1. John Claggett Danforth was born on September 5,1936 and is an American politician, attorney, diplomat, and Episcopal priest who served as the Attorney General of Missouri from 1969 to 1976 and as a United States Senator from 1976 to 1995.
28 Facts About John Danforth
1. 2.
John Danforth was born in St Louis, Missouri, the son of Dorothy and Donald John Danforth.
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John Danforth is the grandson of William H Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina.
4.
John Danforth was a partner at the law firm of Bryan, Cave, McPheeters and McRoberts in St Louis from 1966 to 1968.
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In 1968, John Danforth was elected Missouri Attorney General, the first Republican elected to the office in 40 years, and the first from his party elected to statewide office in 22 years.
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In 1970, John Danforth ran for the United States Senate for the first time, against Democratic incumbent Stuart Symington.
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In 1976, John Danforth ran to succeed Symington, who was retiring.
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John Danforth was active in women's rights organizations and collected union support and was a cousin of Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio.
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John Danforth's speeches denounced Ronald Reagan's policies so vigorously that she ran on the nickname "Give 'em Hell, Harriett".
10.
John Danforth chose not to run for a fourth term and retired from the Senate in 1995.
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John Danforth was succeeded by former Missouri governor John Ashcroft.
12.
In January 2001, when Missouri Democrats opposed Ashcroft's nomination for US Attorney General, John Danforth's name was invoked.
13.
John Danforth portrayed himself as a political moderate, but voted like his right-wing Republican colleagues, including sustaining filibusters.
14.
John Danforth is a longtime opponent of capital punishment, as he made clear on the Senate floor in 1994.
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John Danforth is best remembered for attempts to bring peace to the Sudan but stayed at the UN for just six months.
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John Danforth was mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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Six days after the announcement that Condoleezza Rice was going to take the position, John Danforth submitted his resignation on November 22,2004, effective January 20,2005.
18.
John Danforth hired Bryan Cave partner Thomas A Schweich as his chief of staff.
19.
Bush wrote in his book Decision Points that John Danforth would have been his choice if Cheney had not accepted.
20.
John Danforth brokered a peace deal that officially ended the civil war in the South between Sudan's Islamic government and the US-backed Christian rebels, but elements of that conflict still remain unresolved.
21.
On June 11,2004, John Danforth presided over the funeral of Ronald Reagan, held at Washington National Cathedral.
22.
John Danforth officiated at the funerals of Washington Post executive Katharine Graham, former United States Senator Harry Flood Byrd Jr.
23.
On March 30,2005, John Danforth wrote an op-ed in The New York Times critical of the Republican party.
24.
John Danforth penned a June 17,2005, piece headlined "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers".
25.
In 2015, John Danforth joined 299 other Republicans in signing an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage.
26.
In 1995, following his departure from the Senate, John Danforth again became a partner at the Bryan Cave law firm.
27.
In May 2012, a group led by John Danforth's son-in-law and Summitt Distributing CEO Tom Stillman, in which John Danforth is a minority investor, took controlling ownership of the St Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.
28.
John Danforth is an honorary board member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope.