Thomas Kean
Kean in 2018
President of theCarnegie Corporation of New York
Acting April 15, 2021 – January 2023 Served withJanet L. Robinson
Preceded by	Vartan Gregorian
Succeeded by	Louise Richardson
2nd Chair of the 9/11 Commission
In office December 15, 2002 – August 21, 2004
President	George W. Bush
Deputy	Lee Hamilton
Preceded by	Henry Kissinger
Succeeded by	Position abolished
10th President ofDrew University
In office 1990–2005
Preceded by	Paul Hardin III
Succeeded by	Robert Weisbuch
48thGovernor of New Jersey
In office January 19, 1982 – January 16, 1990
Preceded by	Brendan Byrne
Succeeded by	James Florio
Speaker of theNew Jersey General Assembly
In office 1972–1973
Preceded by	Barry T. Parker
Succeeded by	S. Howard Woodson
Member of theNew Jersey General Assembly
In office 1968 – 1978 Served withPhilip Kaltenbacher (1967–1974) Jane Burgio (1974–1977)
Preceded by	Proportional representation
Succeeded by	Frederic Remington
Constituency	11-F(1968–1972) 11-E(1972–1974) 25th(1974–1978)
Personal details
Born	Thomas Howard Kean (1935-04-21)April 21, 1935 (age 90) New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Deborah Bye ​ ​ (m. 1967; died 2020)​
Children	3, includingTom Jr.
Education	Princeton University (BA) Columbia University (MA)

Thomas Howard Kean (/keɪn/KAYN;^[1] born April 21, 1935) is an American statesman and academic administrator who served as the 48thgovernor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. A member of theRepublican Party, he served in theNew Jersey General Assembly and was chair of the9/11 Commission from 2002 to 2004.

Kean is a member of the Kean political family. His father,Robert Kean, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his grandfather, Hamilton Fish Kean, was a U.S. senator. After graduating from Princeton University, Kean worked as a history teacher and obtained a master's degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1968 to 1978 and held the role of speaker of the Assembly from 1972 to 1973. In 1981, Kean was elected governor of New Jersey; he was re-elected in 1985. A moderate Republican, Kean is regarded as a popular governor who promoted New Jersey tourism.

Following his two terms as governor, Kean served as president ofDrew University from 1990 until 2005. After theSeptember 11 attacks, Kean was appointed by PresidentGeorge W. Bush as chairman of theNational Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, widely known as the 9/11 Commission. On July 22, 2004, Kean and the commission released their findings in the9/11 Commission Report.

Kean is the father of U.S. RepresentativeThomas Kean Jr.

Kean was born inNew York City to a long line ofDutch Americans andNew Jersey politicians. His mother was Elizabeth Stuyvesant Howard^[2] and his father,Robert Kean, was aU.S. representative from 1939 until 1959.^[3] Kean's grandfatherHamilton Fish Kean and great-uncleJohn Kean both served asU.S. senators from New Jersey. His second great-uncle wasHamilton Fish, a U.S. senator,governor of New York, andU.S. secretary of state. Kean is also descended fromWilliam Livingston, who was a delegate to theContinental Congress, was the firstgovernor of New Jersey, and is considered a founding father of New Jersey.^[2][4]

Kean first attendedThe Potomac School inMcLean, Virginia. When he reached fourth grade, he enteredSt. Albans School, a college preparatory boarding school in Washington, D.C. In 1946, at the age of eleven, Kean was enrolled atSt. Mark's School, anEpiscopalian private school inSouthborough, Massachusetts that was the alma mater of his father and his two older brothers.^[5]

After graduating from St. Mark's, Kean attendedPrinceton University. At Princeton, he completed a senior thesis onJulian Ursyn Niemcewicz, a key architect of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's constitution, entitledNiemcewicz (The Biography of a Polish Patriot, 1756-1842, Including His Impressions of America, 1797-1807).^[6] While at Princeton, Kean participated in theAmerican Whig–Cliosophic Society, a political, literary, and debating society with alengthy list of distinguished members.^[7] He graduated from Princeton with aB.A. in history in 1957.^[2] After working on his father's unsuccessfulU.S. senatorial campaign in 1958 and returning to St. Mark's School as a history teacher for three years, Kean attendedTeachers College atColumbia University in New York City, where he earned hisM.A. in history.^[2]

