Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, who chaired the Intelligence Committee after the 2001 terrorist attacks and opposed the invasion of Iraq, has died. He was 87 years old.
His family announced the death Tuesday in a statement posted to X by his daughter Gwen Graham. His wife, Adele, was at his side when she died at a retirement community in Gainesville.
Graham, who served three terms in the Senate, made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
But his candidacy was delayed by heart surgery in January 2003. Failing to gain enough traction among voters to catch up, he withdrew in October. He did not seek re-election in 2004 and was replaced by Republican Mel MartÃnez.
His wife Adele told the Tallahassee Democrat: “We are very attached to him and we love him very much, we are very proud of him.” He was a person absolutely dedicated to public service, to getting things done for everyone.’
Graham was remembered as a “visionary leader and dedicated public servant.”
Senator Bob Graham, right, speaks during the National Commission meeting on the BP Deepwater Horizon spill and offshore drilling on September 27, 2010, in Washington.
A man of many quirks, Graham perfected the political “workday” trick of spending a day doing a variety of jobs, from windshield wiper to FBI agent.
He kept a meticulous diary, writing down almost everyone he talked to, everything he ate, the TV shows he watched, and even his golf scores.
But he closed the notebooks to the media during his brief presidential candidacy.
Graham was an early opponent of the Iraq war, saying it diverted U.S. attention toward the battle against terrorism centered in Afghanistan. He also criticized President George W. Bush for not having an occupation plan in Iraq after the U.S. military ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Graham said Bush led the United States into the war by exaggerating claims about the danger posed by Iraqi weapons of destruction that were never found. Saying Bush distorted intelligence, Graham argued that was more serious than the sexual misconduct issues that led to President Clinton’s impeachment in the late 1990s.
This prompted Graham to launch his brief presidential bid.
“The quagmire in Iraq is a distraction that the Bush administration, and only the Bush administration, has created,” Graham said in 2003.
As a politician, few were better. Florida voters hardly considered him the wealthy, Harvard-educated lawyer that he was.
Graham’s political career spanned five decades, beginning with his election to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966.
A man of many quirks, Graham perfected the political “workday” trick of spending a day doing a variety of jobs, from windshield wiper to FBI agent.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Graham, left, poses with his running mate Wayne Mixson, right, of Marianna, in Miami, as he watches the results of the 1987 election.
Florida Senator Bob Graham greets people at Miami Lakes hearing on Tuesday, May 6, 2003.
He won a seat in the state Senate in 1970, was elected governor in 1978 and re-elected in 1982. Four years later, he won his first of three terms in the U.S. Senate when he unseated Republican incumbent Paula Hawkins.
Graham remained very popular among Florida voters, winning re-election by wide margins in 1992 and 1998, when he won 63 of 67 counties.
Even when he was in Washington, Graham never took his eyes off the state and leadership in Tallahassee.
When Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated the Board of Regents in 2001, Graham saw it as a move to politicize the state university system. The following year he successfully led a petition campaign for a state constitutional amendment creating the Board of Governors to assume the role of regents.
Daniel Robert Graham was born on November 9, 1936 in Coral Gables, where his father, Ernest ‘Cap’ Graham, had moved from South Dakota and established a large dairy operation. Young Bob milked cows, built fences and collected manure as a teenager. One of his half-brothers, Phillip Graham, was editor of The Washington Post and Newsweek until he committed suicide in 1963, just a year after Bob Graham graduated from Harvard Law.
In 1966 he was elected to the Florida Legislature, where he focused primarily on education and health care issues.
Former Florida Governor Bob Graham (right) signs an autograph for MarÃa Dulce before a campaign appearance at the Miami River Festival in Jean Marti Park, October 25, 1986.
But Graham got off to a shaky start as Florida’s chief executive and was nicknamed ‘governor.’ Jello’ for some early indecisions. He shook off that label through his handling of several serious crises.
As governor, he also signed numerous death warrants, founded the Save the Manatee Club with artist Jimmy Buffett, and led efforts to establish several environmental programs.
Graham pushed a bond program to buy beaches and barrier islands threatened by development and also started the Save Our Everglades program to protect the state’s water supply, wetlands and endangered species.
Graham was also known for his 408 ‘work days’, including stints as a housewife, boxing ring announcer, flight attendant and arson investigator.
“This has been a very important part of my development as a public official, having learned on a very human level what the people of Florida expect, what they want, what their aspirations are and then trying to interpret that and turn it into policy that improve their lives,” Graham said in 2004 while completing his last job wrapping Christmas gifts.
After leaving public life in 2005, Graham spent much of his time at a public policy center named after him at the University of Florida and lobbying the Legislature to require more civics classes in the state’s public schools. .
Graham was one of five members selected for an independent commission by President Barack Obama in June 2010 to investigate a massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatened marine life and beaches across several U.S. states. southeastern Gulf.