Don Nickles
United States Senator fromOklahoma
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Henry Bellmon
Succeeded by	Tom Coburn
Senate positions Chair of theSenate Budget Committee In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005 Preceded by Kent Conrad Succeeded by Judd Gregg Senate Minority Whip In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003 Leader Trent Lott Preceded by Harry Reid Succeeded by Harry Reid In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001 Leader Trent Lott Preceded by Harry Reid Succeeded by Harry Reid Senate Majority Whip In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001 Leader Trent Lott Preceded by Harry Reid Succeeded by Harry Reid In office June 12, 1996 – January 3, 2001 Leader Trent Lott Preceded by Trent Lott Succeeded by Harry Reid
Member of theOklahoma Senate from the 20th district
In office January 2, 1979 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Roy Grantham
Succeeded by	William O'Connor
Personal details
Born	Donald Lee Nickles (1948-12-06)December 6, 1948 (age 77) Ponca City,Oklahoma, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Linda Lou Morrison
Children	4
Education	Oklahoma State University, Stillwater (BA)
Nickles's voice Nickles honoring deceased Sen.John Chafee. Recorded October 25, 1999

Donald Lee Nickles (born December 6, 1948) is an American politician and lobbyist who was aRepublicanUnited States senator fromOklahoma from 1981 to 2005. He was considered both afiscal andsocial conservative. After retiring from the Senate as the longest-serving senator fromOklahoma up until that point, he founded the Nickles Group, a lobbying firm.^[1]

Nickles was born and raised inPonca City, Oklahoma, the son of Coeweene (Bryan) and Robert C. Nickles.^[2][3] He attended Ponca City public schools graduating fromPonca City High School in 1967. To help pay for their education atOklahoma State University, he and his wife, the former Linda Lou Morrison, operated Don Nickles Professional Cleaning Service inStillwater. He was a member ofBeta Theta Pi fraternity atOklahoma State University, and earned aBachelor of Arts inbusiness administration in 1971.

After college, he went to work for Nickles Machine Corporation in Ponca City, a business started in 1918 by his grandfather, Clair Nickles. He became the company's vice president and general manager. He also served in theKansas Army National Guard and theOklahoma Army National Guard from 1970 until 1976.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} A formative experience was the distress his family suffered following the death of his father, Robert, in 1961, when Nickles was twelve years old. The family had to sell off part of the family business to raise cash to pay the requiredestate tax.^[7]

In 1978, aged 29, his election to theOklahoma Senate was the beginning of his career in public office.^[9][10]Two years later, at the age of 31, he became and remains the youngest Republican ever elected to the U.S. Senate.^[11][12][13]

He sponsored legislation to cut taxes, reduce government spending, promote national defense, and reduce what he believed to be official hostility to religion. He sponsored theDefense of Marriage Act which allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states.

As Republican Whip, Nickles called for the resignation of fellow RepublicanTrent Lott as majority leader after Lott made remarks praisingStrom Thurmond that seemed insensitive to the issue of racial segregation.^[14] The National Federation of Independent Business praised Nickles for including in the Senate's 2005 budget a provision that would accelerate by one year a complete repeal of the federal estate tax^[15]Nickles was one of many Republican senators who in 1981 called the White House to express his discontent over the nomination ofSandra Day O'Connor ofArizona to theUnited States Supreme Court. Nickles said that he and other socially conservative Republican senators would not support O'Connor because of her "presumed unwillingness" to overturn theabortion decisionRoe v. Wade.^[16]

During a 1986 campaign rally at theUniversity of Oklahoma inNorman,President Reagan accidentally called himDon Rickles, the American comedian. The president was later told about his mistake and found it very amusing.^[17]

Nickles was one of three Senators to vote against the confirmation ofRuth Bader Ginsburg and one of nine to vote against the confirmation ofStephen Breyer to the Supreme Court.^[18]

Nickles quickly rose in the Senate Republican leadership, serving as chairman of theNational Republican Senatorial Committee in the101st Congress;Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee in the102nd,103rd, and104thCongresses; and AssistantRepublican Leader from 1996 to 2003. After being term-limited out of the Assistant Leader position, Nickles served in the 108th Congress as chairman of theSenate Budget Committee. Nickles was also onBob Dole's short list ofvice presidential choices, before Dole finally decided on formerCongressmanJack Kemp ofNew York.

In December 2002, Nickles became embroiled in the controversy surrounding Republican LeaderTrent Lott. At SenatorStrom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, Lott had made comments that some took to be racially insensitive. As the controversy grew, Nickles went on national television and became the first senator in the Republican leadership to say that Lott should step down. Nickles believed that the controversy over Lott's remarks would distract from the Republican legislative agenda, and as he served as Lott's deputy in the Senate this statement was seen as the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back." Despite many apologies for his remarks, Lott stepped down shortly thereafter. Declining to run for the position ofSenate Majority Leader himself, Lott was succeeded byBill Frist ofTennessee.

Nickles was re-elected in1986,1992 and1998 and was the senior senator from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2005.

On October 7, 2003, he announced that he would not run in the 2004 election.^[19] RepublicanTom Coburn was elected to succeed Nickles.^[20]

Nickles went on to found the Nickles Group, a government consulting group in Washington, D.C. He also serves on the boards of directors of a number of public companies, such asOklahoma City-basedChesapeake Energy.^[21]

Nickles was one of the politicians featured in the filmTraffic, giving his opinion on the war on drugs.^[22]

Nickles and his wife, Linda, have four children.^[23]

• HIV Prevention Act of 1997

• "Nickles, McCaleb Try to Sabotage Oklahoma Amtrak Service, Opt for Yugo Rather Than Cadillac." Oklahoma State Senate. Communications Division, State Capitol. May 24, 1999.
• Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1996. Alexandria, Va.: CQ Staff Directories, 1997.
• "Donald Nickles." Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.
• Congressional Directory, 106th Congress, 1999–2000. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999.
• Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America 2000, The 106th Congress. Philip D. Duncan and Brian Nutting, eds. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1999.
• Who's Who in American Politics, 1997–1998. Marquis Who's Who, 1997.

• United States Congress."Don Nickles (id: N000102)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Don Nickles atIMDb
• The Nickles Group

• 1948 births
• 20th-century members of the Oklahoma Legislature
• 20th-century United States senators
• 21st-century United States senators
• Kansas National Guard personnel
• Living people
• Members of the United States Congress who became lobbyists
• Oklahoma National Guard personnel
• Oklahoma State University alumni
• People from Ponca City, Oklahoma
• Ponca City High School alumni
• Republican Party Oklahoma state senators
• Republican Party United States senators from Oklahoma
• United States Army soldiers

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