About Senator Bond
Biography
"Serving Missouri has been my life's work. I have walked the land, fished its rivers and been humbled by the honesty and hard work of our people. The highest honor is to receive and safeguard the public trust" - Kit Bond.
Christopher S. "Kit" Bond is a sixth generation Missourian, born in St. Louis in 1939. He grew up in Mexico, MO, where he still resides and tends to several groves of trees he planted by hand.
Bond graduated Cum Laude from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1960 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia, having graduated first in his class.
After serving as a clerk to the Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Bond practiced law in Washington, D.C. before returning home to Missouri.
In 1969, Bond became an Assistant Attorney General under former Senator John Danforth. Before being elected State Auditor in 1970, Bond was chief counsel of Missouri's Consumer Protection Division.
At age 33, Kit Bond became the 47th Governor of the State of Missouri on January 8, 1973 - the youngest Governor the state has ever had.
Bond was re-elected to a second term as Governor in 1980. Among his greatest accomplishments as Governor was to take the Parents as Teachers program statewide.
After his second successful term as Governor, Bond continued his service to Missouri from his newly won seat in the United States Senate. In that 1986 election year, Bond was the only Republican to capture a seat previously held by a Democrat.
Based upon his solid ability to protect and advance Missouri's interests in the United States Senate, Bond was returned by Missouri voters to the U.S. Senate in 1992, 1998, and 2004.
While serving in the United States Senate, Bond has built a reputation as a statesman who advocates for a strong U.S. military, improved care for our nation's veterans and men and women in uniform, an expert in Southeast Asia, and a reformer of our nation's intelligence community. He is also recognized as a national leader in the promotion of plant biotechnology.
As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and ranking member of the subcommittee that funds the nation's housing and transportation needs, Bond has worked to increase access to safe and affordable housing and improve critical infrastructure in Missouri and across the country.
Bond has worked to ensure that Missouri receives a fair share of money to improve roads and highways. As the then-chairman of the subcommittee responsible for writing federal highway legislation, Bond used his clout to bring $1.3 billion in new federal highway funds to Missouri in the most recent transportation bill.
Bond has fought for economic security by protecting jobs from being driven abroad by overreaching regulations, ensuring that the weapons systems defending our soldiers continue to
be built by Missouri's fine engineering and production work force, and working to make Missouri the premier plant biotechnology and life sciences corridor in the country.
|
Bond was sworn in as Missouri's Senator by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005. Linda Bond, the Senator's wife, holds the Bible. |
Bond serves as the Vice Chairman on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, where he is working to give the Intelligence Community the tools to detect and disrupt planned terrorist attacks on America.
Bond is married to Linda Bond. His son, Samuel Bond, was 1st Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, and served two terms in Iraq – the last as a scout-sniper platoon leader.