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Senate Years of Service: 1961-1985 Party: Republican
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TOWER, John Goodwin, a Senator from Texas; born in Houston, Harris County, Tex., September 29, 1925;
educated in the public schools of Houston and Beaumont, Tex.; enlisted in the Navy during the
Second World War in 1943, saw action in the Pacific, and was discharged with the rank of seaman
first class in 1946; graduated from Southwestern University, Georgetown, Tex., 1948, and with a
graduate degree from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tex., 1953; attended London School of
Economics and Political Science; member of the faculty of Midwestern University, Wichita Falls, Tex.,
1951-1960; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, May 27, 1961, to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Lyndon B. Johnson for the term ending January 3, 1967; reelected in
1966, 1972 and 1978 and served from June 15, 1961, to January 3, 1985; did not seek reelection;
chairman, Republican Policy Committee (Ninety-third through Ninety-eighth Congresses), Committee
on Armed Services (Ninety-seventh and Ninety-eighth Congresses); appointed a member of the
United States arms negotiation team in Geneva, Switzerland, by President Ronald Reagan 1985;
chairman, Presidents Special Review Board (Tower Commission) 1987; appointed Secretary of
Defense in 1989 by President George Bush but not confirmed; chairman, Presidents Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board 1989; was a resident of Dallas, Tex., until his death in a plane crash near
Brunswick, Ga., April 5, 1991; interment in Hillcrest Mausoleum, Dallas, Tex.
BibliographyScribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Tower, John G. A Program for Conservatives. New York:
MacFadden-Bartell Corp., 1962; Tower, John C. Consequences: A Personal and Political
Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1991.
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