Roscoe Lee

**Roscoe Waymond Lee** (born May 30, 1924) is an American politician and financier who is currently serving as the senior U.S. Senator from the Midwest since 2003. A Republican, he previously served as the U.S. Representative from the 8th district from 1997 to 2001 and as the 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1993 to 1996. Before joining the Cabinet, he was the chief executive officer of Ross Corporation, an investment banking and financial services company based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Lee served as the House Minority Whip from 1997 to 1999 and became House Minority Leader after Jack Carnegie's defeat in the 1998 midterm elections. He did not run for re-election for House in 2000 and instead became the 66th Governor of Ohio. He was elected to the Senate in 2002 and became the senior senator following the resignation of Theresa Thaddeus.

## Early life and education

Roscoe Waymond Lee was born on May 30, 1924, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the first child out of seven from his parents. His mother and father both lived Kentucky their whole lives until they both sat down one day and decided to leave their families farming career. Roscoe's father, John Otto Lee (1890 - 1979) was a farmer until he moved to Cincinnati with his wife, Opal Marie Baker Lee (1898 - living). John had been a milkman his entire life until founding the successful business Hamilton-Butler Distributing (which was later renamed Ross Co.). Opal had been a baker which she has since retired from. John and Opal had seven children, two sons and five daughters. one of Roscoe's younger sibling had entered politics, Mikhail Lee.

After Roscoe graduating from Mason High School in 1942, he had enlisted in the Navy to fight in WWII. He had fought in the Pacific War until he had been shot in the leg three times and was honorably discharged. After returning home in 1943, Roscoe decided to apply for college. He was accepted into Xavier University where he majored in Business and minored in political science. Roscoe graduated from Xavier in 1947 and soon after helped and co owned Hamilton Butler Distributing Co.

## Early Career

Roscoe had worked with his father as the co-owner of Hamilton-Butler Distributing Co. until his father's death in 1979. After the death of his father, Roscoe accepted the role of being the CEO of the company. Roscoe renamed the company from Hamilton Butler Distributing Co. to a much shorter and fitting name, Ross Co. One day, on a business trip to the United Kingdom, he had bumped into the love of his life, Joan Spencer. He took Joan back to Ohio with him where they soon would marry and have four children, two daughters and two sons. Roscoe and Joan would soon split with no explanation. Joan later on became the Queen of England. Roscoe hadn't remarried until him and Joan met once more and decided to marry again. This granted Roscoe the title of Duke of Edinburgh. The Spencer family name has grown large in politics. During this time, Roscoe announced his candidacy for Governor of West Virginia, which he had won in 1988 and later took officer in 1989.

## Political Career

Roscoe's political career started in 1989 after he swore in as the 32nd Governor of West Virginia. he was Governor until 1991 after he had resigned over something unknown. In 1992, Roscoe had signed up to run for President of the United States, however he had never campaigned for the nomination and has stated 'I don't remember jack shit about running for President in 1992, all I remember is signing up!" In 1993 after President Harvey Jones had sworn in, he had nominated Roscoe to become the Secretary of the Treasury. Roscoe served in this position for three years until resigning in 1996 for 'not doing a good job'. Later on, Roscoe had ran for the District Ten House of Representatives special but had been defeated in a primary by Dwight Schrute. Afterwords, Roscoe had became the 38th Governor of Minnesota until leaving office after a year as we had won the District Eight House of Representatives election against Jakob Kirchner. Roscoe had served as the Representative for four years/two terms until he decided not to run for re-election in 2000. From 1997-1999, Roscoe had served as House Minority Whip. From 1999-2001, Roscoe had served as the House Minority Leader as Jack Carnegie was defeated in his re-election. In 1999, Roscoe announced his candidacy for President of the United States. His campaign lasted for less than a month which is on record one of the shortest Presidential Campaigns in United States History. After dropping out, Roscoe quickly endorse Ricardo Garcia to become the Republican Nominee for President. In 2000, Roscoe announced his campaign for Midwest Senate against Incumbent Senator, Michael Taylor. Strangely, on the campaign trail for Senate, Roscoe had mysteriously disappeared and the campaign had stopped. Nobody had known where he went. He wasn't at House debates, voting or anything. He had just vanished. Due to this, he was taken off of the ballot. In October, 2000, he magically came back with no explanation at all. He planned on resigning from the House but his mind was changed and he had stayed until the end of the term. Afterwords, Roscoe was elected as the 68th Governor of Ohio which he currently serves as. Roscoe is currently running for Midwest Senate once more against Representative Jake Bjorn.

## 2000 presidential election

Lee ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, eventually dropping out and endorsing Ricardo Garcia. Garcia would go on to win the presidency against Democratic senator Jeanne Stein.