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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