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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Thomas Slade Gorton, III |image=Slade Gorton of WA.jpg |office=United States Senator<br> for Washington State |term_start=January 3, 1989..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Thomas Slade Gorton, III
|image=Slade Gorton of WA.jpg
|office=[[United States Senator]]<br> for [[Washington]] State
|term_start=January 3, 1989
|term_end=January 3, 2001
|preceded=Daniel Jackson Evans
|succeeded=[[Maria Cantwell]]
|term_start2=January 3, 1981
|term_end2=January 3, 1987
|preceded2=Warren Magnuson
|succeeded2=Brock Adams
|office3 =14th Attorney General of Washington
|governor3=Daniel J. Evans<br>[[Dixy Lee Ray]]
|term_start3=January 15, 1969
|term_end3=January 1, 1981
|preceded3=John O'Connell
|succeeded3=Ken Eikenberry
|office4=Washington State Representative<br> for District 46
|term_start4=January 12, 1959
|term_end4= January 13, 1969
|preceded4=Alfred E. Leland
|succeeded4=George W. Scott
|birth_date=January 8, 1928
|birth_place=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
|death_date=August 19, 2020 (aged 92)
|death_place=Clyde Hill, King County<br>Washington
|resting_place=Presumed [[Cremation|cremated]]
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|alma_mater=[[Dartmouth College]] (Bachelor of Arts)<br>[[Columbia University]] ([[Juris Doctor]]])
|spouse=Sally Clark Gorton (married 1958-2013, her death)
|children=Three children
|branch=[[United States Army]]<br>
[[United States Air Force]]
|serviceyears=Army (1845–1946<br>Air Force (1953–1956-<br>Air Force Reserve (1956–1980)
|rank=[[Colonel]]
|unit=Colonel in Air Force Reserve
'''Thomas Slade Gorton, III''', known as '''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 – August 19, 2020,) was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[politician]] from the now heavily [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[Washington]] State in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] Northwest. He served two stints as a [[United States Senator]] from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1989 to 2001. He hence held both of his state's two U.S. Senate seats. Twice he was narrowly defeated for reelection, in 1986 by Democrat Brockman "Brock" Adams (1927-2004) and in 2000, after a recount of ballots, by Democrat [[Maria Cantwell]].
==Background==
Though born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], he was reared in the [[suburb]] of Evanston. His parents were Thomas Gorton, Jr, (1900-1983), and the former Ruth Israel (1897-1981).<ref name=findagrave/> His family founded the Gorton Seafood Company of Gloucester, [[Massachusetts]]. Gorton himself established another fish supplier, Slade Gorton & Co.<ref name=tsg>{{cite web|url=https://www.sladegorton.com/about-us/our-story/|title=Our Story|publisher=Slade Gorton & Co., Inc|accessdate=August 5, 2021}}</ref>His younger brother, Nathaniel M. Gorton (born 1938), is a [[judge]] of the United States District Court in Massachusetts, who was appointed to the bench in 1992 by then [[U.S. President]] [[George Herbert Walker Bush]].<ref>Gorton, Nathaniel M. (uscourts.gov), accessed August 6, 2021.</ref> Slade and Nathaniel Gorton graduated from [[Dartmouth College]] in [[New Hampshire]] and subsequently from [[Columbia University]] Law School in [[New York City]].<ref name=congbio>Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details, accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
==Career= =
From 1945 to 1946, Gorton served in the [[United States Army]]. From 1953 to 1956, he served in the [[United States Air Force]]. After his active duty. he was a [[colonel]] in the Air Force Reserve until 1980, when he was elected to the Senate by defeating veteran Democrat Warren Grant Magnuson (1905-1980), 54 to 46 percent. Magnuson was impacted by the defeat in Washington of President [[Jimmy Carter] by [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=obit>Thomas Slade Gorton III | Obituary | Beyond the Dash, accessed August 5, 2021.</ref>
Gordon practiced law and was elected in 1958, a heavily Democratic year nationally, to the Washington State House of Representatives. He served for a decade from 1959 to 1969. and became Majority Leader.<ref>{{cite web|title=Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton dies at age 92|url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/slade-gorton-dies-at-92/281-1ad86071-edfc-47a0-a16f-51ef6657d5c5|accessdate=November 1, 2020|website=king5.com}}</ref> In 1968, he was elected as his state's attorney general, a post which he filled from 1969 until he entered the Senate on January 3, 1981.<ref name=findagrave/> During his three terms as attorney general, Gorton was recognized for taking the unusual step of appearing personally to argue the state's positions before the [[United States Supreme Court]], often with success. He also pushed for consumer-protection laws.<ref name=findagrave>Slade Gorton (1928-2020) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
