Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969
Preceded by
Position established
Succeeded by
Bennett Johnston
64th Governor of Maine
In office January 5, 1955 – January 2, 1959
Preceded by
Burton Cross
Succeeded by
Robert Haskell
Member of the Maine House of Representatives from the 110th district
In office December 5, 1946 – November 2, 1951
Preceded by
Charles Cummings
Succeeded by
Ralph Farris
Personal details
Born
Edmund Sixtus Muskie
(1914-03-28)March 28, 1914 Rumford, Maine, U.S.
Died
March 26, 1996(1996-03-26) (aged 81) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place
Arlington National Cemetery
Political party
Democratic
Spouse
Jane Gray
(m. 1948)
Children
5
Education
Bates College (BA) Cornell University (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
United States
Branch/service
United States Navy
Years of service
1942–1945
Rank
Lieutenant
Unit
U.S. Naval Reserve
Battles/wars
World War II
Asiatic-Pacific Theater
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Edmund Sixtus Muskie[a] (March 28, 1914 – March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981, a United States senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 64th governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, and a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1946 to 1951. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1968 presidential election.
Born in Rumford, Maine, he worked as a lawyer for two years before serving in the United States Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Upon his return, Muskie served in the Maine State Legislature from 1946 to 1951, and unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Waterville. Muskie was elected the 64th governor of Maine in 1954 under a reform platform as the first Democratic governor since Louis J. Brann left office in 1937, and only the fifth since 1857. Muskie pressed for economic expansionism and instated environmental provisions. Muskie's actions severed a nearly 100-year Republican stronghold and led to the political insurgency of the Maine Democrats.
Muskie's legislative work during his career as a senator coincided with an expansion of modern liberalism in the United States. He promoted the 1960s environmental movement which led to the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972. Muskie supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and opposed Richard Nixon's "Imperial presidency" by advancing New Federalism. Muskie ran with Vice President Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in the 1968 presidential election, losing the popular vote by 0.7 percentage point—one of the narrowest margins in U.S. history. He would go on to run in the 1972 presidential election, where he secured 1.84 million votes in the primaries, coming in fourth out of 15 contesters. The release of the forged "Canuck letter" derailed his campaign and sullied his public image with Americans of French-Canadian descent.
After the election, Muskie returned to the Senate, where he gave the 1976 State of the Union Response. Muskie served as first chairman of the new Senate Budget Committee from 1975 to 1980, where he established the United States budget process.[b] Upon his retirement from the Senate, he became the 58th U.S. Secretary of State under President Carter. Muskie's tenure as Secretary of State was one of the shortest in modern history. His department negotiated the release of 52 Americans, thus concluding the Iran hostage crisis. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Carter in 1981 and has been honored with a public holiday in Maine since 1987.
^Witherell (2014), p. 4
^David (1970), p. 10
^Cite error: The named reference :16 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Angus S. King Jr. (March 27, 2014). Sen. King Honors Sen. Ed Muskie's Centennial Birthday. Event occurs at [time needed]. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
^Ayres, B. Drummond Jr. (February 14, 1979). "Budget Balancers Warned by Muskie". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
^"Chronology of Muskie's life and work | Archives | Bates College". www.bates.edu. September 9, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
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Edmund Sixtus Muskie (March 28, 1914 – March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States secretary of...
nomination. Among the candidates he defeated were early front-runner EdmundMuskie, 1968 nominee Hubert Humphrey, governor George Wallace, and representative...
Through the Years: an Illustrated History. EdmundMuskie Archives: Bates College, Lewiston, Maine: EdmundMuskie Archives. p. 37. "The Painter of Maine:...
nominate Maine Senator EdmundMuskie as his running mate. The convention overwhelmingly voted to ratify the choice of Muskie, though Julian Bond picked...
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator EdmundMuskie of Maine were nominated for president and vice president, respectively...
Jane Frances Muskie (née Gray; February 12, 1927 – December 25, 2004) was an American civic leader and writer who, as the wife of EdmundMuskie, served as...
adding the Lewiston campus in 1988. The Portland Campus is home to the EdmundMuskie School of Public Service, the Bio Sciences Research Institute, the Osher...
American politician Edmund Walter Jayawardena, Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat EdmundMuskie (1914–1996), American Secretary of State Edmund G. Brown, Sr. (1905–1996)...
the 1972 United States presidential election. It implied that Senator EdmundMuskie, a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, held...
for this position were Senators Edward M. Kennedy from Massachusetts, EdmundMuskie from Maine, and Fred R. Harris from Oklahoma; Governors Richard Hughes...
secret mission to rescue American hostages in Iran. He was succeeded by EdmundMuskie. Vance was the cousin (and adoptive son) of 1924 Democratic presidential...
strategy succeeded in clinching the nomination, and he chose Senator EdmundMuskie as his running mate. In the general election, he nearly matched Nixon's...
in the Manchester Union Leader implied Democratic contender Senator EdmundMuskie was prejudiced against French-Canadians. He soon ended his campaign...
writing her thesis on the Prague Spring. She worked as an aide to Senator EdmundMuskie from 1976 to 1978, before serving as a staff member on the National...
Roemer, and three former U.S. Secretaries of State: Madeleine Albright, EdmundMuskie, and Cyrus Vance. Other CNP Board members have included former U.S....
incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey and his running mate, Senator EdmundMuskie, and American Independent Party candidates George Wallace and Curtis...
was restarted. The favorite for the Democratic nomination by then was EdmundMuskie, the 1968 vice-presidential nominee, who had especially benefited from...
November 2, 1976. Incumbent Democratic senator EdmundMuskie won re-election to a fourth term. EdmundMuskie (D), incumbent U.S. Senator Robert A. G. Monks...
Often politically active, he campaigned in 1958 to elect the Democrat EdmundMuskie as governor of Maine. He also took part in the Selma to Montgomery marches...
Walter Mondale of Minnesota (formed exploratory committee) Senator EdmundMuskie of Maine Senator Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois Senator John Tunney...