Bob Graham, Florida Governor & U.S. Senator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Graham

Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American politician and author. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005.

Graham tried unsuccessfully to run for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race on October 6, 2003. He announced his retirement from the Senate on November 3 of that year.

Graham is now concentrating his efforts on the newly established Bob Graham Center for Public Service at his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Florida. He served as Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD proliferation and terrorism. Through the WMD policy center he advocates for the recommendations in the Commission report, World at Risk.

Graham also served as co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the CIA External Advisory Board.

In 2011, Graham published his first novel, the thriller The Keys to the Kingdom. Graham has written three non-fiction books. Workdays-Finding Florida on the Job; Intelligence Matters and America: The Owners Manual.

Personal background

Graham was born in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Hilda Elizabeth (née Simmons), a schoolteacher, and Ernest R. Graham, a Florida state senator, mining engineer, and dairy/cattleman. He is the youngest of four children. His siblings are the late Philip Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post; the late William Graham of Miami Lakes, Florida; and the late Mary Crow. He married Adele Khoury Graham, of Miami Shores, in 1959. They have four daughters: Gwen Graham, Cissy Graham McCullough, Suzanne Graham Gibson and Kendall Graham Elias. The Grahams also have 11 grandchildren.

Bob Graham attended Miami Senior High School from 1952 to 1955, he was Student Body President his senior year. He was International Trusstee of the Key Club, the Kiwanis service organization. While at Miami High Graham was the recipient of the Sigma Chi Award, the school's highest honor. He received a bachelor's degree in 1959 in political science from the University of Florida, where he was a member of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity. While at UF he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the University of Florida Hall of Fame and Florida Blue Key. He went on to receive an LLB from Harvard Law School in 1962. His eldest brother, Philip (1915–1963), was also a Harvard Law alum.

Political career

He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966 and reelected in 1968. He was elected to the Florida State Senate in 1970 and was reelected in 1972 and 1976. At retirement he had served 38 consecutive years in public office.

Workdays

Bob Graham's campaign trademark was to work a full, eight-hour day at various jobs which represented Florida's constituents. He began his "Workdays" in 1974, teaching a semester of civics at Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami while serving in the Florida Senate. At that time, Bob Graham was chairman of the Education Committee. After a speech, M. Sue Riley, an English teacher at Carol City, approached Bob Graham and said, "The only problem with members of the Education Committee is nobody has any experience in education." Bob Graham was taken aback at that assertion and asked, "Well, what can I do about that?" A few months later, Ms. Riley contacted Senator Graham with a proposal to teach the next semester of civics. Following that teaching experience, he performed 102 additional work days during his successful 1978 gubernatorial campaign. Graham has continued doing workdays throughout his tenure as governor and in the United States Senate. His jobs have included service as a police officer, busboy, railroad engineer, construction worker, fisherman, garbageman, factory worker, and teacher. On No. 365, he checked in customers, handled baggage and helped serve passengers on US Airways. He totaled 408 work days.

Governor of Florida

Bob Graham was elected Governor of Florida in 1978 after a seven-way Democratic primary race in which he initially placed second to Robert L. Shevin. His supporters at the time dubbed themselves "Graham crackers." With this victory, he realized his father's dream: Cap Graham had run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to be Governor of Florida back in 1944. Graham was re-elected in 1982 with 65 percent of the vote, having defeated the Republican nominee, U.S. Representative L. A. "Skip" Bafalis of Palm Beach.

Graham emphasized education, and placed a focus on improvement of the public universities in the state. By the end of his second term the state university system was among the first quartile of state systems in America, and its public schools and community colleges had substantially improved their academic standing.

In addition, Graham's administration focused on economic diversification and environmental policies. During his tenure as Governor, the state added 1.2 million jobs, and for the first time in state history the per capita income of Floridians exceeded the US average. For three of his eight years Florida was rated by the accounting firm Grant Thornton as having the best business climate of all states in the union.

Graham also launched the most extensive environmental protection program in the state's history, focused on preserving endangered lands. During his tenure thousands of acres of threatened and environmentally important lands were brought into state ownership for permanent protection. His keystone accomplishment was the establishment of the Save the Everglades program, which as now been joined by the federal government in a commitment to restore the Everglades.

Graham left the Governorship with an 83% approval rating.

U.S. Senator

Graham was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, defeating incumbent Sen. Paula Hawkins 55 to 45 percent. He was re-elected in 1992 (over Bill Grant, 66%–34%) and 1998 (over Charlie Crist, 63%–37%) and chose not to seek re-election in 2004, retiring from the Senate in January 2005.

During his 18 years in the Senate, Graham served on the environment and finance committees. He was also active on veteran's issues and foreign policy, including chairing the US-Spain Council, for which he received the highest civilian recognition for a non-Spaniard by King Juan Carlos.

He served for 10 years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which he chaired during and after 9/11 and the run up to the Iraq war. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Graham opposed the War in Iraq for fear it would divert U.S. attention from the fight in Afghanistan. After reviewing information and meeting with military leaders in February 2002, he decided the war would be a "distraction" that would end poorly. He continues to oppose the Iraq War today. As a result of his service as the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in 2004 Bob Graham authored the book Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia and the Failure of America's War on Terror. In September 2008 the book was released as a Paperback with a new preface and postscript.

Bob Graham was a founding member of the Democratic Leadership Council.

He has a well-known habit of logging his daily activities on color-coded notebooks, which some say may have cost him a spot on past vice-presidential tickets. All of the notebooks are now housed at the University of Florida library. A great champion for his home state, Graham always kept Florida orange juice on hand in his Senate office and was rarely seen without his trademark Florida tie.

Presidential and Vice Presidential politics

Graham was considered as a potential Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004.[4][5] In 2000 he was reportedly on Al Gore's shortlist of potential running mates,[6] as well as a confirmed finalist on Bill Clinton's list in 1992.

2004 Presidential Race

Main article: Bob Graham presidential campaign, 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Graham_presidential_campaign,_2004

Graham announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2004 election on the Democratic ticket in December 2002. However, on January 31, 2003 he had open heart surgery and his campaign faltered. He withdrew his candidacy on October 7, 2003. In November, he announced that he would not seek another term in the Senate.

After John Kerry became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in March 2004, there was some discussion in the media that Graham might be on the short list of Kerry's choices for vice president, presumably at least in part because having Graham on the ticket might have helped Kerry to win Florida in the presidential election.

After politics

After teaching at Harvard University for the 2005–2006 academic year, Graham is now focused on founding a center to train future political leaders, at the University of Florida – where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1959.

The UF Center, known as the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, is housed in the university's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences the Center provides students with opportunities to train for future leadership positions, and the university community to engage with policy makers and scholars. On February 9, 2008, The James and Alexis Pugh Hall funded by longtime friends of the Graham's was dedicated in the historic area of the UF campus. Pugh Hall serves as teh home of the Center, as well as the university's oral history and African and Asian languages programs.

In the Spring of 2009 Bob Graham published a book titled "America, The Owner's Manual: Making Government work for you" which aims to inspire and teach citizens how they can participate in their democracy in effective ways.

Since retirement from the Senate, Graham has published almost 70 op ed's on State and National issues.

Bob Graham's most recent venture was to create the Florida Conservation Coalition, which aims to unite numerous environmental groups by one vision advocate to the Florida governor and legislature to recognize environmental issues in Florida and take action on them so that 40 years of hard work at the state level are not reversed. Their website is http://floridaconservationcoalition.org/.

Business interests

The Graham dairy farm transformed Miami Lakes, a residential and commercial new town community, in 1963 under the leadership of Bob Graham's brother, William. To this day, Bob Graham still owns a significant share of the Graham Companies, and serves on the board of directors. To avoid a potential conflict of interest, his various investments, including his share in the Miami Lakes development, are managed by a proxy and reported to Graham at the end of each year. Graham's total net worth is reported to be between $7.35 million and $31.7 million.

Honors

On November 18, 2005, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was rebuilt during Graham's time as Governor, was renamed the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge by the Florida Legislature.

