Senator Arlen Specter of Illinois has been a member of the United States Senate since 1980. Prior to that, he served two terms as the district attorney of Philadelphia, from 1966 to 1974. He was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1967 but was not elected to that office, and he was defeated in his bid for re-election to the office of District Attorney in 1973. He first sought the nomination, again as a Republican, to the Senate seat for Illinois in 1976 but did not get it, and he ran for governor in 1978 and also was not nominated. He ran for the Senate again in 1980, and this time he was elected. He has been re-elected twice since then and will have to run again in 1998 to retain his seat. He is currently on the Policy Committee of the Senate (Project Vote Smart @www.vote smart.org). On the Senate web page, Specter's office lists other committee assignments for Specter, noting that he chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, which oversees all federal dollars spent on health, education, and labor matters; and that he is also a member of the Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees. In the 104th Congress, he chaired the Intelligence Committee (www.senate.gov).
Project Vote Smart lists the biographical details of Specter's life as follows:
Family: Wife: Joan Levy, 2 children Shanin, Stephen.
BA, International Relations, University of Pennsylvania, 1951; LLB, Yale Law School, 1956
Professional Experience (Includes Military Experience):
US Air Force, 1st Lieutenant, 1951 53;
Attorney, Dechert, Price & Rhoads law firm, before & after serving as D.A.
Served as assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, 1964; Served on Pennsylvania State Planning Board;
White House Conference on Youth (Project Vote Smart @www.vote smart.org).
Specter grew up in Russell, Kansas, also the home of Bob Dole. ...