William Hathaway, U.S. Senator

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

William Dodd Hathaway (born February 21, 1924) is an American Democratic Party politician from Maine.

He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served in World War II in the Army Air Corps, where he was shot down while bombing the Ploesti, Romania oil fields and was a prisoner of war for over two months. He was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. After WWII he attended Harvard College and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1953. He then moved to Maine and practiced law in Lewiston.

He served in a variety of local and state offices. His legislative career began when he was elected to the U.S. House as a Democrat and served in that body from 1965 until 1973. This was a time of resurgence for Democrats in Maine, at that time a traditionally Republican state. This same period saw the growth of the political careers of Maine politicians Edmund S. Muskie and Kenneth M. Curtis. After four terms in the House, Hathaway then served as a member of the United States Senate from 1973 until 1979.

Hathaway was first elected to the House in 1964. He defeated renowned incumbent U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith in 1972, but was defeated for reelection in 1978 by Republican Congressman William Cohen.

After his congressional career, Mr. Hathaway remained a resident of the Washington, DC area, practicing law there. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to the Federal Maritime Commission in 1990, and served as its chairman from 1993-1996. He retired in 1996 and continues to live in the Washington, D.C. area. Hathaway was married to Mary Lee Bird of Horse Shoe, North Carolina and Akron, Ohio for over 61 years until her death in 2007. Hathaway had two children, Susan and Fred.