Claiborne Pell

Claiborne de Borda Pell Template:Post-nominals Template:Post-nominals (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, which provides financial aid funding to American college students; the grant was given Pell's name in 1980 in honor of his work in education legislation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A member of the Democratic Party, Pell remains the longest serving U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.

Early life and education

Claiborne Pell was born on November 22, 1918, in New York City,<ref>William H. Honan, New York Times, Claiborne Pell, Ex-Senator, Dies at 90, January 1, 2009.</ref> the son of Matilda Bigelow and diplomat and congressman Herbert Pell.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Pell's family members included John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne, George Mifflin Dallas, and Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was a direct descendant of English mathematician John Pell and a descendant of Senator William C. C. Claiborne.<ref>G. Wayne Miller, Providence Journal, 'A Remarkable Life' - Nuala and Claiborne Pell Reflect on Six Extraordinary Decades Together, April 10, 2005.</ref> The Congressional Record also reports that he was a direct descendant of Wampage I, a Siwanoy chieftain.<ref>1966 Congressional Record, Volume 112, Page Template:URL (1966-01-19).</ref>

In 1927, Pell's parents divorced and his mother remarried Hugo W. Koehler of St. Louis, a commander in the United States Navy.<ref name="Uncommon">G. Wayne Miller, An Uncommon Man: The Life & Times of Senator Claiborne Pell, 2011, pages 41–42.</ref> Following World War I, Koehler served as an Office of Naval Intelligence and State Department operative in Russia during its civil war, and later as naval attaché to Poland.<ref name="Quad">Template:Cite news</ref> Said to be the "richest officer in the Navy" during the 1920s, Koehler was rumored to be the illegitimate son of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria and to have assisted the Romanovs to flee the Russian Empire following the Russian Revolution of 1917.<ref name="Uncommon"/>Template:Rp Pell was close to his stepfather, who died when Pell was 22.<ref name="Quad"/> In later years, he made a concerted effort to determine the veracity of the rumors surrounding Koehler's past, but was only partly successful.<ref>Our Man in the Crimea: Commander Hugo Koehler and the Russian Civil War. P. J. Capelotti. University of South Carolina Press. (1991) pages 9–10.</ref><ref>A Man Apart: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell. G. Wayne Miller. UPNE. 2011. page 208.</ref>

Pell attended St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island,<ref>J. Y. Smith, Washington Post, Former R.I. Senator Claiborne Pell, 90; Sponsored Grant Program, January 2, 2009.</ref> and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from Princeton University in 1940.<ref>United Federation of Postal Clerks, Union Postal Clerk and the Postal Transport Journal, Volumes 60-62, 1964, p. 23.</ref> Pell's senior thesis was titled "Macaulay and the Slavery Issue."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> While at Princeton, he was a member of Colonial Club and the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, and played on the rugby team.<ref>Princeton Alumni Association, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 74, (March 19, 1974), page 44.</ref>

Post-college life

After graduating from Princeton, Pell worked as an oil field roustabout in Oklahoma.<ref name="Uncommon"/>Template:Rp He then served as private secretary for his father, who was United States Ambassador to Portugal. At the start of World War II he was with his father, who was then United States Ambassador to Hungary. Claiborne Pell drove trucks carrying emergency supplies to prisoners of war in Germany, and was detained several times by the Nazi government.<ref name="Mulligan 2009">Template:Cite web</ref>

Uniformed service

Pell enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard as a seaman second class on August 12, 1941, four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Pell served as a ship's cook, was promoted to seaman first class on October 31, and then was commissioned as an ensign on December 17, 1941.<ref>New York Times, New Face in Politics; Claiborne deBorda Pell, September 30, 1960.</ref> During the war, Pell's ships served as North Atlantic convoy escorts, and also in amphibious warfare during the allied invasion of Sicily and the allied invasion of the Italian mainland.<ref>Ken Franckling, United Press International, Sen. Caliborne Pell -- You Let the Other Man Have Your Way, Albany (Georgia) Herald, July 22, 1981.</ref>

Pell was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on October 1, 1942, and then to lieutenant in May 1943. Due to his fluency in Italian, Pell was assigned as a civil affairs officer in Sicily, where he became ill from drinking unpasteurized milk. He was sent home for recuperation during the summer of 1944, but returned to active service later in the war. Pell was discharged from active duty on September 5, 1945.<ref>G. Wayne Miller, An Uncommon Man, p. 80.</ref>

After the end of World War II, he remained in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He attained the rank of captain and retired in 1978.<ref>Celeste Katz, Providence Journal, Coast Guard Presence in Newport GrowsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore, July 19, 1996.</ref>