In 1967, running as a moderate Republican, Kean was elected to theNew Jersey General Assembly. He ran withPhilip D. Kaltenbacher, aShort Hills Republican who had served as an aide to AssemblymanIrwin I. Kimmelman from 1964 to 1966; Kimmelman later served asAttorney General in Kean's administration as New Jersey governor.^{[citation needed]} In the Republican primary, Kean and Kaltenbacher defeated Donald Fitz Maurice, Vivian Tompkins Lange, the sister of former U.S. AttorneyWilliam F. Tompkins, and Joseph Shanahan to win seats in the New Jersey Assembly.^[8]

At the start of the Assembly session in 1972, the New Jersey Assembly's thenDemocratic leadership sought to nameS. Howard Woodson ofTrenton as Speaker until AssemblymanDavid Friedland made a deal as one of four Democrats who voted to give the minority Republicans control of the General Assembly, and Kean was elected as Assembly Speaker. Woodson would have been the Assembly's first African American Speaker, and charges of racism were leveled against Friedland by fellow Democrats.^[9] In the following Assembly in 1974, Democrats united behind Woodson for Speaker, and Kean became the Assembly's minority leader. In 1973, Kean served briefly as acting New Jersey governor.^{[citation needed]} In1974, Kean ran forCongress inNew Jersey's 5th congressional district but lost the Republican primary toMillicent Fenwick by 0.32%.^[10]

During the1976 presidential campaign, Kean served asGerald Ford's campaign manager for the state of New Jersey.^[2]

In1977, Kean ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor of New Jersey. Although he spent most of his career as a political moderate, in this race Kean ran to the right ofNew Jersey Senate Minority LeaderRaymond Bateman. Kean was unable to obtain the endorsement of many county Republican chairmen, or from then U.S. President Ford despite having served as Ford's campaign director for the state of New Jersey the previous year.^[2] Bateman defeated Kean and won the nomination, though Bateman went on to lose the general election toBrendan Byrne.

After the election, Governor Byrne appointed Kean as a commissioner on the board of theNew Jersey Highway Authority. Kean also worked as a political commentator onNew Jersey public television.^[2]

Four years later, in1981, Kean again ran for governor. In his campaign, Kean pledged to foster job creation, clean uptoxic waste sites, reduce crime, and preservehome rule. In his 1981 campaign, Kean secured the endorsement of former U.S. PresidentGerald Ford, who had not endorsed him in his 1977 gubernatorial campaign.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1981 general election, Kean defeated Democratic RepresentativeJim Florio in the closest election in New Jersey gubernatorial election history, winning by 1,797 votes.^[2] The election was controversial due to the involvement of theRepublican National Committee, who appointed aBallot Security Task Force that was alleged to have intimidated voters.^[11][12][13] One of Kean's strategists in his 1981 campaign wasRoger Stone, a self-proclaimed "GOP hitman."^[14]

In striking contrast to his slim 1981 victory, Kean won re-election in1985 with the largest margin of victory ever recorded in New Jersey gubernatorial history, defeatingPeter Shapiro, thenEssexCounty Executive, 70%–29%.^[15] Kean won every municipality in the state exceptAudubon Park andChesilhurst inCamden County andRoosevelt inMonmouth County.^[16]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(September 2023)

As governor, Kean served on the President's Education Policy Advisory Committee and chaired theEducation Commission of the States and theNational Governors Association's Task Force on Teaching.^[17]