In 1970, Attorney General Gorton sued [[Major League Baseball]] after the relocation of the Seattle Pilots to [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. Gorton encouraged the formation of the Seattle Mariners and was one of the most enthusiastic fans of the team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/former-u-s-sen-slade-gorton-was-there-for-the-mariners-at-every-turn|title=Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton was there for the Mariners at every turn|publisher=''The Seattle Times'|date=August 19, 2020|accessdate=August 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name=findagrave/>
Senator Gorton was unseated after one term in 1986, a heavily Democratic year, by Brockman Adams, a former [[U.S. Representative]] who had served under Carter as the [[United States Secretary of Transportation|Secretary of Transportation]]. In 1988, two years after leaving the Senate, Gorton ran for the seat being vacated by his [[Moderate Republican]] ally, Daniel Jackson Evans (born 1925), a former governor of Washington. Evans was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Jackson and won a [[special election]] in 1983 caused by the death of veteran Democratic Senator [[Henry Jackson]]. Evans narrowly defeated U.S. Representativeand later Governor Michael Edward "Mike" Lowry(1939-2017) to claim Jackson's seat.<ref name=obit/> narrowly
Gorton posted a moderate voting record in the Senate. He encountered conflict with [[North American Indians|Indian]] tribal lands.<ref>"Senator Slade Gorton's bill is an assault on sovereignty," ''The Seattle Times,'' May 1998.</ref> Washington became heavily Democrat; no Republican presidential candidate since [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, has prevailed in the state. To overcome the opposition, Gorton sought to maximize the vote of those living in more Republican-friendly areas outside Seattle and King County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000910&slug=4041793 |title=Tough re-election race is nothing new to Gorton|author=John Henderson|publisher=''The Seattle Times''|date=September 10, 2000 |accessdate=September 15, 2008}}</ref>
In 1994, Gorton won his third nonconsecutive term by defeating, 56 to 44 percent, Democrat Ronald Cordell "Ron" Sims (born 1948), an [[African-American]] member of the Seattle City Council. In that race, Gorton benefited from a nationally Republican year which brought [[Newt Gingrich]] as the Republican U.S. House [[Speaker]].<ref name=obit/> He was an influential member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the only committee member to have attained a senior command rank in the military.
In 1996, Gorton campaigned in neighboring [[Oregon]] for Moderate Republican Gordon Harold Smith (born 1952) in Smith's successful 1996 Senate run. Gorton and Smith are both the last Republicans to represent their states in the Senate.
In 1999, Gorton voted to [[Impeachment|impeach]] U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] for obstruction of justice, but not for [[perjury]], a position taken by ten Republican senators.<ref>How the senators voted on impeachment -- February 12, 1999 (cnn.com), accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
In 2000, [[liberal]] Democrat Maria Ellen Cantwell employed the "time-for-a-change" mantra to unseat Gorton, aided by the victory of [[Al Gore]] over [[George W. Bush]] in the state. Her margin of victory was by only 2,229 votes. Both candidates polled 48 percent of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|author=Joni Balter|title=Who is Maria Cantwell?|date=April 24, 2005|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002250292_sundayjoni24.html |publisher=''The Seattle Times''|accessdate=September 15, 2008}}</ref> Indian tribes strongly opposed Gorton in 2000 because he consistently tried to weaken Indian sovereignty.<ref>David H. Getches, Charles F. Wilkinson, Robert A. Williams, Jr. ''Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law'' ([[Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]]: Thompson West, 2005), 5th ed., p. 29.</ref>
In 2002, former Senator Gorton became a member of the 9/11 Commission, which was established to investigate the triple attacks by radical [[Muslim]]s in New York City, [[Washington, D.C.]], and Somerset County in southwestern [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/bio_gorton.htm |title=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |publisher=9-11commission.gov |date=August 21, 2004|accessdate=August 19, 2020}}</ref><ref name=obit/>
In 1974, as state attorney general, Gorton demanded the resignation of Moderate Republican [[Richard M. Nixon]] amid the [[Watergate]] affair. His hostility to conservatives continued in 2016, where he emerged as a staunch intraparty opponent of Republican [[U.S. President]] [[Donald Trump]], and in 2019 urged the Republicans to join the Democrats in Trump's first impeachment trial conducted in January 2020, just eight months prior to Gorton's death.<ref name=findagrave/> In his last vote for president, Gorton wrote in the name of the failed [[Independent voter|Independent]] candidate Evan McMullin, but [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] carried Washington state though she lost nationally to Trump.