Personal life and family

In December 1944, Pell married Nuala O'Donnell, daughter of Charles Oliver O'Donnell and Josephine Hartford.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Eric Pace, "Josephine Hartford Bryce, 88, Philanthropist and Sportswoman", The New York Times, June 10, 1992.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had four children: Herbert Claiborne Pell III, Christopher Thomas Hartford Pell, Nuala Dallas Pell, and Julia Lorillard Wampage Pell.<ref>Faye Zuckerman, "Pell Family Wedding a Mix of Two Cultures", The Providence Journal, September 2, 2003.</ref><ref>Jody McPhillips and Elizabeth Abbott, Pell Kicks Off Senate Campaign, The Providence Journal, June 25, 1990.</ref> Herbert (September 11, 1945 – September 24, 1999)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Julia (May 9, 1953 – April 13, 2006) predeceased their parents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His grandson Clay Pell (son of Herbert) was an unsuccessful contender in the 2014 Democratic primary for Governor of Rhode Island.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Diplomatic work, further education

From 1945 to 1952, he served in the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Washington, D.C. He was fluent in French, Italian, and Portuguese.<ref>Providence Journal, Pell to Return to Czechoslovakia, Was There for Communist Takeover, November 29, 1989.</ref>

In 1945, Pell was a participant in the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco that drafted the United Nations Charter.<ref>Warren Christopher, In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era, 1998, p. 15.</ref>

In 1946 he completed graduate studies in International Relations at Columbia University and received a Master of Arts degree.<ref>M. Charles Bakst, Providence Journal, Claiborne Pell: A Unique Legacy, December 8, 1996.</ref>

Post-diplomatic career

In 1954, Pell was appointed vice president and member of the board of directors of the International Fiscal Corporation. He also served as a vice president and director of the North American Newspaper Alliance.<ref>Princeton Alumni Association, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 55, April 15, 1955, p. 24.</ref> He was also a director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation, Fort Ticonderoga Association, and General Rochambeau Commission of Rhode Island.<ref>Newport Daily News, Pell Named Director, May 15, 1954.</ref> He also served as a fundraiser and consultant for the Democratic National Committee.<ref>Joseph M. Siracusa, The Kennedy Years, 2004, p. 376.</ref> He served as Vice President of the International Rescue Committee. Stationed in Austria, he was responsible for assisting refugees from the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to leave the country and resettle.<ref>University of Rhode Island, Register to the Senatorial Papers of Claiborne Pell: Biography, uri.edu; accessed May 21, 2019.</ref>

During Pell's diplomatic career and other international activities in the 1940s and 1950s, he was arrested and jailed at least six times, including detentions by both fascist and communist governments.<ref>University of Rhode Island, Senator Claiborne deBorda Pell (1918–2009), uri.edu; accessed May 21, 2019.</ref>

Political career

File:Mrs. Gorbachev looking at books.jpg

Pell watches as Raisa Gorbachev listens to Marilyn Quayle at a display of books and other items at the Library of Congress

In 1960, Pell won the seat of retiring U.S. Senator Theodore Francis Green, defeating former Governor Dennis J. Roberts and former Governor and U.S. Senator J. Howard McGrath in the Democratic primary,<ref>New York Times, Newcomer Wins Senate Primary; Pell Defeats Two Former Rhode Island Governors Seeking Green's Seat, September 28, 1960.</ref> and former Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Raoul Archambault in the general election.<ref>Hendersonville (North Carolina), Times-News, Democrats' Clutch on Congress Holds, November 4, 1960.</ref>

Despite being called "the least electable man in America" by John F. Kennedy because of his many odd habits and beliefs,<ref>Scott MacKay, Rhode Island Public Radio, The Life and Times of an Uncommon Man: Sen. Claiborne Pell, October 20, 2011.</ref> Pell proved a durable politician. He won reelection five times, including victories over Ruth M. Briggs in 1966, John Chafee in 1972, James G. Reynolds in 1978, Barbara Leonard in 1984, and Claudine Schneider in 1990.

Often considered by his opponents to be too easygoing, Pell demonstrated his effectiveness as a campaigner.<ref name="Mulligan 2009"/> During his first campaign, when he was accused of carpetbagging, Pell published newspaper advertisements featuring a photograph of his grand-uncle Duncan Pell, who had served as Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island during the 1860s, thus demonstrating Pell's association with the state.<ref name="Mulligan 2009"/> When Briggs called him a "creampuff" during their 1966 campaign, Pell turned that to his advantage and mocked Briggs by obtaining an endorsement from a local baker's union.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

During his first campaign, Pell also used his foreign experience to great advantage, impressing some largely immigrant audiences in person and on the radio by campaigning in their native languages.<ref>Richard F. Fenno Jr., Senators on the Campaign Trail: The Politics of Representation, 1998, p. 243.</ref>

