John Warner John William Warner KBE ( born February 18 , 1927 ) is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five - term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2 , 1979 , to January 3 , 2009 . He did not seek reelection in 2008 and has rejoined the law firm of Hogan Lovells , where he worked before joining the United States Department of Defense . Warner was also the sixth husband to actress Elizabeth Taylor , whom he married before being elected to the Senate . He is a veteran of World War II , and one of only five serving in the Senate at the time of his retirement . Early life and education . John William Warner was born on February 18 , 1927 , to John W . and Martha Budd Warner and grew up in Washington , D . C . , where he attended the elite St . Albans School before graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in February 1945 . He enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II in January 1945 , shortly before his 18th birthday . He served until the following year , leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class . He went to college at Washington and Lee University , where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi , graduating in 1949 ; he then entered the University of Virginia Law School . He joined the Marine Corps in October 1950 , after the outbreak of the Korean War , and served in Korea as a ground aircraft maintenance officer with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing . He continued in the Marine Corps Reserves after the war , eventually reaching the rank of captain . He then resumed his studies , taking courses at the George Washington University , and then receiving his law degree in 1953 . That year , he became a law clerk to Chief Judge E . Barrett Prettyman of the United States Court of Appeals . In 1956 , he became an assistant US attorney ; in 1960 he entered private law practice and joined Kirkland and Ellis . Marriages . In 1957 , Warner married banking heiress Catherine Conover Mellon , the daughter of art collector Paul Mellon and his first wife , Mary Conover , and the granddaughter of Andrew Mellon . By his marriage , Warner accrued substantial capital for investing and expanding his political contacts . The Warners , who divorced in 1973 , have three children : Virginia , John Jr , and Mary . His former wife now uses the name Catherine Conover . John Warner married actress Elizabeth Taylor on December 4 , 1976 . They divorced on November 7 , 1982 . Although Warner again obtained society limelight and capital for his advancement , the divorce did not leave him with the same amount of wealth as with Mary Conover . Warner and Larry Fortensky were the only living former spouses of Elizabeth Taylor at the time of her death in 2011 . On December 15 , 2003 , Warner married Jeanne Vander Myde , a real estate agent with a substantial land portfolio and background in buying small farms and estates in Virginia and developing them into housing tracts . She is also the widow of White House official Paul Vander Myde . Political career . After giving substantial campaign funds and time to the Nixon Presidential election , on February 1969 , Warner was appointed Undersecretary of the Navy under the Nixon administration . On May 4 , 1972 , he succeeded John H . Chafee as Secretary of the Navy . Thereafter Warner , was appointed by President Gerald Ford to be a participant in the controversial Law of the Sea Globalist talks , and negotiated the Incidents at Sea Executive Agreement with the Soviet Union which became a cause celebre of pro - Detente doves in Soviet - American relations . He was subsequently appointed by Gerald Ford to the post of Director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration . Following Ford ' s defeat , Warner began to consider political office for himself . He entered politics in the 1978 Virginia election for U . S . Senate . Despite the publicity of being Elizabeth Taylor ' s husband and the large amounts of money Warner used in his campaign for the nomination , he finished second at the state Republican Party ( GOP ) convention to the far more conservative politician Richard D . Obenshain . Much of this loss was due to his perceived liberal political stances , especially his soft approach to Soviet relations . In contrast Obenshain was a noted anti - Soviet , a hardline anti - communist , and an opponent of other liberal policies including the Great Society and much of the Civil Rights Movement . However , fate intervened when Obenshain died two months later in a plane crash . Consequently , Warner was chosen to replace him and narrowly won the general election over Democrat Andrew P . Miller , former Attorney General of Virginia . He was in the Senate until January 3 , 2009 . Despite his less conservative policy stances , Warner managed to be the second - longest serving senator in Virginia ' s history , behind only Harry F . Byrd , Sr . , and by far the longest - serving Republican Senator from the state . On August 31 , 2007 , Warner announced that he would not seek re - election in 2008 . His committee memberships included the Environment and Public Works Committee , the Senate Committee on Health , Education , Labor , and Pensions , and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence . As the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee , he protected and increased the flow of billions of dollars into the Virginia economy each year via the state ' s military installations and shipbuilding firms which served his reelection efforts in every cycle . Warner was quite moderate , especially in comparison to most Republican Senators from the South . He was among the minority of Republicans to support gun control laws . He voted for the Brady Bill and , in 1999 , was one of only five Republicans to vote to close the so - called gun show loophole . In 2004 Warner was one of three Republicans to sponsor an amendment by Senator Dianne Feinstein ( D - CA ) that sought to provide for a 10 - year extension of the Assault Weapons Ban . Warner supported the Roe v . Wade decision establishing abortion rights and supported embryonic stem cell research , although he received high ratings from pro - life groups because he voted in favor of many abortion restrictions . On June 15 , 2004 , Warner was among the minority of his party to vote to expand hate crime laws to include sexual orientation as a protected category . He supports a constitutional amendment banning same - sex marriage , but he raised concerns about the most recent Federal Marriage Amendment as being too restrictive as it would have potentially banned civil unions as well . In 1987 , Warner was one of the few Republicans who voted to reject the nomination of Robert Bork by President Ronald Reagan and the only Southerner