41 Facts About Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander ran for governor again in 1978, and this time defeated his Democratic opponent.

Lamar Alexander won re-election in 1982 and served as chairman of the National Governors Association from 1985 to 1986.

Lamar Alexander sought the presidential nomination in the 1996 Republican primaries, but withdrew before the Super Tuesday primaries.

Lamar Alexander sought the nomination again in the 2000 Republican primaries, but dropped out after a poor showing in the Iowa Straw Poll.

In 2002, Lamar Alexander was elected to succeed retiring US Senator Fred Thompson.

Lamar Alexander served as Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference from 2007 to 2012 and as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee from 2015 to 2021.

Lamar Alexander introduced the Every Student Succeeds Act, which supplanted the No Child Left Behind Act in 2015.

On December 17,2018, Lamar Alexander announced that he would not run for a fourth term in the Senate in 2020.

In 1962, Lamar Alexander graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American studies.

In 1967, Lamar Alexander worked as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Howard Baker.

Meanwhile, Alexander rented a garage apartment to Thomas W Beasley, a student at the Vanderbilt Law School who later co-founded Corrections Corporation of America.

The Tennessee State Constitution at the time prevented governors from serving consecutive terms, so with Dunn unable to run, Lamar Alexander sought the party's nomination for governor in 1974.

Lamar Alexander faced the Democratic nominee, Ray Blanton, a former congressman and unsuccessful 1972 Senate candidate, in the general election.

In 1977, Lamar Alexander worked in Baker's Washington office following Baker's election as Senate Minority Leader.

Investigative news reports, disclosed late during the 1978 Tennessee gubernatorial campaign, revealed that Lamar Alexander once transferred the non-profit charter of a Christian church to his Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain that he served as a director in order to sell liquor-by-the-drink in the once "dry town" of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Since the state constitution is somewhat vague on when a governor must be sworn in, several political leaders from both parties, including Lieutenant Governor John S Wilder and State House Speaker Ned McWherter, arranged for Alexander to be sworn in on January 17,1979, three days earlier than the traditional inauguration day, to prevent Blanton from signing more pardons.

In February 1979, shortly after his inauguration, Lamar Alexander created an Office of Ombudsman, which was charged with cutting government red tape.

Lamar Alexander was instrumental in the location of General Motors' Saturn Manufacturing Facility in Spring Hill, which began operations in 1990.

In 1982 Lamar Alexander took advantage of the 1978 constitutional amendment allowing governors to serve a second consecutive four-year term.

Lamar Alexander oversaw the "Tennessee Homecoming" in 1986, in which local communities launched numerous projects that focused on state and local heritage.

In 1983, Lamar Alexander implemented his "Better Schools" program, which standardized basic skills for all students, and increased math, science and computer education.

In 1986, Lamar Alexander proposed the "Better Roads Program" to fund a backlog of needed highway projects.

Lamar Alexander served as the United States Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993.

Lamar Alexander made two unsuccessful runs for President of the United States, in 1996 and 2000.

At the age of 62, Alexander became the oldest elected freshman US senator from Tennessee since Democrat Lawrence D Tyson in 1924.

In December 2012, Lamar Alexander announced he would be seeking re-election to a third Senate term in 2014.

Lamar Alexander's campaign had a war chest of $3.1 million in cash going into his 2014 re-election bid.

In 2006, a newly discovered species of springtail found in Great Smoky Mountains National Park was named Cosberella lamaralexanderi in Alexander's honor, because of his support of scientific research funding in the park and because the springtails' patterning is reminiscent of the plaid shirts Alexander typically wears while campaigning.

On October 6,2018, Lamar Alexander was one of 50 senators who voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

In late 2006, Lamar Alexander announced that he had secured the requisite number of votes to become the Republican Party's Minority Whip in the Senate during the 110th Congress.

Lamar Alexander would get a second shot at entering his party's leadership a year later when Lott announced his intent to resign from the Senate by the end of 2007.

Lamar Alexander stepped down as Conference Chairman in January 2012, citing his desire to foster consensus.

On December 17,2018, Lamar Alexander announced that he would not seek another term in 2020.

On July 15,2009, Lamar Alexander voted against President Obama's health care reform bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Lamar Alexander voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and he voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Lamar Alexander critiqued President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to temporarily curtail immigration from 7 Muslim-majority countries that were claimed to have increased terrorism risk until better screening methods were devised.

In March 2018, Lamar Alexander voted to table a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required President Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.

Lamar Alexander proposed a similar plan by the same name in 2008.

In November 2018, Lamar Alexander was one of twelve Republican senators to sign a letter to President Trump requesting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement be submitted to Congress by the end of the month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year, as they were concerned "passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult" if having to be approved through the incoming 116th United States Congress.

In March 2016, around seven months before the next presidential election, Lamar Alexander declared his opposition to the Senate considering President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court.

In 1969, Lamar Alexander married Leslee "Honey" Buhler, who grew up in Victoria, Texas, and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts.