Rhode Island's Sen. Chafee dies at 77

WASHINGTON -- John Chafee, Rhode Island's long-time Republican senator and former governor who earned praise even from Democrats for his moderate stance on issues, has died, a spokesman for his office said Monday. He was 77.


Chafee announced in March that he wouldn't run for a fifth term in 2000

Chafee, who had represented the state in the Senate for nearly 23 years, died of heart failure Sunday night at Bethesda Naval Hospital, spokesman John Goodman said.

Chafee was elected to his fourth term in the Senate in 1994. His biography on his Web site notes that "Chafee is the only Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island in the past 68 years."

Born on October 22, 1922, Chafee lived in Rhode Island for much of his life.

Chafee served in the Marine Corps during World War II and took part in the invasion of Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

After his military service, Chafee attended Yale University where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1947. He then earned a law degree at Harvard in 1950.

Chafee was recalled to active military duty in 1951 and commanded a rifle company in Korea.

He was a practicing attorney from 1952 through 1962 and spent the last six of those years as a member of Rhode Island's part-time legislature. From 1959 through 1962, Chafee was House minority leader.

In 1962, he was elected governor by 398 votes. He then was re-elected in 1964 and 1966, both by the largest margins in state history at the time.

Chafee was defeated when he sought a fourth term in 1968. The following year, he became secretary of the Navy.

He held that post until 1972, when he made an unsuccessful Senate bid, losing to Democrat Claiborne Pell. But Chafee came back to win an open Senate seat in 1976 and won re-election in 1982, 1988 and 1994.

Considered one of the Senate's most liberal Republicans, Chafee earned high praise from both the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during his tenure.

Chafee already had announced his retirement at the end of his term in 2001, and his son, Lincoln Chafee, is running for his seat. He was chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and was a member of the committees on Finance, Taxation and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Rhode Island and America have lost a great leader and a fine human being," President Bill Clinton said Monday of Chafee.

The senator "embodied the decent center which has carried America from triumph to triumph for over 200 years. How we will miss him," Clinton said.

"It is a great loss," said Rep. Robert Weygand (D-Rhode Island).

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) praised Chafee as an "outstanding statesman" and said he had "compiled a lasting record of leadership for the people of Rhode Island the nation, especially on critical issues such as health care, transportation and the environment."

There was no immediate word on who will fill his Senate seat. Under state law, it is up to the governor to appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy until next year's general election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Rhode Island's Sen. Chafee dies at 77

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Monday, October 25, 1999