He died in 2020 at the age of ninety-two at the home of his daughter in Clyde Hill in King County in suburban Seattle.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorton, Slade}}
[[Category:Washington]]
[[Category:Illinois]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]
|name=Thomas Slade Gorton, III
|image=Slade Gorton of WA.jpg
|office=[[United States Senator]]<br> for [[Washington]] State
|term_start=January 3, 1989
|term_end=January 3, 2001
|preceded=Daniel Jackson Evans
|succeeded=[[Maria Cantwell]]
|term_start2=January 3, 1981
|term_end2=January 3, 1987
|preceded2=Warren Magnuson
|succeeded2=Brock Adams
|office3 =14th Attorney General of Washington
|governor3=Daniel J. Evans<br>[[Dixy Lee Ray]]
|term_start3=January 15, 1969
|term_end3=January 1, 1981
|preceded3=John O'Connell
|succeeded3=Ken Eikenberry
|office4=Washington State Representative<br> for District 46
|term_start4=January 12, 1959
|term_end4= January 13, 1969
|preceded4=Alfred E. Leland
|succeeded4=George W. Scott
|birth_date=January 8, 1928
|birth_place=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
|death_date=August 19, 2020 (aged 92)
|death_place=Clyde Hill, King County<br>Washington
|resting_place=Presumed [[Cremation|cremated]]
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|alma_mater=[[Dartmouth College]] (Bachelor of Arts)<br>[[Columbia University]] ([[Juris Doctor]]])
|spouse=Sally Clark Gorton (married 1958-2013, her death)
|children=Three children
|branch=[[United States Army]]<br>
[[United States Air Force]]
|serviceyears=Army (1845–1946<br>Air Force (1953–1956-<br>Air Force Reserve (1956–1980)
|rank=[[Colonel]]
|unit=Colonel in Air Force Reserve
'''Thomas Slade Gorton, III''', known as '''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 – August 19, 2020,) was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[politician]] from the now heavily [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[Washington]] State in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] Northwest. He served two stints as a [[United States Senator]] from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1989 to 2001. He hence held both of his state's two U.S. Senate seats. Twice he was narrowly defeated for reelection, in 1986 by Democrat Brockman "Brock" Adams (1927-2004) and in 2000, after a recount of ballots, by Democrat [[Maria Cantwell]].
==Background==
Though born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], he was reared in the [[suburb]] of Evanston. His parents were Thomas Gorton, Jr, (1900-1983), and the former Ruth Israel (1897-1981).<ref name=findagrave/> His family founded the Gorton Seafood Company of Gloucester, [[Massachusetts]]. Gorton himself established another fish supplier, Slade Gorton & Co.<ref name=tsg>{{cite web|url=https://www.sladegorton.com/about-us/our-story/|title=Our Story|publisher=Slade Gorton & Co., Inc|accessdate=August 5, 2021}}</ref>His younger brother, Nathaniel M. Gorton (born 1938), is a [[judge]] of the United States District Court in Massachusetts, who was appointed to the bench in 1992 by then [[U.S. President]] [[George Herbert Walker Bush]].<ref>Gorton, Nathaniel M. (uscourts.gov), accessed August 6, 2021.</ref> Slade and Nathaniel Gorton graduated from [[Dartmouth College]] in [[New Hampshire]] and subsequently from [[Columbia University]] Law School in [[New York City]].<ref name=congbio>Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details, accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
==Career= =
From 1945 to 1946, Gorton served in the [[United States Army]]. From 1953 to 1956, he served in the [[United States Air Force]]. After his active duty. he was a [[colonel]] in the Air Force Reserve until 1980, when he was elected to the Senate by defeating veteran Democrat Warren Grant Magnuson (1905-1980), 54 to 46 percent. Magnuson was impacted by the defeat in Washington of President [[Jimmy Carter] by [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=obit>Thomas Slade Gorton III | Obituary | Beyond the Dash, accessed August 5, 2021.</ref>
Gordon practiced law and was elected in 1958, a heavily Democratic year nationally, to the Washington State House of Representatives. He served for a decade from 1959 to 1969. and became Majority Leader.<ref>{{cite web|title=Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton dies at age 92|url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/slade-gorton-dies-at-92/281-1ad86071-edfc-47a0-a16f-51ef6657d5c5|accessdate=November 1, 2020|website=king5.com}}</ref> In 1968, he was elected as his state's attorney general, a post which he filled from 1969 until he entered the Senate on January 3, 1981.<ref name=findagrave/> During his three terms as attorney general, Gorton was recognized for taking the unusual step of appearing personally to argue the state's positions before the [[United States Supreme Court]], often with success. He also pushed for consumer-protection laws.<ref name=findagrave>Slade Gorton (1928-2020) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
