since retired to his dairy farm and has eschewed overtures to again seek elective office. He was a delegate to the1996 Republican National Convention; however, he supported Democratic gubernatorial nomineeCharlotte Pritt, who had run against Benedict and Caperton in the 1992 governor's race. Again in 2000, Benedict was elected as a delegate-at-large to theRepublican National Convention committed toGeorge W. Bush. He received the second largest number of votes. In 2006, he opposed a 124-turbine, $300 million Beech Ridge Energywind farm to be built inGreenbrier County.[3]
He is the son of Cooper Procter Benedict (1907–1968) and Laura DeLamater Benedict Beury (1911-d.). His parents married on April 14, 1934. He had a younger brother, Oakley DeLamater Benedict (1938–1940), who died young and was named after their maternal grandfather; and a younger sister, Elizabeth Hasbrouck Benedict Rice (b. 1941), named after their maternal grandmother. Cleve was named after their paternal grandfather, Rev. Cleveland Keith Benedict (1864–1936).
On his father's side of the family, he descends fromProcter & Gamble co-founderWilliam Procter and from Aaron Cleveland IV, the great-grandfather of 22nd and 24th president of the United StatesGrover Cleveland. On his mother's side of the family, he descends from theHasbrouck family, industrialistCornelius H. DeLamater, andLouis DuBois, a patentee (founder) ofNew Paltz, New York.
On August 10, 1957, inWinchester, Virginia, he married Ann Farrar Arthur (1933–2021), a native of Winchester. Together, they had three children: Cooper Procter Benedict II, Ruth Farrar (Benedict) Mercer, and noted author and college professorPinckney Arthur Benedict. Pinckney named his son Cleveland Keith Benedict III after his father and great-grandfather.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's 2nd congressional district 1981–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Vacant Title last held by Elmer Dodson | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromWest Virginia (Class 1) 1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Glenn M. Smith, Jr. | Republican nominee forAgriculture Commissioner of West Virginia 1988 | Succeeded by Steven C. Teufel |
| Preceded by | Republican Party nominee forGovernor of West Virginia 1992 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia 1989–1993 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative | Succeeded byas Former US Representative |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
