Harold+Stassen

**The Life of... // Harold Stassen //**

 (1907-2001)

//"I don't care to be involved in the crash-landing unless I can be in on the take-off.” -Harold Stassen// Harold E. Stassen died on March 4 at the age of 93- his life, dream and passion was to be apart of public office, and he fulfilled his dream and strived to make his goals come true. Known as the"[|perennial candidate]" among other offices, he ran for President of the United States nine times, governor of [|Minnesota] four times, governor of Pennsylvania twice, the U.S. Senate twice, and mayor of Philadelphia once. Often overlooked among the tributes was the one presidency Stassen did attain—that of the University of Pennsylvania, which he led from 1948 to 1953.  Stassen was first elected governor of Minnesota when he was only 31 and delivered the [|Keynote Address] at the 1940 [|Republican convention], where he helped settle the nomination for [|Wendell Willkie]. Reelected twice, he resigned in 1943 to go on active duty in the [|Navy], serving as chief of staff to [|Admiral William Halsey] in the South Pacific. [|President Franklin Roosevelt] named Stassen to the American delegation to the first [|United Nations] conference in [|San Francisco], where he helped write the [|UN Charter] and was voted the most effective delegate. In 1948 Stassen made his first and strongest bid for the White House. His favorite of convention delegates and indicated that he would beat [|President Harry Truman] in a head-to-head race. He became a hero to many young Republicans, including [|Richard Nixon], [|Joseph McCarthy], and future Chief Justice [|Warren Burger]. At his 90th birthday party, Stassen received tributes from Secretary of State [|Madeleine K. Albright]and UN Secretary [|General Kofi Annan], the members of the [|Senate Foreign Relations Committee], and the current president at the time [|Bill Clinton] to award him the [|Presidential Medal of Freedom]. Though living in a nursing home, Stassen was still busily promoting a 129-page proposal to revise the United Nations Charter and filing yet again for the Minnesota race that [|Jesse Ventura] eventually won. As quoted by Mark F. Bernstein, "Even in old age, there was something Stassen found vital in tilting at windmills, something that lent his lonely career an odd sort of gallantry. It was fitting that his favorite lines of poetry came from Robert Browning."

**Works Cited:** __ []  __  []

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