Paul Sarbanes
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Paul Spyros Sarbanes (Template:IPAc-en; February 3, 1933Template:SndDecember 6, 2020) was an American politician and attorney from Maryland. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both chambers of the United States Congress as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1977 to 2007. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in the history of Maryland until he was surpassed by Barbara Mikulski by a single day when her term ended on January 3, 2017.Template:Efn He was the first Greek American senator.Template:Fact
Born in Salisbury, Maryland, Sarbanes was a graduate of Princeton University; Balliol College, Oxford; and Harvard Law School. Elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1966, he went on to serve two terms in the Maryland House from 1967 to 1971. In 1970 he won a seat in the United States House of Representatives, representing Maryland's 4th congressional district and later Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1971 to 1977.
In 1976 he ran for the United States Senate, defeating Republican incumbent J. Glenn Beall Jr. with 59% of the vote. Sarbanes was re-elected four times, each time receiving no less than 59% of the vote. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin. Sarbanes was known for his low-key style,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> often shunning the limelight over his thirty-year Senate career. He was a coauthor of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which is generally noted as his most noteworthy piece of legislation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Early life
Sarbanes was born on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the city of Salisbury to Greek immigrant parents, Matina (née Tsigounis) and Spyros P. Sarbanes, who had emigrated from Laconia, Greece and owned a Salisbury restaurant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A graduate of Wicomico High School in Salisbury, Maryland, Sarbanes attended Princeton University, where he played basketball<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and earned a bachelor's degree in 1954<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs after completing a senior thesis titled "The Smith Act: A Denial of American Freedoms".<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> At Princeton, Sarbanes was a member of the American Whig–Cliosophic Society. As a senior, he received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, Princeton's highest undergraduate honor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that brought him to Balliol College of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.<ref name=WPO>Template:Cite news</ref> He graduated with a First Class degree in 1957.<ref name=WPO/> Sarbanes then returned to the United States and attended Harvard Law School.<ref name=reuters>Template:Cite web</ref>
After graduating in 1960, he clerked for Federal Judge Morris Ames Soper before entering private practice with two Baltimore law firms.<ref name=WPO/>
Political career
State legislature
In 1966 Sarbanes ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in Baltimore and won.<ref name=bso>Template:Cite web</ref> During his four years as a State delegate in Annapolis, Maryland he served on both the Judiciary and the Ways and Means Committees.<ref name=mdmanual/>
U.S. House of Representatives
Sarbanes was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970 from the fourth district of Maryland and was reelected in 1972 and 1974 from the third district.<ref name=WPO/> While in the House, Sarbanes served on the Judiciary Committee, the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and the Select Committee on House Reorganization.<ref name=mdmanual />
As a member of the Judiciary Committee he participated in the impeachment process against Richard Nixon.<ref name=WPO/> On July 26, 1974, he introduced the first articles of impeachment against President Nixon for obstruction of justice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
U.S. Senate
Sarbanes was elected to the United States Senate in 1976 and re-elected in 1982, 1988, 1994, and 2000.<ref name=WPO/><ref name=bso/> In 2002 he was the United States Senate sponsor of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, which reformed federal securities laws in the wake of the 2002 accounting scandals.<ref name=bso/>
Sarbanes served on the following Senate committees:<ref name=mdmanual/>
- Ranking Member, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
- Ranking Member, Special Whitewater
- Senior Member, Foreign Relations
- Senior Member, Budget
- Senior Member, Joint Economic
By 1981 Sarbanes had become noted as a frequent critic of military budgets.<ref name=NYT1/> In spite of this, in May of that year he voted in favor of approving a Reagan administration-backed $136.5Template:Nbsbillion military authorization bill.<ref name=NYT1>Template:Cite news</ref> In December he voted in favor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> of an amendment to President Ronald Reagan's MX missiles proposal that would divert the silo system by $334Template:Nbsmillion as well as earmark further research for other methods that would allow giant missiles to be based.<ref name=MX1 /> While the military authorization bill was seen as supporting the administration,<ref name=NYT1 /> the December vote was viewed as a rebuff of Reagan.<ref name=MX1>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On March 11, 2005, Sarbanes, the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, announced at a news conference his decision not to seek reelection in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Colleagues of Sarbanes said that the reason for his retirement from the Senate was due to his annoyance with not having any leadership roles on committees.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sarbanes received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award in 2007 from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the values, languages, and cultures of the ancient world in service to the modern world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life and death
In June 1960 Sarbanes married Christine Dunbar of Brighton, England; they had three children (John Sarbanes, Michael Anthony Sarbanes, and Janet Matina Sarbanes) and seven grandchildren.<ref name=WPO/> Christine Sarbanes died of cancer on March 22, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sarbanes held the highest lay office in the Greek Orthodox Church, "Order of St. Andrew, Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was a member of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Baltimore.<ref name="mdmanual">Template:Cite web</ref>
His son, John Sarbanes, won the general election for Maryland's 3rd congressional district in 2006, the district that Paul Sarbanes represented prior to his election as senator.<ref name=bso/>
Paul Sarbanes died at his home in Baltimore on December 6, 2020, at the age of 87.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In April 2021 Wicomico Public Libraries announced that the library in downtown Salisbury would be renamed after Sarbanes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Election history
- Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=WPO/><ref name=bso/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Publications
Notes and references
Template:Notelist Template:Reflist
External links
Template:Biographical Directory of Congress
Template:S-start Template:S-par Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-ppo Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-vac Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-par Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-ttl Template:S-end
Template:United States senators from Maryland Template:US Senate Banking chairs Template:USCongRep-start Template:USCongRep/MD/92 Template:USCongRep/MD/93 Template:USCongRep/MD/94 Template:USCongRep/MD/95 Template:USCongRep/MD/96 Template:USCongRep/MD/97 Template:USCongRep/MD/98 Template:USCongRep/MD/99 Template:USCongRep/MD/100 Template:USCongRep/MD/101 Template:USCongRep/MD/102 Template:USCongRep/MD/103 Template:USCongRep/MD/104 Template:USCongRep/MD/105 Template:USCongRep/MD/106 Template:USCongRep/MD/107 Template:USCongRep/MD/108 Template:USCongRep/MD/109 Template:USCongRep-end Template:Patriot Act Template:Authority control
- 1933 births
- 2020 deaths
- Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
- American Rhodes Scholars
- American people of Greek descent
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from Maryland
- Greek Orthodox Christians from the United States
- Princeton University alumni
- Princeton Tigers men's basketball players
- Harvard Law School alumni
- People from Salisbury, Maryland
- Politicians from Baltimore
- Democratic Party United States senators from Maryland
- Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
- Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
- Lawyers from Baltimore
- Whitewater controversy
- American men's basketball players
- 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- 21st-century United States senators
- 20th-century United States senators
- 20th-century United States representatives