John Chafee John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22 , 1922 – October 24 , 1999 ) was an American politician . He served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps , as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island , as the Secretary of the Navy , and as a United States Senator . Early life and family . Chafee was born in Providence , Rhode Island to a politically active family . He was the son of Janet ( née Hunter ) and John S . Chafee . His great - grandfather , Henry Lippitt , was governor of Rhode Island ( 1875 – 1877 ) and among his great - uncles were a Rhode Island governor , Charles Warren Lippitt , and United States Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt . His uncle , Zechariah Chafee , was a Harvard law professor , and a notable civil libertarian . His son is Rhode Island Governor and former Senator Lincoln Chafee . John Chafee graduated from a coeducation al primary school , Providence ' s Gordon School , in 1931 and then attended Providence Country Day School . In 1940 , he graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts . Marine Corps Service . Chafee was in his third year as an undergraduate at Yale University when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor . He interrupted his undergraduate studies and enlisted in the Marine Corps , spending his 20th birthday fighting on the island of Guadalcanal from August 8 , 1942 until November 1942 , when the First Marine Division was relieved . After receiving his commission as a second lieutenant , he fought in the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945 . Following the war , he received degrees from Yale University in 1947 and Harvard Law School in 1950 . At Yale , he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon ( Phi chapter ) and Skull and Bones fraternities . In 1951 , he was recalled to active service to be a Marine rifle company commander during the Korean War with Dog Company , 2nd Battalion , 7th Marines . Author James Brady in his memoir of the Korean War , and his serving as a Marine under Chafee writes : “ Nowhere , at any time , did John Chafee serve more nobly than he did as a Marine officer commanding a rifle company in the mountains of North Korea . ” and that " He was the only truly great man I ' ve yet met in my life . . . " Early Political Career . Chafee became active in behind - the - scenes Rhode Island politics by helping elect a mayor of Providence in the early 1950s . He successfully ran for a seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1956 and later became the minority leader . He was re - elected in 1958 and 1960 , the latter a year when many Republicans were swept from office in his state . Governor of Rhode Island . Chafee was elected governor in 1962 , helping create the state ' s public transportation administration as well as what was known as the Green Acres program , a conservation effort . In 1968 he served as chair of the Republican Governors Association . He served as governor until 1969 , when he was surprisingly defeated by underdog Democrat Frank Licht . Reasons ascribed for the defeat include the fact that , after running three times on a strong anti - income tax platform , Chafee now said that such a tax was imperative ( indeed his anti - tax opponent went on to champion one in 1971 ) ; and that he stopped campaigning after his 14 - year - old daughter Tribbie was killed in a riding accident . Secretary of the Navy . He was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1969 by President Richard Nixon . Chafee ' s tenure as Secretary was marked by a willingness to make bold decisions and stand by them . Emblematic of this was his decision to elevate Admiral Elmo Zumwalt as Chief of Naval Operations over 33 more senior officers , and his judicious handling of the USS " Pueblo " situation , in which North Korean forces boarded and captured a Navy intelligence ship . His action as Secretary of the Navy that is most clearly remembered is his disapproval of the recommendation to court martial Commander Lloyd Bucher , the commanding officer of the " Pueblo " . Because it was clear that the guilt clearly rested on the North Koreans and not Bucher or the sailors on the " Pueblo " , Chafee stated that " Bucher and his men have suffered enough " , and that a court martial would only add insult to injury . He served as Secretary of the Navy until 1972 when he resigned to run for the U . S . Senate . United States Senator . After an unsuccessful candidacy for the Senate in 1972 against Democratic incumbent Claiborne Pell , Chafee was elected to that body in 1976 , the first Republican to win a Rhode Island Senate election since 1930 . He joined the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in 1977 and made environmental matters a chief concern , often breaking with his party to the delight of conservation groups . He chaired that committee during his last term in office from 1995 to 1999 . As a result of his work , Chafee was a recipient of the Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award . Among the bills Chafee fostered while in the minority was the Clean Water Act of 1986 , and the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act . He also was an architect of the 1980 Superfund program to clean up hazardous waste sites as well as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 . Chafee authored the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982 , establishing the Coastal Barrier Resources System ( CBRS ) . Upon Chafee ' s death in 1999 , the CBRS was renamed the John H . Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System . Frequently following a moderate path , Chafee was pro - choice on abortion and supported the North American Free Trade Agreement . He took a moderate stance on taxes and government assistance to the needy . On social issues , Chafee was among the most liberal members of the Senate . He opposed the death penalty , school prayer , and the ban on homosexuals serving in the military . Chafee was one of the few Republicans to support strict gun control laws . He sponsored a bill that , if passed , would have prohibited the " manufacture , importation , exportation , sale , purchase , transfer , receipt , possession , or transportation of handguns and hand ammunition . " During the late 1980s and 1990s Senator Chafee became an advocate for improving the U . S . health care system . He supported legislation to expand Medicaid coverage for low - income children and pregnant women , sponsored legislation to expand the availability of home and community - based services for persons with disabilities and worked to enact legislation to establish Federally Qualified Health Centers . In 1992 , he was appointed Chairman of the Senate Republican Task Force on Health , and he worked to develop a consensus among Republicans on health care . In 1993 , he joined with Democratic Louisiana Senator John Breaux to form the Senate Mainstream Coalition , a coalition of six Democratic and six Republican Senators seeking bipartisan consensus on health reform . He sponsored legislation that increased funds to states to assist youths in making the transition from foster care to independent living ; recognized the need for special help for youths ages 18 to 21 who have left foster care ; offered states greater flexibility in designing their independent living programs ; and , established accountability for states in implementing independent living programs . As a testimonial to the late Senator Chafee , the program is now entitled the John H . Chafee Foster Care Independence Program . " John Chafee proved that politics can be an honorable profession , " President Bill Clinton said in a statement to the Associated Press , shortly after Chafee died . " He embodied the decent center which has carried America from triumph to triumph for over 200 years . " On February 12 , 1999 , Chafee voted against both articles of impeachment against Clinton . Chafee sat on the U . S . Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee ' s Subcommittee on Health Care , but his biggest imprint was on environmental concerns . He also served in his party ' s leadership , chairing the Senate Republican Conference from 1985 to 1990 . His last major act was authoring and sponsoring the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century , which authorized funding for transportation programs for the next six years . Death . A few months after declaring that he would not seek reelection in 2000 , he died suddenly from congestive heart failure in October 1999 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland . His son , Lincoln Chafee , was appointed to serve the remainder of his term , and then won a full term in the 2000 election . Senator Chafee was survived by his wife Virginia Coates Chafee , a daughter and three other sons in addition to Lincoln . In 2000 , Senator Chafee was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom . Namesake . The USS " Chafee " ( DDG - 90 ) , the John H . Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and the John H . Chafee National Wildlife Refuge were named in his honor . Bryant University in Smithfield , Rhode Island named its World Trade Center on campus after John H . Chafee for his continuing support for global trade and his association with the University . The Chafee Social Science Center at the University of Rhode Island is named in his honor . It is the tallest building in southern Rhode Island . The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 , passed on November 23 , 1999 after his death , is known as the John H . Chafee Foster Care Independence Program . The programs are administered at the state level by Social Service Agencies . One such program , in example , is the North Carolina Links program Awards and Honors . Note - Despite press reports to the contrary , Senator Chafee never received the Purple Heart and never claimed to have received the award .