Senator William Proxmire
For 32 years Democratic Senator William Proxmire (1915-2005) represented the state of Wisconsin in Congress, chairing the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and the Joint Economic Committee, and serving as subcommittee Chairman on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Widely regarded as a political maverick, Proxmire was known for his devotion to curbing governmental waste and mismanagement, issuing a monthly Golden Fleece Award for that month's most "wasteful, ridiculous or ironic use of the taxpayers' money." From 1967 to 1986 Proxmire also gave daily speeches on the Senate floor in support of the international genocide treaty, finally ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1988.
Born in Lake Forest, Illinois, on November 11, 1915, Edward William Proxmire attended local schools before heading east to the private Hill School in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Yale University in 1938 and received his master's in business administration from Harvard two years later. During World War II Proxmire served in the Military Intelligence Service. Proxmire returned to Harvard after the war, where he completed a degree in public adminstration in 1948 and so impressed the faculty that he was asked to become an instructor of political science.
In 1949 Proxmire decided to relocate to Wisconsin to pursue a political career. Working alternately as a farm implement dealer, part owner of a printing company, a reporter for The Capital Times, and as a radio commentator for the Union Labor News, Proxmire devoted the next eight years to winning elective office.
His first campaign was a surprise victory in a 1950 race for a seat in the state Assembly. In this first race, Proxmire's personal approach and limited financial expenditures became a defining feature of all his later campaigns. Proxmire decided not to run for re-election in 1952, opting instead to run for governor on the Democratic ticket. Although faced with little prospect for success, Proxmire saw an opportunity to win some name recognition for future campaigns. As expected, Proxmire lost against incumbent Walter Kohler, Jr., but ran again two years later, defeating James Doyle in the primary before losing again to Kohler in the general election. In 1956 he was defeated for the nomination a third time by Vernon Thomson.
Proxmire won his first major victory in 1957 in a special election to fill the seat of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Re-elected in 1958, Proxmire went on to overwhelming victories in 1964, 1970, 1976 and 1982.
In the Senate, Proxmire served on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Known for his expertise in banking, Proxmire authored the 1980 Bank Deregulation Act. Proxmire became widely known for his opposition to wasteful government spending, especially by the military. He led an ultimately successful fight in Congress against financing the supersonic transport plane in 1971. Governmental mismanagement was also the prime target in Proxmire's written work, including Report from Wasteland (1970), Uncle Sam: the Last of the Bigtime Spenders (1972), and The Fleecing of America (1980). In each of his last two Senate campaigns, Proxmire refused to take any campaign contributions and spent less than $200 out of his own pocket on each campaign.
Proxmire retired from politics in 1988. He has served as honorary chair of the Advisory Board of Taxpayers for Common Sense since the organization's founding in 1995. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Proxmire died in Maryland on December 15, 2005.
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