Kean began receiving national recognition following the launch of a multi-million dollar promotional campaign for New Jersey tourism, in television commercials promoting New Jersey as a tourist destination, that aired nationally during throughout his eight years as governor. In the ads, in which Kean was sometimes joined by various celebrities withNew Jersey roots, includingBrooke Shields andBill Cosby, he recited the state's tourism motto: "New Jersey and You: Perfect Together".^[18] In 1998, the campaign was revived by then New Jersey GovernorChristine Todd Whitman, capping a long-term, multibillion-dollar effort to promote the state and especially itsJersey Shore beach resorts as attractive vacation destinations.^[19][20]

In 1988, Kean delivered the keynote speech at the1988 Republican National Convention inNew Orleans.^[21][22] Also in 1988, Kean authored a book entitledThe Politics of Inclusion.^[2]

As governor, Kean played a central role in founding and funding theNew Jersey Performing Arts Center inNewark, one of the nation's largest performing arts centers, that received roughly $200 million in state funding.^[23] Kean believed that the cultural center had the power to revitalize Newark and strengthen the state as a whole.^[24] Kean remained involved in advocacy for the arts years after his time as governor, criticizing arts funding cuts in 2007.^[25]

Kean practiced bipartisanship and outreach beyond traditional political constituencies. He worked extensively with traditional Democratic constituencies, especially onurban policies. He also divested New Jersey's public retirement funds from South Africa duringapartheid, embraced the implementation of thestatewide holiday in honor of civil rights leaderMartin Luther King Jr., and supported legislation establishing New Jersey's Educational Opportunity Fund.^[26][27][28]

In January 1990, Kean was succeeded as governor byJames Florio.^[29] A governor of New Jersey may not serve more than two consecutive terms.^[30]

Kean left office in January 1990 as one of the most popular political figures in New Jersey political history. A number of leading New Jersey figures of the 1990s and 2000s began their political careers in Kean's administration, includingDouglas Forrester,Bob Franks, andChris Daggett.^{[citation needed]}

In the aftermath of Kean's tenure as a two-term New Jersey governor, theEagleton Institute of Politics atRutgers University–New Brunswick's Center on the American Governor inNew Brunswick, established the Thomas H. Kean Archive.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, following the end of his second gubernatorial term, Kean was named President ofDrew University, a liberal arts university inMadison, New Jersey. During Kean's presidency, applications to Drew increased by more than 40 percent; the endowment nearly tripled; and more than $60 million was committed to construction of new buildings and renovation of older buildings. Kean would frequently eat lunch unannounced with students in the dining hall and was a regular spectator at Drew sporting events. Kean served as Drew's president until 2005, and also taught a highly selectivepolitical science seminar at the university.^[32]

In 1990, Kean for the first time began expressing views on foreign policy and national security matters that generally mirrored those of the Republican Party. In a December 15, 1991, speech to The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Kean endorsedfree trade initiatives then under way by theGeorge H. W. Bush administration. Kean also advocated continued U.S. aid to anti-communist resistance forces inAfghanistan,Angola, and to those engaged in supporting democratic change in the formerSoviet Union. "To those supporting the Afghan resistance," Kean told the Heritage Foundation audience in 1991, "I say, carry on."^[33]

Kean was appointed to the boards of several important foreign policy bodies, including the U.S. government-fundedNational Endowment for Democracy (NED); a Presidential advisory commission on a post-CastroCuba, which was chaired by former U.S. Presidential Republican candidateSteve Forbes; and President Bill Clinton'sOne America Initiative. He also served as an advisory board member for thePartnership for a Secure America.^{[citation needed]} Kean served as co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) at theBipartisan Policy Center.^[34][when?]

