Chestnut, his partner J.M. Gibson, an unknown soldier, Reagan and Florida Senator Claude Pepper. Cite
Wow, thank you. that was quick. Is this a subject you are familar with or is your google-fu that good today?
The latter.
What did Claude Pepper do that was so awesome? Not knocking him; just curious.
Good question. I can’t find anything Pepper did other than die in office (which plenty of Senators/Congressmen have done).
He was awarded the Medal of Freedom four days before his death, though, so… might be interesting. I’ll find out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper
I love the section of how he lost his senate seat. His opponent would appear to have been pure Evil.
As near as I can find, he was a major champion of the elderly, leading to nursing home and insurance and pension reforms. He was also second only to Strom as senior member of Congress when he died in terms of combined tenure- he served 15 years as a senator and then 28 years as Representative.
[Geezer Mode]Geeze, kids these days! Don’t know anything.[/GM] Pepper was an unstoppable force when it came to the elderly and it’s been said that if you wanted the senior votes in your district (even if you weren’t in Florida), you made sure you were on Peppers side. IIRC, Pepper was always an advocate for the elderly while in office and didn’t do it simply because he was growing older or because he had a large number of seniors in his district. A principled politician is the rarest of species.