26 Facts About Slade Gorton

Thomas Slade Gorton III was an American lawyer and politician from Washington.

Slade Gorton held both of the state's US Senate seats in his career and was narrowly defeated for reelection twice, first in 1986 by Brock Adams and again in 2000 by Maria Cantwell following a recount, becoming the last Republican senator to date for each seat.

Slade Gorton attended and graduated from Dartmouth College and subsequently from Columbia Law School.

Slade Gorton continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve Command until 1980 when he retired as a colonel.

Slade Gorton practiced law and entered politics in 1958, being elected to the Washington House of Representatives, in which he served from 1959 until 1969, becoming one of its highest-ranking members.

Slade Gorton then served as Attorney General of Washington from 1969 until he entered the United States Senate in 1981.

In 1970, Attorney General Slade Gorton sued Major League Baseball for a violation of anti-trust laws after the loss of the Seattle Pilots, who were moved to Milwaukee after the league declined a bid from local ownership group.

Slade Gorton later helped broker a deal between King County officials and Mariners ownership on what is called T-Mobile Park.

Slade Gorton was narrowly defeated by former US Representative and United States Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams.

Slade Gorton was an influential member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services as he was the only member of the committee during his tenure to have reached a senior command rank in the uniformed services.

In 1999, Slade Gorton was among ten Republican senators who voted against the charge of perjury during the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, although he voted for Clinton's conviction on the charge of obstruction of justice.

Twice during his tenure in the Senate, Slade Gorton sat at the Candy Desk.

In 2005, Slade Gorton became the chairman of the center-right Constitutional Law PAC, a political action committee formed to help elect candidates to the Washington State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Slade Gorton was an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.

Slade Gorton served as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Slade Gorton served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the Constitution of the United States.

Slade Gorton represented Seattle in a lawsuit against Clay Bennett to prevent the Seattle SuperSonics relocation basketball franchise, in accordance to a contract that would keep the team in Climate Pledge Arena until 2010.

The Slade Gorton Center is a policy research center, with three focus areas: policy research, fellowship and internship programs, and the Slade Gorton History Program.

Slade Gorton was a counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research.

In 2012, Slade Gorton was appointed to the board of directors of Clearwire, a wireless data services provider.

Slade Gorton was a member of the board of the Discovery Institute, notable for its advocacy of the pseudoscience of intelligent design.

Slade Gorton opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2016, instead writing in Independent candidate Evan McMullin.

Slade Gorton later supported the First impeachment of Donald Trump and urged other Republicans to join him.

Slade Gorton married the former Sally Jean Clark on June 28,1958.

Sally Slade Gorton died on July 20,2013, one day before her 81st birthday.

Slade Gorton died after a brief illness with complications of Parkinson's disease on August 19,2020 at the home of his daughter, Sarah Nortz in Clyde Hill, Washington, age 92.