Kean has served as chairman ofThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest health philanthropy; the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; theCarnegie Corporation of New York; Educate America; the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation; MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership; and the Newark Alliance. He has also served as a board member for several publicly traded companies, includingAramark,UnitedHealth Group,Hess Corporation,The Pepsi Bottling Group,CIT Group, andFranklin Templeton Investments.^{[35][17][36][37]}

In 2006, theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the conduct of United Health Group's management and directors, and theInternal Revenue Service and prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for theSouthern District of New York subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light following publication of a series of probing articles inThe Wall Street Journal in May 2006, which reported on the apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options by UnitedHealth Group's management. The backdating allegedly occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, including Kean, who sat on the company's compensation committee during three crucial years, according toThe Wall Street Journal. Major shareholders filed lawsuits, accusing Kean and the other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty.^[38][39]

From 1995 until 2018, Kean was a weekly columnist forThe Star-Ledger, aNewark-based newspaper and the most widely circulated newspaper in the state. Co-authored with former New Jersey GovernorBrendan Byrne, Kean's immediate predecessor as New Jersey governor, the column, titled "Kean-Byrne Dialogue", addressed issues of the day and was published weekly byThe Star-Ledger.^[40]

Kean is also an advisor to, and has been inducted into,Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, and is a partner in Quad Partners, a private equity firm that invests in the education industry.^[41]

Following theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks on the United States byal-Qaeda, political pressure grew for an independent commission to independently investigate why the attacks were not prevented by U.S. national security organizations, including theCentral Intelligence Agency,Department of Defense,National Security Agency, and others, and to provide recommendations for preventing future terrorist attacks. The commission is widely considered the most important independent U.S. government commission since theWarren Commission, which was charged with investigating theassassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and perhaps the most important U.S. government commission in American history given its mammoth responsibility for investigating the causes of the first foreign attack on the U.S. mainland since theWar of 1812, which represented thelargest terrorist attack in world history, and recommending steps to defend the U.S. from future attacks. Kean's appointment to head the commission, and later the work and final report of the commission, drew substantial global attention.^{[citation needed]}

Bush initially selectedRichard Nixon's former Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger to head the9/11 Commission. But Kissinger faced opposition due to his potential conflicts of interest with his global business consultancy, and withdrew from consideration for the position on December 13, 2002. Noting Kean's post-gubernatorial foreign policy involvement and his reputation as a consensus-oriented political leader, Bush nominated Kean as Kissinger's replacement in leading the important and politically sensitive commission.^[42]

Just as some had criticized Kissinger's nomination, Kean's leadership of the commission also drew some criticism. Some alleged that Kean did not have the depth of foreign policy and national security expertise needed to manage an investigation so integral to the future of American national security. Supporters of Kean in the Bush administration and elsewhere, however, countered that Kean's work since 1990 as a board member of theNational Endowment for Democracy, the post-Castro Cuba Commission, and his foreign policy and national security commentary and analysis following his governorship established adequate national security and foreign policy credentials for him to assume such a critically important assignment.^[43]

In December 2003, as the 9/11 Commission neared completion of its investigation, Kean said that theSeptember 11 attacks could have been prevented, saying, "As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done. This was not something that had to happen."^[44] On April 4, 2004, in an interview withMeet the Press, Kean again stated that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented, saying that thefederal government should have acted sooner to dismantleal-Qaeda and responded more quickly to the terrorist threat it represented. "When we actually sawbin Laden on the ground, using thePredator or other means, did we have...actionable intelligence? Should we have sent a cruise missile into a site where he was at that point? I think those early opportunities are clear. We had him. We saw him. I think maybe we could have done something about it."^[45]

On July 22, 2004, the Commission issued its final report, the9/11 Commission Report, a 585-page report that concluded that theCIA and theFBI ill-served President Bush and the American people in failing to predict or prevent the September 11 attacks, which the report concluded were preventable.^{[citation needed]}

On August 15, 2006, Kean and Commission Vice ChairLee H. Hamilton released a book,Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, published byAlfred A. Knopf.^[46] In the book, Kean and Hamilton write that the 9/11 Commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements byThe Pentagon andFederal Aviation Administration that it considered an investigation into possible deception by these government bodies concerning their response to the attacks.^[47]

