Arlen Specter

Politician

• Born: February 12, 1930
• Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas
• Died: October 14, 2012

Specter gained attention serving on the commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and he parlayed his reformer reputation as an aggressive district attorney in Philadelphia into a decades-long career in the U.S. Senate.

Early Life

Arlen Specter (AHR-lihn SPEK-tur) was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Harry and Lillie Shanin Specter. His youthful years were spent in Russell, a small town in central Kansas. Specter graduated from public schools in Russell, and then he attended the University of Oklahoma for a short time. Transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, he studied international relations. He graduated in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree. After college, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a special investigations officer. Honorably discharged as a first lieutenant, he attended Yale University Law School and graduated in 1956. That same year, Specter married Joan Levy, and the couple eventually had two children, Shanin and Steve. He immediately entered private law practice in Philadelphia. The city’s International Brotherhood of Teamsters came under congressional investigation, spurred by counsel Robert F. Kennedy, in 1957. Specter’s public career began as an assistant district attorney in October, 1959. The case against the Teamsters continued four more years, by which time Kennedy had become attorney general, and the two won a conviction.

Though a registered Democrat, Specter caught the attention of Republican Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan, who recommended Specter for the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, familiarly known as the Warren Commission. This blue-ribbon panel of seven members was created to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Unlike the formally named commission members, Specter was part of the team given access to documents, medical records, photographs, and ballistic exhibits. While Supreme Court Chief JusticeEarl Warren wanted to quickly wrap up the investigation, Specter insisted on exhausting every lead. He fashioned the “single bullet” theory. Specter argued a single bullet fired from the Texas Book Depository Building in Dallas struck Kennedy in the neck and then entered the chest, wrist, and thigh of Texas Governor John Connally, who was riding in the same car. The bullet was later found on the stretcher that transported Connally. From the time of the commission’s published findings in September, 1964, the theory was quickly challenged and has been widely disputed.

In 1965, Senator Hugh Scott, a former Republican national chairman, agreed to Specter’s recruitment as the party nominee for Philadelphia’s district attorney. Specter won the election and then changed his voter registration to Republican. Determined to break corruption in the city magistrate’s courts, Specter won many headlines. Considered one of the Republican Party’s brightest newcomers, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Philadelphia in 1967. In 1969, he was reelected district attorney. Specter originally intended to serve out his term in 1973 and then run for governor. Instead, he was persuaded to seek a third term as district attorney in 1973 and surprisingly lost the election. Leaving the public arena, Specter resumed private law practice for the next several years.

Life’s Work

Specter returned to political life in the mid-1970’s. He ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 1976, but he lost the Republican primary to Richard Thornburgh. In 1978, Specter lost the U.S. Senate primary to John Heinz. When Senator Richard Schweiker announced his retirement in 1980, Specter declared for the seat. Helped by Heinz, Specter defeated a former Pittsburgh mayor, Peter Flaherty, for the U.S. Senate. Specter was part of the Sweet Sixteen, a group of freshman Republican senators elected in the Ronald Reagan presidential sweep.

In the Senate, Specter was comfortable initially with the Republican majority elected in 1980. At the time, self-described “moderate” Republicans were a significant factor and often held the balance of power on major votes. He supported Reagan’s tax-cut proposals in 1981. While garnering a solid record for supporting organized labor, Specter tended to back the Republicans on most economic issues. Early on, he was a consistent advocate for abortion rights. Supporting civil rights legislation made Specter an unusual Republican who was competitive among African American voters. Specter backed Reagan’s defense buildup, but he parted with the administration’s proposal to sell radar-enhanced aircraft to Saudi Arabia. This buttressed Specter’s already strong ties with the pro-Israel community.

Specter’s committee assignments included appropriations, environment and public works, and aging. He was chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence (1995-1997), the Committee on Veterans Affairs (1997-2001, 2003-05), and the Judiciary Committee (2005-2007).

After 1984, the Republicans increasingly looked to evangelical Christians as an important constituent group. Specter frequently was at odds with his party’s conservatives, who were opposed strongly to abortion and to homosexual rights. This often produced competitive Republican primary opposition for him. The senator’s “independent” image, potent fund-raising abilities, and positive standing with Pennsylvania’s labor unions usually assured him relatively easy general election contests.

Specter’s national visibility rose when he voted against the 1987 confirmation of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. He played a key role in the controversial Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings in 1991. While critical of Thomas as a nominee, Specter focused on Hill’s testimony, saying during his questioning that she had committed perjury. During the Bill Clinton administration, Specter’s floor speech on the proposed health-care program probably helped defeat this proposal. Hoping to make a statement about limiting the influence of the religious right in Republican politics, Specter announced on March 31, 1995, his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. He took on hecklers in several candidate forums, made his pitch for “moderation,” and ultimately bowed out of the contest before the New Hampshire primary.

In 2004, Specter was challenged in the Republican primary by Pat Toomey. President George W. Bush campaigned for Specter. The senator prevailed by a narrow margin. Early in 2009, Specter announced support for the Barack Obama administration’s economic stimulus legislation. This angered Pennsylvania Republicans and emboldened another Toomey primary challenge. As late as March 18, 2009, Specter wanted to seek reelection as a Republican. However, with low poll numbers and the loss of support from Republican leaders in his state, Specter reluctantly announced on April 29, 2009, that he was switching to the Democratic Party. Despite administration support, in May, 2010, he lost the Democratic nomination to Congressman Joseph Sestak.

Significance

Specter served in the U.S. Senate longer than any Jew in the nation’s history. For three decades, he met the challenges of a changing political order: He went from being among the Sweet Sixteen Republican senators swept into Congress with Reagan’s presidential win to being an unwelcome presence among his party’s conservatives. In vain, Specter tried to be a moderate in a party unwilling to accommodate a determined centrist. When Specter entered the Senate, moderate Republicans formed an important bloc in the Reagan coalition. However, changing political dynamics made moderates unpopular in both parties, especially after 1990. Much like Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, he gradually became a man without a party. Ideologically, Specter might have leaned slightly center-left on most issues, but as a Republican for more than twenty-eight years, he did provide the Republican caucus important votes on judicial, economic, and national security matters.

Bibliography

Barone, Michael, Richard E. Cohen, and Jackie Koszczuk, eds. The Almanac of American Politics 2010. Washington, D.C.: National Journal Group, 2010. Issued every two years since 1972, the almanac reliably presents current biographical information on every sitting senator and congressional member. Analysis of Specter’s senate campaigns can be found in the 1980 edition and in all subsequent volumes.

McCutcheon, Chuck. CQ’s Politics in America 2010: The 111th Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2009. Similar to The Almanac of American Politics, CQ’s volume offers insights on all congressional members. Specter’s career is detailed in every biennial edition.

Maisel, Louis Sandy, Ira N. Forman, Donald Altschiller, and Charles Walker Bassett, eds. Jews in American Politics. Lanham, Md.: Roman and Littlefield, 2001. General, scholarly discussion on Jews in American politics, including a large appendix and a short biography of Specter.

Specter, Arlen, and Charles Robbins. Passion for Truth: From Finding JFK’s Single Bullet to Questioning Anita Hill to Impeaching Clinton. New York: William Morrow, 2000. Lengthy memoir details Specter’s early life, insights on the Warren Commission and on the development of the “single bullet” theory, change in the Republican Party, election to the Senate, Anita Hill hearings, and the abortive 1996 presidential campaign.

Specter, Arlen, and Frank J. Scaturro. Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008. Updates Passion for Truth with Specter’s battle against Hodgkin’s lymphoma and efforts in the U.S. Senate to fight cancer.