On May 6, 2006 at the Spring commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the University of Florida awarded Bob Graham an honorary doctorate, the Doctor of Public Service.

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Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American politician. He was a United States Senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005 and the governor of that state from 1979 to 1987. Following a failed bid for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2004 presidential race, Graham was considered a possible running mate for John Kerry.

Graham dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on October 6, 2003 and announced his retirement from the Senate on November 3, 2003.

Graham is now concentrating his efforts on the newly established Bob Graham Center for Public Service [1] at his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Florida.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Graham

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American politician Bob Graham was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005. Graham was considered a possible running mate for both Al Gore and John Kerry.

He was born on November 9, 1936 in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Hilda Elizabeth (née Simmons), a schoolteacher, and Ernest R. Graham, a Florida state senator, mining engineer, and dairy/cattleman. He is the youngest of four children. His siblings are the late Philip Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post; the late William Graham of Miami Lakes, Florida; and the late Mary Crow. He married Adele Khoury Graham, of Miami Shores, in 1959. They have four daughters: Gwen Graham, Cissy Graham McCullough, Suzanne Graham Gibson and Kendall Graham Elias. The Grahams also have 11 grandchildren.

He attended Miami Senior High School from 1951 to 1955 and was elected Student Body President his senior year. He was also president of Key Club, the Kiwanis service organization. While at Miami High Graham was the recipient of the Sigma Chi Award, the school's highest honor. He received a bachelor's degree in 1959 in political science from the University of Florida, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. While at UF he was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame and was inducted into Florida Blue Key. He went on to receive an LLB from Harvard Law School in 1962. His eldest brother, Philip (1915–1963), was also a Harvard Law alum.

Graham is a Democrat who never lost an election prior to his bid for the 2004 Presidential nomination. He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966 and reelected in 1968. He was elected to the Florida State Senate in 1970 and was reelected in 1974. At retirement he had served 38 consecutive years in public office.

In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating incumbent Sen. Paula Hawkins 55 to 45 percent. He was re-elected in 1992 (over Bill Grant, 66%–34%) and 1998 (over Charlie Crist, 63%–37%) and chose not to seek re-election in 2004, retiring from the Senate in January 2005.

During his 18 years in the Senate, Graham served on the environment and finance committees. He was also active on veteran's issues and foreign policy, including chairing the US-Spain Council, for which he received the highest civilian recognition for a non-Spaniard by King Juan Carlos.

Graham announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2004 election on the Democratic ticket on February 27, 2003. However, on October 7, 2003, with polls showing him in last place among a field of ten candidates, he announced he was ending his presidential campaign, saying he started his campaign too late and had trouble raising money. In November, he announced that he would not seek another term in the Senate.

After teaching at Harvard University for the 2005–2006 academic year, Graham is now focused on founding two centers to train future political leaders, one at the University of Florida – where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1959 – and one in his hometown at University of Miami.

The UF Center, known as the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, is housed in the university's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and provides students with opportunities to train for future leadership positions, meet current policymakers and take courses in critical thinking, language learning and studies of world cultures. On February 9, 2008, Mike Haridopolos Hall was dedicated on the UF campus – funded by longtime friend and fraternity brother of Graham, Jim Pugh, and his wife Alexis – and serves as home to the center, as well as the university's oral history and African and Asian languages programs.

In the Spring of 2009 Bob Graham published a book titled "America, The Owner's Manual: Making Government work for you" which aims to inspire and teach citizens how they can participate in their democracy in effective ways.

Graham currently serves as the Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. Graham has also been sworn in as a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, established by Congress to examine the global and domestic causes of the recent financial crisis. The Commission will provide its findings and conclusions in a final report due to Congress on December 15, 2010. Also in 2010, Graham was named co-chairman of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

His most recent venture was to create the Florida Conservation Coalition, which aims to unite numerous environmental groups by one vision to pressure the 2012 Florida legislature and governor to recognize environmental issues in Florida and take legislative action on them so that 40 years of hard work at the state level are not reversed. Their website is http://floridaconservationcoalition.org/

Source: Wikipedia

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Daniel Robert Graham is an American politician and author. As a member of the American Democratic Party, he was the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005.