to do so . Warner was re - elected easily in 1984 and 1990 , and faced his first real challenge for re - election in 1996 from political newcomer Democrat Mark Warner ( no relation ) . Mark Warner was a millionaire who vastly outspent the incumbent and produced an unusually close election , but John Warner prevailed with 52 % of the vote . According to George Stephanopoulos , a former close aide to President Bill Clinton , Warner was among top choices to replace Les Aspin as the Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration . However , President Clinton selected William Perry . During Clinton second term William Cohen of Maine , another moderate Republican Senator , held this position . During the 1996 United States Presidential election Warner served as a Senate teller ( along with Democrat Wendell H . Ford ) of electoral votes . Warner was among ten GOP Senators who voted against the charge of perjury during Clinton ' s impeachment ( the others were Richard Shelby of Alabama , Ted Stevens of Alaska , Susan Collins of Maine , Olympia Snowe of Maine , John Chafee of Rhode Island , Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania , Jim Jeffords of Vermont , Slade Gorton of Washington and Fred Thompson of Tennessee ) . Warner and others who voted against the article angered many Republicans by their position . However , unlike Snowe , Collins , Specter , Jeffords and Chafee , the rest of the Republicans voted guilty on the second article . As was the case in 1990 , Warner faced no Democratic opposition in 2002 , winning re - election to a fifth term in the Senate by a landslide over an independent candidate . On May 23 , 2005 , Warner was one of 14 centrist senators ( Gang of 14 ) to forge a compromise on the Democrats ' proposed use of the judicial filibuster , thus blocking the Republican leadership ' s attempt to implement the so - called nuclear option . Under the agreement , the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an " extraordinary circumstance " , and three Bush appellate court nominees ( Janice Rogers Brown , Priscilla Owen and William Pryor ) would receive a vote by the full Senate . On September 17 , 2006 , Warner said that US military and intelligence personnel in future wars will suffer for abuses committed in 2006 by the US in the name of fighting terrorism . He feared that the administration ’ s civilian lawyers and a president who never saw combat were putting US service personnel at risk of torture , summary executions and other atrocities by chipping away at Geneva Conventions ’ standards that have protected them since 1949 . Following the Supreme Court ruling on " Hamdan v . Rumsfeld " , which was adverse to the Bush Administration , Warner ( with Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain ) negotiated with the White House the language of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 , suspending habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an " unlawful combatant " and barring them from challenging their detentions in court . Warner ' s vote gave a retroactive , nine - year immunity to U . S . officials who authorized , ordered , or committed acts of torture and abuse , permitting the use of statements obtained through torture to be used in military tribunals so long as the abuse took place by December 30 , 2005 . Warner ' s " compromise " ( approved by a Republican majority ) authorized the President to establish permissible interrogation techniques and to " interpret the meaning and application " of international Geneva Convention standards , so long as the coercion falls short of " serious " bodily or psychological injury . Warner maintains that the new law holds true to " core principles " that the US provide fair trials and not be seen as undermining Geneva Conventions . The bill was signed into law on October 17 , 2006 , in Warner ' s presence . In March 2007 , after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace spoke out about his views on homosexuality and the military , Sen . Warner said , " I respectfully , but strongly , disagree with the chairman ' s view that homosexuality is immoral . " On August 23 , 2007 , he called on President Bush to begin bringing U . S . troops home from Iraq by Christmas in order to make it clear to the Iraqi leadership that the U . S . commitment is not indefinite . On August 31 , 2007 , he announced that he would not seek a sixth term in the Senate in 2008 . Warner was a cosponsor of America ' s Climate Security Act of 2007 , also more commonly referred to as the Cap and Trade Bill , that proposed to ration ( cap ) carbon emissions in the U . S . , and tax or purchase ( trade ) Carbon credits on the global market for greater U . S . alignment with the Kyoto protocol standards and goals . In September 2008 , Warner joined the Gang of 20 , a bipartisan coalition seeking comprehensive energy reform . The group is pushing for a bill that would encourage state - by - state decisions on offshore drilling and authorize billions of dollars for conservation and alternative energy . In October 2008 , Warner voted in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 . Current life . On December 12 , 2008 , the Office of the Director of National Intelligence awarded Warner the first ever National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal . On January 8 , 2009 , the Secretary of the Navy announced it would name the next after John Warner . will be the twelfth " Virginia " - class submarine . On February 19 , 2009 the British Embassy in Washington , D . C . , announced that Queen Elizabeth II would name John Warner an honorary Knight Commander for his work strengthening the American - British military alliance . As a person who is not a British citizen ( or a citizen of a country which acknowledges the British monarch as their own monarch ) , the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire only allows Warner to put the Post - nominal letters KBE after his name . The annual Senator John W . Warner Award is given to a third year undergraduate student at the University of Virginia who exhibits a serious , convincing ambition to seek future election to public office . This award honors an individual who strives for service in an elected office , whether it is a part - time city council position or a full - time legislative or executive office . Successful candidates demonstrate the required courage to stand up and ask fellow citizens for their valued vote . The award of up to $ 3 , 000 funds a research project in an area that will inform the recipient ' s future career as an elected official . Award recipients include : John Jacob Nay , Casey Enders , James Linville , and Sarah Buckley . External links . ! colspan = " 3 " style = " background : # C1D8FF ; " | Husband of Elizabeth Taylor