Edmund Muskie

**Edmund Sixtus "Ed" Muskie** (28 March 191426 March 1996) was an American politician who was a member of the Democratic Party.

Muskie was born in Rumford, Maine, to a Polish family.

He was the Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959 and a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 1980. He served as United States Secretary of State from 1980 to 1981 under the Carter administration. President Jimmy Carter gave Muskie the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981.

Muskie died in Washington, D.C., from congestive heart failure at the age of 81.

## Early life

Muskie was born in Rumford, Maine, on 28 March 1914. His father, Stephen Marciszewski (mar-chih-SHEF-ski), had immigrated to the United States in 1903 and changed his name to Muskie.

### Education

Muskie graduated from Bates College in 1936 and from Cornell University Law School in 1939. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served in the Atlantic and the Pacific Theaters from 1942 to 1945.

## Career

Muskie was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President in the 1968 presidential election. Muskie later ran for President in the 1972 presidential election. After announcing that he had lost, he chocked with anger and began to cry. Afterwards, Muskie siad that he had not he cried and said that it was simply "melted snow flakes" in his eyes, not tears. He later said he had cried was that because newspapers had insulted his wife.

Muskie held the highest office (Secretary of State) by a Polish American in U.S. history. If he won the presidential election in 1972, he would have been the first Polish-American President of the United States.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed Muskie to serve in the Tower Commission to investigate the Iran-Contra affair.

## Personal life

He was married to Jane Gray from 1940 until his death in 1996. He died of congestive heart failure. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

## Other websites

- The Edmund S. Muskie Foundation
- Edmund Muskie at Findagrave

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **birthname**: Edmund Sixtus Muskie
- **image**: Portrait of Edmund Muskie, looking up.jpg
- **caption**: Muskie in 1980
- **order**: 58th United States Secretary of State
- **term start**: 8 May 1980
- **term end**: 20 January 1981
- **deputy**: Warren Christopher
- **president**: Jimmy Carter
- **predecessor**: Cyrus Vance
- **successor**: Alexander Haig
- **order2**: United States Senator
from Maine
- **term start2**: 3 January 1959
- **term end2**: 7 May 1980
- **predecessor2**: Frederick Payne
- **successor2**: George J. Mitchell
- **order3**: 64th Governor of Maine
- **term start3**: 5 January 1955
- **term end3**: 2 January 1959
- **predecessor3**: Burton M. Cross
- **successor3**: Robert Haskell, Robert N. Haskell
- **order4**: United States Senate Committee on the Budget, Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Budget
- **term start4**: 3 January 1975
- **term end4**: 8 May 1980
- **predecessor4**: None
- **successor4**: Fritz Hollings
- **birth place**: Rumford, Maine
- **death place**: Washington, D.C.
- **party**: Democratic Party (United States), Democratic
- **spouse**: Jane Muskie
- **children**: 5
- **alma mater**: Bates College
Cornell University
- **profession**: Lawyer
- **signature**: Edmund Muskie Signature.svg
- **branch**: United States Navy
- **rank**: Lieutenant
- **serviceyears**: 1942–1945
- **battles**: World War II