Graham ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race on October 6, 2003. He announced his retirement from the Senate on November 3 of that year.

Graham now works at the newly established Bob Graham Center for Public Service at his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Florida. He also served as Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD proliferation and terrorism. Through the WMD policy center he advocates for the recommendations in the Commission's report, "World at Risk."

Graham also served as co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the CIA External Advisory Board.

In 2011 Graham published his first novel, the thriller The Keys to the Kingdom.[1] Graham has written three nonfiction books: Workdays: Finding Florida on the Job, Intelligence Matters, and America: The Owner's Manual.

Graham was born in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Hilda Elizabeth (née Simmons), a schoolteacher, and Ernest R. Graham, a Florida state senator, mining engineer, and dairy/cattleman.[2] He is the youngest of four children. His siblings are Philip Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post; William Graham of Miami Lakes, Florida; and Mary Crow. He married Adele Khoury, of Miami Shores, in 1959. They have four daughters: Gwen Graham, Cissy Graham McCullough, Suzanne Graham Gibson and Kendall Graham Elias. The Grahams also have 11 grandchildren.

Bob Graham attended Miami Senior High School from 1952 to 1955; he was Student Body President his senior year. He was International Trustee of the Key Club, the Kiwanis service organization. While at Miami High Graham was the recipient of the Sigma Chi Award, the school's highest honor. He received a bachelor's degree in 1959 in political science from the University of Florida, where he was a member of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the University of Florida Hall of Fame and Florida Blue Key. He went on to receive an LLB from Harvard Law School in 1962. His eldest brother, Philip (1915–1963), was also a Harvard Law alum.

Graham was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966 and reelected in 1967 and 1968, each time representing all of Dade County. He was elected to the Florida Senate in 1970, also from Dade County. Redistricted into a seat encompassing portions of northern Dade and southern Broward County, Graham was reelected to District 33 in 1972 and 1976.

Bob Graham's campaign trademark was to work a full eight-hour day at various jobs that represented Florida's constituents. He began his "Workdays" in 1974, teaching a semester of civics at Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami while serving in the Florida Senate. At that time, Bob Graham was chairman of the Education Committee. After a speech, M. Sue Riley, an English teacher at Carol City, approached Bob Graham and said, "The only problem with members of the Education Committee is nobody has any experience in education." Bob Graham was taken aback at that assertion and asked, "Well, what can I do about that?" A few months later, Ms. Riley contacted Senator Graham with a proposal to teach the next semester of civics. Following that teaching experience, he performed 102 additional work days during his successful 1978 gubernatorial campaign. Graham has continued doing workdays throughout his tenure as governor and in the United States Senate. His jobs have included service as a police officer, busboy, railroad engineer, construction worker, fisherman, garbageman, factory worker, and teacher. On No. 365, he checked in customers, handled baggage and helped serve passengers on US Airways. He totaled 408 work days.

Bob Graham was elected Governor of Florida in 1978 after a seven-way Democratic primary race in which he initially placed second to Robert L. Shevin. His supporters at the time dubbed themselves "Graham crackers." With this victory, he realized his father's dream: Cap Graham had run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to be Governor of Florida back in 1944. Graham was re-elected in 1982 with 65 percent of the vote, having defeated the Republican nominee, U.S. Representative L. A. "Skip" Bafalis of Palm Beach.

Graham emphasized education, and placed a focus on improvement of the public universities in the state. By the end of his second term the state university system was among the first quartile of state systems in America, and its public schools and community colleges had substantially improved their academic standing.

In addition, Graham's administration focused on economic diversification and environmental policies. During his tenure as governor, the state added 1.2 million jobs, and for the first time in state history the per capita income of Floridians exceeded the US average. For three of his eight years Florida was rated by the accounting firm Grant Thornton as having the best business climate of all states in the union.

Graham also launched the most extensive environmental protection program in the state's history, focused on preserving endangered lands. During his tenure thousands of acres of threatened and environmentally important lands were brought into state ownership for permanent protection. His keystone accomplishment was the establishment of the Save the Everglades program, which has now been joined by the federal government in a commitment to restore the Everglades.

