This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Pete du Pont" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Pete du Pont
68thGovernor of Delaware
In office January 18, 1977 – January 15, 1985
Lieutenant	James D. McGinnis Mike Castle
Preceded by	Sherman W. Tribbitt
Succeeded by	Mike Castle
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromDelaware'sat-large district
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by	William Roth
Succeeded by	Thomas B. Evans Jr.
Member of theDelaware House of Representatives from the 12th district
In office January 7, 1969 – January 3, 1971
Preceded by	David Benson
Succeeded by	William Poulterer
Personal details
Born	Pierre Samuel du Pont IV (1935-01-22)January 22, 1935 Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Died	May 8, 2021(2021-05-08) (aged 86) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Elise Ravenel Wood
Children	4, includingBen
Relatives	Seedu Pont family
Education	Princeton University (BS) Harvard University (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1957-1960
Unit	U.S. Naval Reserve

Pierre Samuel "Pete"du Pont IV (January 22, 1935 – May 8, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the68th governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985. A member of theRepublican Party, he was theUnited States representative forDelaware's at-large congressional district from 1971 to 1977.

Pierre Samuel du Pont IV was born on January 22, 1935, inWilmington, Delaware.^[1] A member of theDu Pont family, he was the son of Pierre Samuel du Pont III and Jane Holcomb du Pont, grandson ofLammot du Pont II, and great nephew ofPierre S. du Pont, the developer ofLongwood Gardens. After education atPhillips Exeter Academy,Princeton University, andHarvard Law School, he served in theU.S. Naval Reserve (Seabees) from 1957 until 1960.^[2] He was married to Elise Ravenel Wood and has four children, Elise, Pierre V,Ben, and Eleuthère.

From 1963 until 1970 du Pont was employed byE.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. In 1968, he was elected unopposed to the 12th district seat in theDelaware House of Representatives,^[3] which he held until 1971.^[2] He seriously considered a bid for aUnited States Senate seat in 1972 (eventually won by DemocratJoe Biden), and initially faced a likely primary election against former U.S. RepresentativeHarry G. Haskell Jr. He then bowed out in accordance with the wish of Republican leaders, including PresidentRichard Nixon, to have a reluctant incumbent U.S. SenatorJ. Caleb Boggs seek a third term.

In 1970 du Pont was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Democrat John D. Daniello, a New Castle County Councilman and labor leader. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives two more times, defeating Democrats Norma Handloff in 1972 andUniversity of Delaware professor James R. Soles in 1974. In Congress, du Pont supported an attempt to limit presidential authority through theWar Powers Act of 1973, but was one of the last to remain loyal toU.S. PresidentRichard M. Nixon during theimpeachment process.

Du Pont did not seek another term in theU.S. House of Representatives and instead ran forGovernor of Delaware in 1976, defeating incumbent Democratic GovernorSherman W. Tribbitt by 33,051 votes. He was re-elected to a second term as governor in 1980, defeating Democratic State House leader William J. Gordy by 94,787 votes, and served from January 18, 1977, until January 15, 1985.^[2]

As Governor, du Pont signed into law two income tax reduction measures and a constitutional amendment that restrained future tax increases and limited government spending.^[1] TheWilmington News Journal praised these policies, saying that du Pont "revived [the] business climate and set the stage for [Delaware's] prosperity".^{[citation needed]} In 1979, he founded the nonprofit "Jobs for Delaware Graduates", an employment counseling and job placement program for high school seniors not bound for college. This program was the model for other programs currently functioning in many states and foreign countries.

In 1981, Du Pont helped establish the credit card industry in Delaware, in a race againstSouth Dakota, which the year before had abolished itsusury law limiting the interest rates that banks can charge consumers for credit.^[4] At the time, du Pont's cousin Nathan Hayward III advocated that tiny Delaware aspire to become the "financialLuxembourg of America" – a tax haven for corporations, yacht owners, and credit card companies permitted to charge unlimited interest.^[5] Former Du Pont ChairmanIrving S. Shapiro, then a lobbyist forCiticorp, helped Gov. du Pont pass the Financial Center Development Act in 1981 with the cooperation of the leadership of both parties and others in state and local government. Intended to attract two New York state banks that would hire at least 1,000 employees, the law eventually drew more than thirty banks to Delaware, creating 43,000 new finance-related jobs and leading the state away from its previous dependence on the chemical industry in general and theDu Pont Company in particular.

With his second and final term as governor expiring in 1985,^[3] du Pont, as the dominant Delaware politician, was widely expected to challenge the popular incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator and future President,Joe Biden, but du Pont had little interest in legislative politics and declined to run, preparing instead for a long shot bid for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination in the1988 election. (His wife, Elise, ran for the U.S. Congressional seat that he had previously held in 1984, but lost to incumbent DemocratTom Carper.)^[6] He declared his intent on September 16, 1986,^[7] before anyone else. Biden also sought his party's nomination but dropped out of the race after a plagiarism scandal.

Running in the1988 Republican presidential primaries, du Pont presented an unconventional program. As described by Celia Cohen in her book,Only in Delaware, du Pont "wanted to reformSocial Security by offering recipients private savings options in exchange for a corresponding reduction in government benefits. He proposed phasing out government subsidies for farmers. He said he would wean welfare clients off their benefits and get them into the workforce, even if government had to provide entry-level jobs to get them started. He suggested students be subjected to mandatory, random drug tests with those who flunked losing their drivers [sic] licenses."^[8] After finishing next to last in theNew Hampshire primary, du Pont exited the race.^[9]

In 1984, du Pont served as chairman of theEducation Commission of the States, a national organization of educators dedicated to improving all facets of American education. He also served as chairman of theHudson Institute from 1985 until 1987 and theNational Review Institute from 1994 until 1997.

Du Pont was the chairman of the board for theNational Center for Policy Analysis, a think tank based inDallas, Texas; he was a retired director with theWilmington, Delaware law firm of Richards, Layton, and Finger, and until May 2014, he wrote the monthlyOutside the Box column for theWall Street Journal.

Du Pont died at his home in Wilmington, on May 8, 2021, following a long illness.^[1][10][11]

• Koplinski, Brad (2000).Hats in the ring : conversations with presidential candidates. Presidential Publishing.ISBN 0-9678702-3-2.OCLC 44945022.

• Boyer, William W. (2000).Governing Delaware. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press.ISBN 1-892142-23-6.
• Hoffecker, Carol E. (2004).Democracy in Delaware. Wilmington, Delaware: Cedar Tree Books.ISBN 1-892142-23-6.
• Martin, Roger A. (1984).History of Delaware Through its Governors. Wilmington, Delaware: McClafferty Press.
• Martin, Roger A. (1995).Memoirs of the Senate. Newark, Delaware: Roger A. Martin.

• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress

• 1935 births
• 2021 deaths
• Episcopalians from Delaware
• American people of French descent
• Candidates in the 1988 United States presidential election
• Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
• Du Pont family
• Republican Party governors of Delaware
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Hudson Institute
• Republican Party members of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Members of the Philadelphia Club
• Military personnel from Delaware
• People from New Castle County, Delaware
• People from North Haven, Maine
• Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware
• Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
• Princeton University alumni
• Republican Party United States representatives from Delaware
• United States Navy reservists
• Seabees
• 20th-century members of the Delaware General Assembly
• 20th-century United States representatives

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from May 2021
• Articles needing additional references from March 2013
• All articles needing additional references
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021
• People appearing on C-SPAN