Difference between revisions of "Paul Laxalt"
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Revision as of 18:50, January 12, 2010
Paul Dominique Laxalt (born August 2, 1922 in Reno, Nevada) served as the Governor and United States Senator from Nevada and is a member of the Republican Party.
A medic in the Pacific Theater during World War II he would go on to graduate from Santa Clara University in 1946, and received a LL.B. from University of Denver in 1949. After serving as district attorney of Carson City he was elected lieutenant governor of Nevada in 1962 and governor in 1966. As governor he established a community college system, corporate gambling laws, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Laxalt became a close friend of Ronald Reagan, then governor of the neighboring state of California. He would go on to work on Reagan's three presidential campaigns, including his 1976 primary challenge to incumbent Republican Gerald Ford. [1]
Laxalt declined to run for a second term and was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and reelected in 1980. He was a staunch proponent of Reagan and a key figure in debates over tax cuts, defense spending, and Supreme Court nominations. He served as General Chairman of the Republican Party from 1983-1987, and after a brief run for the Republican nomination for President in 1988 was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee. After leaving politics he practice law in Washington, D.C.