Editing Lowell Weicker (section)

==Career in Congress==
Weicker served in the [[Connecticut State House of Representatives]] from 1963 to 1969 and as [[First Selectman]] of [[Greenwich, Connecticut]], before winning election to the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]], in 1968 as a Republican. Weicker only served one term in the House before being elected to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] in [[1970 United States Senate election in Connecticut|1970]].<ref name = Johnson>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/us/politics/lowell-weicker-dead.html|title = Lowell Weicker, 92, Maverick Connecticut Senator and Governor, Dies|date = June 29, 2023|accessdate = June 29, 2023|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|page = A20|last = Johnson|first = Kirk|url-access = limited|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Doug |date=June 28, 2023 |title=Former Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker dies at 92 |url=https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/former-connecticut-gov-lowell-weicker-dies-92-obit/520-276d04ab-bc58-4149-b45d-e78c237b5d66 |access-date=June 28, 2023 |website=[[WTIC-TV]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Weicker benefited from a split in the Democratic Party in that election: two-term incumbent [[Thomas J. Dodd|Thomas Dodd]] ran as an independent after losing the Democratic nomination to [[Joseph Duffey]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bumiller |first=Elisabeth |date=September 24, 2007 |title=Dodd's Other Campaign: Restoring Dad's Reputation |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/us/politics/24dodd.html |access-date=June 28, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Ultimately, Weicker won with 41.7 percent of the vote. Dodd finished third, with 266,500 votes—far exceeding Weicker's 86,600-vote margin over Duffey.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 7, 1970 |title=An Unrepresented Majority |pages=4 |work=[[The Des Moines Register]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-an-unrepresented/127257928/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1970 |title=Senate Contests |pages=2 |work=[[Globe Gazette]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/globe-gazette-senate-contests/127258000/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}}</ref>

Weicker served in the U.S. Senate for three terms, from 1971 to 1989. He gained national attention for his service on the [[Senate Watergate Committee]], where he became the first Republican senator to call for [[Richard Nixon]]'s resignation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-01-vw-1250-story.html|title=A Taxing Situation : Politics: Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker loves a challenge. He's facing his biggest one yet by proposing the state's first income tax to solve its budget mess.|last=Mehren|first=Elizabeth|date=July 1, 1991|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 18, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> He recalled: "People in Connecticut were very much behind President Nixon, like the rest of the country. They thought he could do no wrong, and when I was in Connecticut, I would get flipped the bird all the time, whether it was on the streets or in the car, for the role that I was playing. After Watergate was over, then the needle goes all the way the other way, and I've got huge favorability ratings."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.connecticutmag.com/the-connecticut-story/final-say-lowell-weicker/article_ab8484fc-7415-5db3-960d-a0522442cab4.html|title=Final Say: Lowell Weicker|last=Bendici|first=Ray|date=August 1, 2012|work=Connecticut Magazine|access-date=June 18, 2017|language=en}}</ref> Proving this, Weicker was convincingly reelected in [[1976 United States Senate election in Connecticut|1976]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Susan Haigh | newspaper=Associated Press | date=June 28, 2023 | title=Lowell Weicker, Connecticut Senator, Governor, Dies | 
url=https://apnews.com/article/lowell-weicker-dies-connecticut-senator-governor-bace2d78074b260ef5676d6a2ea55b87}}</ref>

In 1980, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for president.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19790313&id=F_4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yM0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1160,2395226 Weicker Opens Presidential Campaign]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, March 13, 1979</ref>

