John Tower | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Tower in 1978 | |
| Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board | |
| In office July 17, 1990 – April 5, 1991 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Anne Armstrong |
| Succeeded by | Bobby Inman (acting) |
| Chair of theSenate Armed Services Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1985 | |
| Preceded by | John C. Stennis |
| Succeeded by | Barry Goldwater |
| United States Senator fromTexas | |
| In office June 15, 1961 – January 3, 1985 | |
| Preceded by | Bill Blakley |
| Succeeded by | Phil Gramm |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Goodwin Tower (1925-09-29)September 29, 1925 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | April 5, 1991(1991-04-05) (aged 65) Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (1951–1991) |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic (before 1951) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Southwestern University (BA) Southern Methodist University (MA) London School of Economics |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 (active) 1946-1989 (reserve) |
| Rank | Master Chief Petty Officer |
| Battles/wars | |
John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was an American politician and military veteran who representedTexas in theUnited States Senate from 1961 to 1985. He was the firstRepublican elected to the U.S. Senate fromTexas sinceReconstruction. Tower is known for leading theTower Commission, which investigated theIran-Contra Affair in theReagan administration.
Born inHouston, Texas, Tower served in the Pacific Theater ofWorld War II. After the war, he worked as a radio announcer and taught at Midwestern University (nowMidwestern State University) inWichita Falls. He switched from theDemocratic Party to the Republican Party in the early 1950s and worked on the 1956 presidential campaign ofDwight D. Eisenhower. Tower lost Texas's 1960 Senate election to Democratic SenatorLyndon B. Johnson, but performed relatively well compared to his Republican predecessors. With the Democratic victory in the1960 presidential election, Johnson vacated his Senate seat to becomeVice President of the United States. In the1961 special election, Tower defeated Johnson's appointed successor,Bill Blakley. He won re-election in1966,1972, and1978.
Upon joining the Senate in 1961, Tower became the first Republican Senator to represent a state in theSouth since 1913. He was the only Southern Republican in the Senate untilStrom Thurmond switched parties in 1964. A political conservative earlier in his career, Tower staunchly opposed theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theVoting Rights Act of 1965. Starting in 1976 with his support ofGerald Ford rather thanRonald Reagan in the1976 Republican primaries, Tower began to alienate many fellow conservatives. He became less conservative over time, later voicing support for legal abortion and opposing Reagan'sStrategic Defense Initiative in 1983.
Tower retired from the Senate in 1985. After leaving Congress, he served as chief negotiator of theStrategic Arms Reduction Talks with theSoviet Union and led the Tower Commission. The commission's report was highly critical of the Reagan administration's relations withIran and theContras. In 1989, incoming PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush chose Tower as his nominee forUnited States Secretary of Defense, but his nomination wasrejected by the Senate. After the defeat, Tower chaired thePresident's Intelligence Advisory Board. Tower died in the 1991Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 crash.
Tower was born inHouston, the son of Joe Z. Tower (1898–1970) and Beryl Goodwin Tower (1898–1990). The family often moved throughoutEast Texas due to Joe's career as aMethodist minister.[1]
Having attended public schools in Houston andBeaumont, Texas, Tower graduated fromBeaumont High School in 1942.[1] After high school, he enrolled atSouthwestern University in fall 1942.[1] In June 1943, Tower paused his college studies to serve in theUnited States Navy during thePacific Theater of World War II on anLCS(L) amphibious gunboat.[1]
In March 1946, Tower was discharged from the Navy ranked seaman first class and resumed his studies at Southwestern.[1] He graduated in 1948 with aBachelor of Arts degree inpolitical science.[1] While at Southwestern, Tower was a member of the Iota chapter ofKappa Sigma fraternity, and would later serve the organization in significant alumnus volunteer roles.[2]
Tower worked as aradio announcer forcountry music stationKTAE inTaylor, northeast of Austin, during college and for some time afterward.[1] Tower continued his military service in theUnited States Naval Reserve until retiring in 1989 with the rank of master chief's boatswain mate.[1]
In 1949, he began graduate studies in political science atSouthern Methodist University and worked part time as aninsurance agent. Then in 1951, Tower became anassistant professor of political science at Midwestern University (nowMidwestern State University), a job he held until 1960. In 1952 and 1953, he pursued graduate coursework at theLondon School of Economics and conducted field research on the organization of theConservative Party of the United Kingdom. His research was presented in histhesis,The Conservative Worker in Britain. He received hisMaster of Arts degree from SMU in 1953.[1]
Although raised as aSouthern Democrat, Tower became a Republican in college about 1951. He rose quickly through the ranks of the Texas Republican Party; he was an unsuccessful candidate for representative to theTexas House of Representatives for the 18th district in 1954. He was a delegate to the1956 Republican National Convention. In the1956 presidential election, he was the campaign manager forDwight D. Eisenhower in the23rd Senatorial District.