Personality and beliefs

Pell was known for unusual beliefs and behaviors, including wearing threadbare suits, using public transportation and purchasing cheap used automobiles despite his wealth, and an interest in the paranormal.<ref>Scott McKay, Providence Journal, Pell Seeks Sixth Term; Cites Jobs, Peace Issues, June 26, 1990.</ref> His interest in the paranormal was critiqued by author Martin Gardner: "In my opinion, however, no one in Washington has rivaled Senator Pell in combining of science with extreme gullibility toward the performances of psychics."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He also wore his father's belt as a memento, despite the fact that Herbert Pell was stouter than the rail-thin Claiborne Pell, requiring Claiborne Pell to wrap the belt around his waist twice to make it fit.<ref>Mark Patinkin, Providence Journal, For Claiborne Pell, The Doing Was Enough, October 8, 1996.</ref> Pell would also wear unique clothing while jogging, including a tweed suit jacket. According to another story about Pell's eccentricities, at the conclusion of a meeting with Fidel Castro, Pell took Castro's cigar because he thought it was a gift for him.<ref name="Dies"/>

Arrest allegation

In 1972's The Washington Pay-Off, author and former lobbyist Robert N. Winter-Berger wrote about Pell's alleged arrest during a raid on a Greenwich Village homosexual bar in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pell denied the allegation and there were no police records, witness statements or other sources to corroborate Winter-Berger.<ref name="Lofton">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Hutschnecker">Arnold A. Hutschnecker, The Drive for Power, 1974, p. 25.</ref><ref name="Hartmann">Robert Trowbridge Hartmann, Palace Politics: An Inside Account of the Ford Years, 1980, p. 57.</ref> Despite legal advice to sue for defamation, Pell declined, deciding that it would draw undue publicity to the allegations.<ref name="Lofton"/><ref name="Hutschnecker"/><ref name="Hartmann"/>

Senate career

Pell voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Civil Rights Act of 1964,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Voting Rights Act of 1965,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Medicare program,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Civil Rights Act of 1968,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early in his Senate tenure, Pell was a major legislative sponsor of the National Sea Grant College Program in 1965 and 1966 that served to support marine research, and develop maritime industries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Sea Grant program supported considerable growth of the oceanography and other marine science disciplines during the mid-20th Century.

Pell was largely responsible for the creation of "Basic Educational Opportunity Grants" in 1973, renamed Pell Grants in 1980, to provide financial aid funds to U.S. college students. Pell Grants initially provided for grants for prisoners, but Congress later eliminated that provision. For some years there was more money available than was applied for.<ref>Maura J. Casey, New York Times, Senator Claiborne Pell’s Vision, January 5, 2009.</ref> Pell also co-sponsored the Family Education Rights & Privacy Act (abbreviated as FERPA), in 1974, with fellow Senator James Buckley of New York.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He was the main sponsor of the bill that created the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities,<ref>Frank Baker, Associated Press, Claiborne Pell, Rhode Island's Quirky Senator, to Retire, Meriden Record-Journal, September 6, 1995.</ref> and was active as an advocate for mass transportation initiatives and domestic legislation facilitating and conforming to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.<ref>Providence Journal, Law of the Sea, August 30, 1994.</ref> Pell was one of twenty-five Senators to co-sponsor the Health Security Act, a bipartisan universal health care bill that advocated the creation of a health insurance program run by the federal government to provide coverage to every person in America.<ref>Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 92nd Congress, First Session, Volume 117-Part 1; January 21, 1971 to February 1, 1971 (Pages 3 to 1338), Page 284.</ref>

Pell served as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1987 to 1995.<ref>CNN, Ex-Sen. Claiborne Pell, proponent of student grants, dies, January 1, 2009.</ref> In 1990 he was re-elected to his sixth and last term of the Senate.

In 1996, his last full year in the Senate, Pell voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned the federal government from legally recognizing same-sex marriage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pell declined to seek re-election in 1996 and retired on January 3, 1997. Pell served in the Senate for thirty-six continuous years, making him the longest-serving U.S. Senator in the history of Rhode Island.<ref>WCVB-TV, Edward M. Kennedy's Tribute to Former Sen. Claiborne Pell, January 5, 2009.</ref> He was succeeded by Jack Reed.<ref>Bryant University, RI Senator Jack Reed Addresses Class of 2010 Template:Webarchive, May 2010.</ref>

Retirement and death

After retirement, Pell lived in Newport and was a communicant of St. Columba's Chapel in Middletown. He occasionally attended public functions of organizations with which he was affiliated. He was also a distinguished visiting professor at Salve Regina University.<ref name="Review">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Towards the end of his life, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.<ref>Associated Press, Sen. Claiborne Pell Says He Has Parkinson's Disease, April 10, 1995.</ref>

