Floyd Haskell | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Colorado | |
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979 | |
Preceded by | Gordon Allott |
Succeeded by | William L. Armstrong |
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives | |
In office 1965-1969 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Floyd Kirk Haskell February 7, 1916 Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
Died | August 25, 1998 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 82)
Political party |
Republican (before 1970) Democratic (1970–1998) |
Spouse(s) | Eileen Nicoll (1941-1976; divorced; 3 children) Nina Totenberg (1979-1998; his death) |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1941-1945 |
Rank | Major |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Floyd Kirk Haskell (February 7, 1916 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1973 to 1979.
Floyd Haskell was born in Morristown, New Jersey, to Edward Kirk and Gladys (née Clarkson) Haskell. [1] His father was an investment banker. [2] He attended Harvard College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1937. [3] During college, he played on the football, rugby, and soccer teams, later developing as a tennis player, and was president of the Rocky Mountain Club. [4] [5] [6] He received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1941. [3] That same year he married Eileen Nicoll, to whom he remained married until their divorce in 1976; they had three daughters, Ione, Evelyn, and Pamela. [7]
During World War II, Haskell served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945, seeing action in Asia, viewing the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima, and reaching the rank of major. [3] He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his intelligence work. [7] Following his military service, he was admitted to the bar in 1946 and moved to Denver, Colorado, where he worked as a tax lawyer. [2]
In 1964, Haskell was elected as a Republican to the Colorado House of Representatives from Arapahoe County, serving until 1969. [3] As a state legislator, he became assistant majority leader in 1967 and also served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the House Education and Finance Committees. [7] In 1970, he left the Republican Party and became a Democrat in protest of President Richard Nixon's invasion of Cambodia. [2]
In 1972, Haskell decided to challenge three-term Republican incumbent Gordon L. Allott for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He defeated Anthony Vollack in the Democratic primary. [8] In the general election, he narrowly won [9] [10] a four-way race between Allott [11] and candidates from the Raza Unida Party [12] and the American Independent Party, [13] receiving only 49% of the vote. [10] [14] He defeated his closest competitor, Senator Allott, by less than 10,000 votes while President Nixon carried Colorado by over 267,000 votes. [10]
Haskell was sworn into the Senate on January 3, 1973. [3] He served as a member of the Senate Finance and Energy and Natural Resources Committees, where he earned a reputation as a tax reformer and advocate for the environment. [2] He supported the historic Alaska Lands legislation and regulation of auto emissions, the Panama Canal treaties, and alternative sources of energy. [15] In 1978, lacking campaign funds and media acumen, he was defeated for re-election by Congressman William L. Armstrong, the first in Colorado to raise over a million dollars, losing by a landslide margin of 59%-40%. [16]
After his Senate career, Haskell established his residence in Washington, D.C., where he practiced law before joining Common Cause and a bipartisan group of retired lawmakers calling for campaign finance reform and an end to congressional gridlock. [15] In 1979, he married Nina Totenberg, the legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio; they remained married until his death in 1998. [7]
Haskell suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 1994 after falling on ice near his home in Washington. [15] He died of pneumonia four years later, at age 82, while returning from a vacation in Maine with his wife. [2]