Weicker was a liberal voice in an increasingly [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] Republican Party. For instance [[Americans for Democratic Action]] consistently rated Weicker as having a liberal quotient of 60 to 90% throughout his senate career, and in 1987 and in 1988 gave him a higher rating than Connecticut's other Senator, Democrat [[Chris Dodd]].<ref>Kornacki, Steve (January 19, 2011) [http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/18/joe_lieberman_origins/index.html The making (and unmaking) of Joe Lieberman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629103517/http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/18/joe_lieberman_origins/index.html |date=June 29, 2011 }}, ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]''</ref> He was critical of the increasing influence of the [[Christian right]] on the party; he described the [[separation of church and state]] as "this country's greatest contribution to world civilization",<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJF38sUwEQMC&q=lowell+weicker+governor&pg=PT334|title=Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics|last=Avlon|first=John|date=February 24, 2004|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=9781400080724|language=en}}</ref> and the party in 2012 as "swung off so far to the right that no moderate could've survived a primary."<ref name=":1" /> Weicker voted in favor of the [[Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day|bill]] establishing [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]] as a [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]] and the [[Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987]] (as well as to override [[Ronald Reagan|President Reagan]]'s veto).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/98-1983/s293|title=TO PASS H.R. 3706. (MOTION PASSED) SEE NOTE(S) 19.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s432|title=TO PASS S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE THE BROAD COVERAGE AND CLARIFY FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY PROVIDING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION IS FEDERALLY FUNDED, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s487|title=TO ADOPT, OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE BROAD COVERAGE OF FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY DECLARING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION RECEIVES FEDERAL FUNDS, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE. TWO-THIRDS OF THE SENATE, HAVING VOTED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE, OVERRODE THE PRESIDENTIAL VETO.}}</ref> Weicker voted against the nomination of [[William Rehnquist#Chief Justice|William Rehnquist]] as [[Chief Justice of the United States]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Congressional Record—Senate|date=September 17, 1986|page=23803|publisher=[[United States Senate]]|url=https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/266_1986.pdf|access-date=May 17, 2020}}</ref> as well as the [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|nomination of Robert Bork]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=October 23, 1987 |title=Senate Rejects Bork, 58–42 : Six Republicans Bolt Party Ranks to Oppose Judge |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-23-mn-10814-story.html |access-date=June 28, 2023 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

Weicker was a strong advocate for the [[rights of the disabled]] during his tenure in Congress, although he ultimately lost his seat before the [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]] passed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mn.gov/mnddc/ada-legacy/ada-legacy-moment13.html|title=The ADA Legacy Project: Moments in Disability History 13: Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Original "Father" of the Americans with Disabilities Act|first=The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental|last=Disabilities|website=mn.gov}}</ref> In later interviews, Weicker identified his work on the Americans with Disabilities Act, funding the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]], increasing the funding for the [[National Institutes of Health]], and funding research into [[Zidovudine|AZT]] as his proudest achievements in the Senate.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/A-Connecticut-political-maverick-turns-80-Lowell-1380692.php|title=A Connecticut political maverick turns 80: Lowell Weicker Jr.|last=Vigdor|first=Neil|date=May 15, 2011|work=[[The Advocate (Stamford)|The Advocate]]|access-date=June 18, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Weicker's rocky relations with establishment Republicans may have roots in receiving strong support from Nixon in his 1970 Senate bid, support repaid in the eyes of his critics by a vehement attack on the White House while serving on the Watergate Committee.<ref name = Pazniokas>{{cite news|url = https://ctmirror.org/2023/06/28/lowell-weicker-dies-ct-governor-us-senator/|title = Lowell Weicker, Connecticut governor and U.S. senator, dies at 92|last = Pazniokas|first = Mark|date = June 28, 2023|accessdate = June 28, 2023|newspaper = [[The Connecticut Mirror]]}}</ref> Later, his relations with the [[Bush family]] also soured, and [[Prescott Bush Jr.]] (the brother of the then Vice President) made a short-lived bid against Weicker to gain the 1982 Republican Senate nomination.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/28/us/bush-abandons-connecticut-bid-for-senate-seat.html|title=BUSH ABANDONS CONNECTICUT BID FOR SENATE SEAT|first=Richard L.|last=Madden|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 28, 1982}}</ref> Weicker's well-known [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] sympathies increasingly alienated mainstream Republicans, particularly after Weicker’s effort to prevent the nomination of conservatives to state office, which resulted in a poor showing during the 1986 local elections, and he was defeated in the [[United States Senate election in Connecticut, 1988|1988 Senate election]] by [[Joe Lieberman]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Lieberman benefited from the support of ''[[National Review]]'' founder [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], and his brother, former New York Senator [[James L. Buckley|James Buckley]]; William F. Buckley ran columns in support of Lieberman and circulated bumper stickers with the slogan, "Does Lowell Weicker Make You Sick?"<ref name=":2" />

<gallery widths="200px" heights="145px">
File:Ford A9158 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1976-04-08)(Gerald Ford Library) (cropped).jpg|Weicker greeting [[Gerald Ford]] in 1976
File:Reagan Contact Sheet C47040 (cropped).jpg|Weicker with [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1988
File:George H. W. Bush campaigns with Lowell Weicker.jpg|Weicker campaigning with [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1988
</gallery>