1. John Walter Olver was an American politician and chemist who was the US representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district from 1991 to 2013.
23 Facts About John Olver
1. 2.
John Olver served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court, being elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1968 and the Massachusetts Senate in 1972.
3.
John Olver ran in a 1991 special election to succeed 17-term Congressman Silvio O Conte, who died in office.
4.
John Olver was the first Democrat ever to represent the.
5.
John Olver announced he would not seek re-election in 2012 and retired at the end of his eleventh term in Congress.
6.
John Olver was born on September 3,1936, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen Marguerite and Thomas Horace John Olver.
7.
John Olver grew up on his father's farm, where the two tended cows, while his mother ran a boarding house which served families from Philadelphia and New York City.
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John Olver graduated from high school when he was 15 and enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at the age of 18.
9.
John Olver taught chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for eight years and later resigned to pursue a career in politics.
10.
John Olver served two terms as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from January 1,1969, to January 3,1973.
11.
John Olver later served for nine terms in the Massachusetts Senate from January 3,1973, until his resignation in 1991 to serve in the US House of Representatives.
12.
That June, John Olver, who had been sworn in for his 10th term in the state Senate a few months earlier, in January 1991, narrowly defeated Republican Steven Pierce in a special election for the seat, becoming the first Democrat to win the seat since it changed from being the in 1893.
13.
On October 26,2011, John Olver announced he would not seek re-election in 2012, clearing the way for any potential Democratic primaries due to Massachusetts losing a congressional seat after the 2010 United States census.
14.
John Olver was a staunch opponent of the United States involvement in Iraq and opposed a United States military presence in Iraq since the 2002 authorization for the use of force in Iraq.
15.
John Olver advocated for the removal of US troops from Iraq and consistently voted against proposals to increase funding for military operations and increased deployment.
16.
John Olver stated that he believed that the United States should seek out a political solution in cooperation with the states neighboring Iraq, such as Iran and Syria, rather than pursuing a strategy based primarily on military means to create a stable and democratic Iraq.
17.
John Olver was critical of the United States lack of involvement regarding the genocide in Darfur.
18.
John Olver was one of five members of Congress arrested on April 28,2006, after protesting the genocide outside the Sudanese Embassy.
19.
John Olver was arrested again in front of the Sudanese Embassy during a protest in 2012 along with other members of Congress and actor George Clooney.
20.
John Olver supported efforts to reduce the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States but believed in immigration reform so that qualified immigrants could more easily be granted entrance.
21.
John Olver believed that illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States need to be provided with a pathway to citizenship and that these immigrants should not have to return to their countries of origin before obtaining citizenship.
22.
John Olver lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, from 1963 until his death.
23.
John Olver died at his home in Amherst on February 23,2023, at the age of 86.