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. 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.

John Chafee graduated from a coeducational primary school, Providence's Gordon School, in 1931 and then attended Providence Country Day School. In 1940, he graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. 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 on Guadalcanal fighting on the island from August 8, 1942 until November 1942, when the First Marine Division was relieved, during the Battle of Guadalcanal. After receiving his commission, he fought in the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945 as a Second Lieutenant. Following the war, he received degrees from Yale University in 1947 and Harvard Law School in 1950. At...
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