Claiborne Pell died on January 1, 2009. His funeral was held at Trinity Church (Newport, Rhode Island).<ref>C-Span Video Library, Funeral Service for Claiborne Pell, January 5, 2009.</ref> In addition to members of his family, Pell was eulogized by former President Bill Clinton, Senators Edward Kennedy and Jack Reed, and then-Vice President-elect Joe Biden.<ref>Foon Rhee, Boston Globe, Clinton, Kennedy Honor Claiborne Pell, January 5, 2009.</ref> He was buried at St. Columba's (Episcopal) Chapel (Berkeley Memorial Chapel) in Middletown, Rhode Island, near the graves of his son Herbert and his daughter Julia, who had predeceased him.<ref>Bob Breidenbach, Providence Journal, Photo, Video: Scenes From Services for Claiborne Pell Template:Webarchive, January 5, 2009.</ref>

Soon after his death, the newspaper The New York Times termed Pell "the most formidable politician in Rhode Island history."<ref name="Dies">Template:Cite news</ref>

Authorship, recognition, organizations

Published works

Senator Pell authored three books, Megalopolis Unbound: The Supercity and the Transportation of Tomorrow (1966), A Challenge of the Seven Seas (1966), (co-author), and "Power and Policy: America's Role in World Affairs" (1972).<ref name="Review"/>

Awards and honors

Senator Pell received more than 50 honorary college degrees, including recognition from Johnson & Wales University, the University of Vermont and the University of Massachusetts.<ref name="Review"/><ref>Providence Journal, Universities in New England Set Honorary Degrees for Pell, DiPrete, May 24, 1988.</ref>

In 1983 Pell was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership.

In 1987 Pell was among those selected for the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour, during the first year that award was established.<ref>Providence Journal, Pell to Receive Award at Coastal Conference, October 9, 1987.</ref>

In 1988, Pell received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his work in establishing the NEA, the NEH, and the Pell Grant Program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On October 14, 1994, President Bill Clinton presented Pell with the Presidential Citizens Medal.<ref>New York Times, 17 Are Honored In Arts Fields, October 14, 1994.</ref>

Rhode Island's Newport Bridge was renamed the Claiborne Pell Bridge<ref>Brian C. Jones, Providence Journal, A Rhode Island Original: His Name May be on Bridge, But Pell Still Pays Toll, July 23, 1995.</ref> and the Pell Center of International Relations and Public Policy was established at Salve Regina University.<ref>Jerry O'Brien, Providence Journal, Salve to Buy Mansion for New Pell Center, December 5, 1996.</ref> In addition, Newport's Claiborne Pell Elementary School, which opened in 2013, was named in his honor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Pell was a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.<ref>United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard History, Frequently Asked Questions: Claiborne Pell, accessed September 5, 2013.</ref> He also received the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy.<ref>Bill Wells, Coast Guard Warriors - Part of The Mix: Coast Guard Medal Awardees of World War II Template:Webarchive, 1998.</ref>

His awards for service in the Coast Guard during the Second World War included the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal.<ref>United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard History, Frequently Asked Questions: Claiborne Pell. Review of awards displayed on uniform, September 5, 2013.</ref>

Memberships

Pell was a member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was also an honorary life member of the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars as well as a member of Spouting Rock Beach Association (Bailey's Beach) and the Newport Reading Room.<ref>Providence Journal, Claiborne Pell Remembered as "the right kind of aristocrat", January 6, 2009.</ref>

Honors

• File:Presidential Citizens Medal ribbon -vector.svg Presidential Citizens Medal (1994)
• File:American Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg American Defense Service Medal
• File:American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg American Campaign Medal
• File:European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon.svg European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• File:World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg World War II Victory Medal
• File:PRT Order of Christ - Grand Cross BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, Portugal (May 31, 1979)<ref name="OrdHonPor">Template:Cite web</ref>
• File:POR Ordem do Merito Gra-Cruz BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Portugal (October 7, 1994)<ref name="OrdHonPor"/>
• File:Cavaliere di Gran Croce OCI Kingdom BAR.svg Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Crown of Italy
• File:Legion Honneur Chevalier ribbon.svg Chevalier, Legion of Honor (France)

External links

• Claiborne Pell at Congressional Biographical Directory
• Template:Find a Grave
• New England Cable News, Video, Bill Clinton Eulogy, Something 'magical' about Claiborne Pell, January 5, 2009
• WPRI-TV, Video, Joe Biden Eulogy, VP-Elect Joe Biden Eulogizes Sen. Pell, January 5, 2009
• WPRI-TV, Video, Ted Kennedy Eulogy, Sen. Kennedy eulogizes former Sen. Pell, January 5, 2009
• WPRI-TV, Video, Jack Reed Eulogy, Sen. Reed: Pell Was Ideal Public Servant, January 5, 2009
• Template:YouTube, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, January 5, 2009.
• Template:C-SPAN

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