In 1970, Attorney General Gorton sued [[Major League Baseball]] after the relocation of the Seattle Pilots to [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. Gorton encouraged the formation of the Seattle Mariners and was one of the most enthusiastic fans of the team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/former-u-s-sen-slade-gorton-was-there-for-the-mariners-at-every-turn|title=Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton was there for the Mariners at every turn|publisher=''The Seattle Times'|date=August 19, 2020|accessdate=August 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name=findagrave/>
Senator Gorton was unseated after one term in 1986, a heavily Democratic year, by Brockman Adams, a former [[U.S. Representative]] who had served under Carter as the [[United States Secretary of Transportation|Secretary of Transportation]]. In 1988, two years after leaving the Senate, Gorton ran for the seat being vacated by his [[Moderate Republican]] ally, Daniel Jackson Evans (born 1925), a former governor of Washington. Evans was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Jackson and won a [[special election]] in 1983 caused by the death of veteran Democratic Senator [[Henry Jackson]]. Evans narrowly defeated U.S. Representativeand later Governor Michael Edward "Mike" Lowry(1939-2017) to claim Jackson's seat.<ref name=obit/> narrowly
Gorton posted a moderate voting record in the Senate. He encountered conflict with [[North American Indians|Indian]] tribal lands.<ref>"Senator Slade Gorton's bill is an assault on sovereignty," ''The Seattle Times,'' May 1998.</ref> Washington became heavily Democrat; no Republican presidential candidate since [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, has prevailed in the state. To overcome the opposition, Gorton sought to maximize the vote of those living in more Republican-friendly areas outside Seattle and King County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000910&slug=4041793 |title=Tough re-election race is nothing new to Gorton|author=John Henderson|publisher=''The Seattle Times''|date=September 10, 2000 |accessdate=September 15, 2008}}</ref>
In 1994, Gorton won his third nonconsecutive term by defeating, 56 to 44 percent, Democrat Ronald Cordell "Ron" Sims (born 1948), an [[African-American]] member of the Seattle City Council. In that race, Gorton benefited from a nationally Republican year which brought [[Newt Gingrich]] as the Republican U.S. House [[Speaker]].<ref name=obit/> He was an influential member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the only committee member to have attained a senior command rank in the military.
In 1996, Gorton campaigned in neighboring [[Oregon]] for Moderate Republican Gordon Harold Smith (born 1952) in Smith's successful 1996 Senate run. Gorton and Smith are both the last Republicans to represent their states in the Senate.
In 1999, Gorton voted to [[Impeachment|impeach]] U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] for obstruction of justice, but not for [[perjury]], a position taken by ten Republican senators.<ref>How the senators voted on impeachment -- February 12, 1999 (cnn.com), accessed August 6, 2021.</ref>
In 2000, [[liberal]] Democrat Maria Ellen Cantwell employed the "time-for-a-change" mantra to unseat Gorton, aided by the victory of [[Al Gore]] over [[George W. Bush]] in the state. Her margin of victory was by only 2,229 votes. Both candidates polled 48 percent of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|author=Joni Balter|title=Who is Maria Cantwell?|date=April 24, 2005|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002250292_sundayjoni24.html |publisher=''The Seattle Times''|accessdate=September 15, 2008}}</ref> Indian tribes strongly opposed Gorton in 2000 because he consistently tried to weaken Indian sovereignty.<ref>David H. Getches, Charles F. Wilkinson, Robert A. Williams, Jr. ''Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law'' ([[Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]]: Thompson West, 2005), 5th ed., p. 29.</ref>
In 2002, former Senator Gorton became a member of the 9/11 Commission, which was established to investigate the triple attacks by radical [[Muslim]]s in New York City, [[Washington, D.C.]], and Somerset County in southwestern [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/bio_gorton.htm |title=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |publisher=9-11commission.gov |date=August 21, 2004|accessdate=August 19, 2020}}</ref><ref name=obit/>
In 1974, as state attorney general, Gorton demanded the resignation of Moderate Republican [[Richard M. Nixon]] amid the [[Watergate]] affair. His hostility to conservatives continued in 2016, where he emerged as a staunch intraparty opponent of Republican [[U.S. President]] [[Donald Trump]], and in 2019 urged the Republicans to join the Democrats in Trump's first impeachment trial conducted in January 2020, just eight months prior to Gorton's death.<ref name=findagrave/> In his last vote for president, Gorton wrote in the name of the failed [[Independent voter|Independent]] candidate Evan McMullin, but [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] carried Washington state though she lost nationally to Trump.
He died in 2020 at the age of ninety-two at the home of his daughter in Clyde Hill in King County in suburban Seattle.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorton, Slade}}
[[Category:Washington]]
[[Category:Illinois]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]