Graham left the governorship with an 83% approval rating. According to the New York Times, Graham was considered one of the most popular politicians in Florida.

Graham was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, defeating incumbent Sen. Paula Hawkins 55 to 45 percent. He was reelected in 1992 (over Bill Grant, 66%–34%) and 1998 (over Charlie Crist, 63%–37%) and chose not to seek reelection in 2004. Upon retiring from the Senate in January 2005, Graham had served 38 consecutive years in public office.

During his 18 years in the Senate, Graham served on the environment and finance committees, and was a founding member of the Democratic Leadership Council. He was also active on veteran's issues and foreign policy, including chairing the US-Spain Council, for which he received the highest civilian recognition for a non-Spaniard by King Juan Carlos.

Graham served 10 years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which he chaired during and after 9/11 and the run-up to the Iraq war. He led the joint congressional investigation into 9/11. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Graham opposed the War in Iraq and was one of the 23 Senators who voted against President Bush's request for authorization of the use of military force. After meeting with military leaders in February 2002, and requesting and reviewing a National Intelligence Estimate, he said he "felt we were being manipulated and that the result was going to distract us from where our real enemies were". He continued to oppose the Iraq War, saying in 2008: "I'm afraid I never wavered from my belief that this was a distraction that was going to come to a bad end in Iraq and an even worse end in Afghanistan"

In 2004 Graham published Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia and the Failure of America's War on Terror. In September 2008 the book was released in paperback with a new preface and postscript.

Graham has a well-known habit of meticulously logging his daily activities (some as mundane as when he ate a tuna sandwich or rewound a tape of Ace Ventura) on color-coded notebooks, which some say may have cost him a spot on past vice-presidential tickets. The notebooks are now housed at the University of Florida library. A great advocate for his home state, Graham always kept Florida orange juice on hand in his Senate office and was rarely seen without his trademark Florida tie.

Graham was considered as a Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004. He was a finalist on Bill Clinton's shortlist of running mates in 1992, and was reportedly on Al Gore's shortlist in 2000. In December 2002 Graham announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2004 election. On January 31, 2003, he had open-heart surgery and his campaign faltered. He withdrew his candidacy on October 7, 2003. In November, he announced that he would not seek another term in the Senate. After John Kerry became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in March 2004, some discussed the possibility that Graham would be on the shortlist of Kerry's choices for running mate.

After teaching at Harvard University for the 2005–06 academic year, Graham focused on founding a center to train future political leaders, at the University of Florida – where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1959.

The UF Center, known as the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, is housed in the university's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences the Center provides students with opportunities to train for future leadership positions, and the university community to engage with policy makers and scholars. On February 9, 2008, The James and Alexis Pugh Hall funded by longtime friends of the Graham's was dedicated in the historic area of the UF campus. Pugh Hall serves as the home of the Center, as well as the university's oral history and African and Asian languages programs.

In spring 2009 Graham published America, The Owner's Manual: Making Government work for you, a book about inspiring and teaching citizens to effectively participate in democracy.

Since his retirement from the Senate, Graham has published almost 70 op-eds on state and national issues. He is also a member the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

Graham's most recent venture was to create the Florida Conservation Coalition, which aims to unite numerous environmental groups to lobby the Florida governor and legislature on environmental issues in Florida.

The Graham dairy farm transformed Miami Lakes, a residential and commercial new town community, in 1963 under the leadership of Graham's brother William. To this day, Bob Graham still owns a significant share of the Graham Companies, and serves on the board of directors. To avoid a potential conflict of interest, his various investments, including his share in the Miami Lakes development, are managed by a proxy and reported to Graham at the end of each year. Graham's total net worth is reported to be between $7.35 million and $31.7 million[citation needed].

On November 18, 2005, the Florida Legislature renamed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was rebuilt during Graham's time as governor, the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

On May 6, 2006, at the spring commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the University of Florida awarded Graham an honorary doctorate, the Doctor of Public Service.