United States Army
Which military brach did Slade Gorton belong to from 1945 to 1946?
Slade Gorton Thomas Slade Gorton III ( January 8 , 1928 – August 19 , 2020 ) was an American politician and attorney . A member of the Republican Party , he served as a United States Senator from Washington from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001 . He held both of the states U.S . 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 . As of 2021 , he was the last Republican U.S . Senator from Washington from both Senate seats . Early life and education . Gorton was born in Chicago , Illinois , on January 8 , 1928 , and raised in the suburb of Evanston , the son of Ruth ( Israel ) and Thomas Slade Gorton , Jr . His younger brother is Judge Nathaniel M . Gorton of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts . He attended and graduated from Dartmouth College and subsequently from Columbia Law School . Gorton served in the United States Army from 1945 to 1946 and the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1956 . He continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve Command until 1980 when he retired as a colonel . Early career . Gordon 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 . He then served as Attorney General of Washington from 1969 until he entered the United States Senate in 1981 . During his three terms as attorney general , Gorton was recognized for taking the unusual step of appearing personally to argue the states positions before the Supreme Court of the United States , and for prevailing in those efforts . In 1970 , Slade sued Major League Baseball after the loss of the Seattle Pilots , and this eventually led to the creation of the Seattle Mariners . U.S . Senate campaigns . 1980 . In 1980 , Gorton defeated longtime incumbent U.S . Senator and state legend Warren Magnuson by a 54% to 46% margin . 1986 . Gorton was defeated by former Congressman and Carter administration Transportation Secretary Brock Adams . 1988 . Gorton ran for the states other Senate seat , which was being vacated by political ally Dan Evans , in 1988 and won , defeating liberal Congressman Mike Lowry by a narrow margin . In the Senate , Gorton had a moderate-to-conservative voting record , and was derided for what some perceived as strong hostility towards Indian tribes . His reelection strategy centered on running up high vote totals in areas outside of left-leaning King County ( home to Seattle ) . 1994 . In 1994 , Gorton repeated the process , defeating then-King County Councilman Ron Sims by 56% to 44% . He was an influential member of the U.S . Senate Armed Services Committee as he was the only member of the committee during his tenure to have reached a senior command rank in the uniformed services ( USAF ) . Gorton campaigned in Oregon for Gordon Smith and his successful 1996 Senate run . In 1999 , Gorton was among ten Republican senators who voted against the charge of perjury during Clintons impeachment , although he voted for Clintons conviction on the charge of obstruction of justice . 2000 . In 2000 , Democrat Maria Cantwell turned his its time for a change strategy against him and won by 2,229 votes . Furthermore , Washingtons Indian tribes strongly opposed Gorton in 2000 because he consistently tried to weaken Indian sovereignty while in the Senate . Twice during his tenure in the Senate , Gorton sat at the Candy Desk . Later career . In 2002 , Gorton became a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States ( popularly known as the 9/11 Commission ) and the commission issued its final report in 2004 . In 2005 , 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 . 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 . Gorton also served as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center . Gorton served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia , which is a museum dedicated to the U.S . Constitution . Gorton represented the city of Seattle in a lawsuit against Clay Bennett to prevent the relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball franchise , in accordance to a contract that would keep the team in KeyArena until 2010 . The city settled with Bennett , allowing him to move the team to Oklahoma City for $45 million with the possibility for another $30 million . In 2010 , the National Bureau of Asian Research founded the Slade Gorton International Policy Center . The Gorton Center is a policy research center , with three focus areas : policy research , fellowship and internship programs , and the Gorton History Program ( archives ) . In 2013 the Gorton Center was the secretariat for the ‘Commission on The Theft of American Intellectual Property’ , in which Gorton was a commissioner . Gorton is also a counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research . In 2012 , Gorton was appointed to the board of directors of Clearwire , a wireless data services provider . Gorton was a member of the board of the Discovery Institute , notable for its advocacy of the pseudoscience of intelligent design . Gorton was also of counsel at K&L Gates LLP . Gorton opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2016 , instead writing in Independent candidate Evan McMullin . He later supported the impeachment of President Trump and urged other Republicans to join him . Personal life and death . He married Sally Clark Gorton on June 28 , 1958 . Sally died in 2013 . Gorton died after a brief illness at the home of his daughter in the Seattle suburb of Clyde Hill on August 19 , 2020 , at the age of 92 . Further reading . - Hughes , John C. , Slade Gorton : A Half Century in Politics ( 2011 ) ( authorized biography ) External links . - Congressional Bio - Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP ( K&L Gates ) Lawyer Bio - The Next Ten Years of Post-9/11 Security Efforts , Q&A with Slade Gorton ( September 2011 )