In 1960, he was chosen by the state convention held inMcAllen inHidalgo County in south Texas, as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate against Lyndon Johnson. Two other Republicans mentioned for the senatorial nomination,Thad Hutcheson, who had sought Texas's other Senate seat in aspecial election in 1957, andBruce Alger, the only Republican congressman from Texas at the time, were both uninterested.[3]
Johnson, the incumbent senator and famous nationwide as theSenate Majority Leader, won the election against Tower. AsJohn F. Kennedy's running mate, Johnson was also seeking thevice presidency in the same election. Tower's campaign slogan was "double your pleasure, double your fun — vote against Johnson two times, not one."[4]
After Johnson became Vice President, Tower ran in thespecial election held to determine who would fill Johnson's seat in the Senate. Tower came first in the initial round of voting with 30.93% of the vote, and subsequently won the run-off election against DemocratWilliam A. Blakley, who had been appointed as interim Senator, with 50.6% of the vote to Blakley's 49.4%.[5][6] Tower became the first Republican elected to the Senate from Texas since the end ofReconstruction.
In the Senate, Tower was assigned to two major committees: the Labor and Public Welfare Committee and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Tower left the Labor and Public Welfare Committee in 1964, although in 1965 he was named to theSenate Armed Services Committee, in which he served until his retirement. He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1981 to 1984. Tower also served on the Joint Committee on Defense Production from 1963 until 1977 and on the Senate Republican Policy Committee in 1962 and from 1969 until 1984. Tower served as chairman of the latter from 1973 until his retirement from the Senate. As a member and later chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Tower was a strong proponent of modernizing the armed forces. In the Banking and Currency Committee, he was a champion of small businesses and worked to improve the nationalinfrastructure and financial institutions. Tower supported Texas economic interests, working to improve the business environment of the energy, agricultural, and fishing and maritime sectors.[citation needed]
Tower was a leading opponent of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theVoting Rights Act of 1965 and voted against both bills,[7][8][9] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[10] but he did not vote on theCivil Rights Act of 1968[11] and voted in favor of the confirmation ofThurgood Marshall to theU.S. Supreme Court.[12]
Although opposing the final passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Tower also voted against an amendment byAlbert Gore Sr. that sought to weaken the legislation.[13] He stated:[14]
Mr. President, the motion is merely another assault on title VI, which I believe is a good provision of the bill. I think that if we had enacted a separate measure containing the provisions in title VI some time ago, we would not be asked to enact some of the other measures which we are asked to enact today. I believe that if people in the States and localities are going to accept Federal money and Federal support, they must not engage in any kind of discrimination which is contrary to Federal policy. Therefore I intend to vote against the motion of the Senator from Tennessee.
Later in the 1970's, Tower co-sponsored legislation honoring African-American civil rights leadersRoy Wilkins andClarence Mitchell Jr., and supported gay rights legislation.[15][16][17]
According toThe Assassination of Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy[18] byGordon Thomas andMartin Dillon, Tower became the liaison forRobert Maxwell, a British publishing mogul and super-agent[clarification needed] forMossad, to the White House and to US government operations. The relationship began in 1984, and the soon-to-be retired Tower "told Maxwell that his fee as Maxwell's personal consultant would be $200,000."[citation needed] Tower received his fee in four separate payments of $50,000 into a Swiss bank account. Tower arranged for Maxwell to meet with leadership ofSandia National Laboratories, a US nuclear lab. Maxwell sold to Sandia a copy ofPROMIS software that had a backdoor which was accessible by Israeli intelligence, giving nuclear details to Israel. Shortly after retirement from the Senate, in 1985, Tower took Maxwell's request for American help in arming Iran, and relayed it to President Reagan as a means to trade for American hostages held in Lebanon. "Two days later the former Senator reported to Maxwell that his meeting with President Reagan had produced a positive response."[citation needed]
Tower retired from the Senate after nearly twenty-four years in office. He continued to be involved in national politics, advising the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Two weeks after his leaving office, Tower was named chief United States negotiator at theStrategic Arms Reduction Talks inGeneva, Switzerland. Tower resigned from this office in 1987, and for a time was a professor at Southern Methodist University. He became a consultant with Tower, Eggers, and Greene Consulting from 1987 until his death in 1991.[citation needed]
In November 1986, President Reagan asked Tower to chair the President's Special Review Board to study the action of theNational Security Council and its staff during theIran–Contra affair. The board, which became known as theTower Commission, issued its report on February 26, 1987. The report was highly critical of the Reagan administration and of the National Security Council's dealings with bothIran and theNicaraguanContras.
In 1989, Tower was President George H. W. Bush's choice to becomeSecretary of Defense. In a stunning move, particularly since Tower was himself a former Senate colleague, the Senate rejected his nomination. The largest factors were concern about possible conflicts of interest and Tower's personal life, in particular allegations of alcohol abuse and womanizing.[19][20] The Senate vote was 47–53,[21] and it marked the first time that the Senate had rejected a Cabinet nominee of a newly elected president.[22]
AsThe New York Times reported in his obituary, "Mr. Tower's repudiation by his former colleagues, who rejected him as Bush's nominee for Secretary of Defense after public allegations of womanizing and heavy drinking, left a bitterness that could not be assuaged. In the normally clubby Senate, Mr. Tower was regarded by some colleagues as a gut fighter who did not suffer fools gladly, and some lawmakers indicated that they were only too pleased to rebuke him."[20]
In response to the alcohol allegations, Tower toldThe New York Times in 1990: "Have I ever drunk to excess? Yes. Am I alcohol-dependent? No. Have I always been a good boy? Of course not. But I've never done anything disqualifying. That's the point."[20] The FBI background check indicated that Tower was not an alcoholic but had abused alcohol, albeit with much diminished, sporadic consumption beginning in 1983.[23]
After Tower's defeat, he was named chairman of thePresident's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.[24] Future Vice PresidentDick Cheney, then a Representative fromWyoming and theHouse Minority Whip, was later confirmed as Secretary of Defense.
While a professor atMidwestern State University, Tower met Joza Lou Bullington, whom he married in 1952. A native ofSan Diego, California, Lou was reared inWichita Falls and was the organist at the Towers' church.
John and Lou Tower had three children during their years in Wichita Falls born in three consecutive years: Penny (1954), Marian (1955–1991), and Jeanne (1956). The coupledivorced in 1976. Following his divorce from Lou, Tower married Lilla Burt Cummings in 1977. The couple separated in 1985 and divorced on July 2, 1986.
On April 5, 1991, Tower was aboardAtlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 when it crashed while on approach for landing atBrunswick, Georgia. The crash instantly killed everyone on board, including Tower and his middle daughter, Marian, astronautSonny Carter, and twenty others.[25] An investigation determined that the crash resulted from failure of the plane'spropeller control unit.[26]
Tower and his daughter are buried together at the family plot of theSparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas. Acenotaph in Tower's honor was erected at theTexas State Cemetery in Austin. Tower's life is chronicled in his autobiography,Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir, published a few months before his death. He donated his papers to hisalma mater,Southwestern University.[27]
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 2 | ||
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Military Affairs Committee (1816–1947) | | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1816–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee (1947–present) | ||