Kean served as a paid consultant and spokesman for theABC miniseriesThe Path to 9/11, which aired nationally in primetime in two segments, on September 10 and 11, 2006. The second part of the miniseries also aired without commercial interruption with the exception of a 20-minute break at 9 pm ET, when President Bush addressed the nation on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.^{[citation needed]} While not technically considered a documentary by ABC, the series drew criticism prior to its airing for misrepresenting facts leading up the September 11 attacks.Bill Clinton,Madeleine Albright, many former high-ranking Clinton administration officials, and other scholars, publicly questioned the accuracy of the miniseries and asked that it not be aired. Albright called the miniseries' portrayal of her "false and defamatory."^[48] Former U.S. ambassador toYemenBarbara Bodine also strongly criticized her own portrayal, complaining in theLos Angeles Times about the "mythmakers" who created it and calling the project "false."^[49]

On July 4, 2007,al-Qaeda publicly released a video ofAyman al-Zawahri, its deputy chief, urging allMuslims to unite in aholy war against the United States inIraq and elsewhere. The 95-minute video also prominently featured video excerpts of Kean citing al-Qaeda as one of the most formidable security threats that the U.S. had ever confronted, presumably cited with the intention of bolstering the morale of al-Qaeda supporters. Comments by Kean cited on the video include a reference to the fact that al-Qaeda remained as strong in 2007 as it was before the September 11, 2001, attacks.^{[citation needed]} The video also appeared to validate that al-Qaeda was closely monitoring U.S. political developments, especially including the work of the commission. It also suggested that al-Qaeda intended to focus not just on engaging the West in Iraq, but also in other countries. "As for the second half of the long-term plan," al-Zawahri says on the video, "it consists of hurrying to the fields of Jihad likeAfghanistan,Iraq, andSomalia for Jihadi preparation and training".^{[citation needed]}

The commission reassembled in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2014, for the tenth anniversary of the issuance of its report. It assessed how well the government was performing given in addressing terrorist threats and to meeting the commission's recommendations for preventing a future attack.^{[50][needs update]}

• Rare Disease Caucus^[51]

Kean holds over 30 honorary degrees and numerous awards from environmental and educational organizations, including:^[52][53][54]

• The Four Freedoms Award
• NAACP's "Man of the Year" award
• The Senator John Heinz Award for Public Service
• The Global Interdependence Center's Frederick Heldring Global Leadership Award
• The Voice of September 11 Building Bridges Award
• TheNational Wildlife Federation's "Conservation Achievement Award"
• TheChristopher and Dana Reeve Foundation's "Visionary Leadership Award"
• TheAmerican Institute for Public Service's Jefferson Award for Public Service
• TheArthur W. Page Center's "Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication"^{[55][better source needed]}

In 2009,New York Waterways named the ferryGovernor Thomas Kean in Kean's honor.^[56][57] On January 15, 2009, the ferry saved two dozen individuals whenUS Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing on theHudson River.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, Kean was inducted into theNew Jersey Hall of Fame.^[58]

Kean met his future wife,Deborah Bye, at a party inManhattan.^[59] They began dating in October 1966.^[59][60] Bye and Kean married at theOld Drawyers Church inOdessa, Delaware on June 3, 1967.^{[61][59][60][62]} The couple had three children: daughter, Alexandra, and twin sons,Tom Jr. and Reed.^[59][63]

Kean moved toLivingston, New Jersey in 1967 during his first campaign for office.^[61][64] As of 2015, Kean lived inBedminster, New Jersey.^[65]

Deborah Kean died on April 24, 2020 at the age of 76. The Keans had been married for 53 years.^[59][61]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toThomas Kean.

• Thomas H. Kean biography at9/11 Commission official website
• The 9/11 Commission Report,9/11 Commission Report, July 22, 2004
• "Thomas Kean archive" atRutgers University
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• "A View from Outside the Beltway: Winning Policy Themes for the 1990s"^[unfit], by Thomas Kean, Heritage Lecture No. 357,The Heritage Foundation, December 15, 1991
• "9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon",The Washington Post, August 2, 2006
• "Stonewalled by the C.I.A.", op-ed by Kean andLee H. Hamilton,The New York Times, January 2, 2008
• "Governor Tom Kean" atNew Jersey Hall of Fame

• 1935 births
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