Mike Mansfield

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Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American politician from Montana, a son of Irish Catholic immigrants. He served as a member of the Democratic party in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1943 to 1953 and in the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1977. During his tenure in the Senate, he served as the majority leader from 1961 to 1977; he is the longest serving majority leader in the history of the Senate.

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An early supporter of Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield had a change of heart on the Vietnam issue after a visit in 1962. He reported to President Kennedy on December 2, 1962 that US money given to Diem's government was being squandered and that the US should avoid further involvement in Vietnam. He was thus the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress. During the Johnson and Nixon administrations, Mansfield became a frequent and vocal critic of US involvement in the Vietnam war.

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Mansfield retired from the Senate in 1976, and was appointed Ambassador to Japan in April 1977 by Jimmy Carter, a role he retained during the Reagan administration until 1988. Mansfield is particularly renowned for describing the United States-Japan relationship as the 'most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none'. Mansfield's successor in Japan Michael Armacost noted in his memoirs that, for Mansfield, the phrase was a 'mantra'.

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His wife was Maureen Manfield and the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Memorial Library at the University of Montana, Missoula is named after them, as was his request when informed of the honor. The library also contains the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center which is dedicated to Asian studies, and, like the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, "advancing understanding and co-operation in U.S.-Asia relations." The Montana Democratic Party holds an annual Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner named partially in his honor. He retired in 1989, Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the same year, and died on October 5, 2001 at the age of 98. Senator Mansfield: The Extraordinary Life of a Great American Statesman and Diplomat (ISBN 1588341666), by Don Oberdorfer, was published in 2003.

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The controversial Mansfield Amendment of 1973 expressly limited appropriations for defense research (through ARPA) to projects with direct military application. Some contend that the amendment devastated American science, since ARPA was a major funding source for basic science projects at the time; the National Science Foundation never took up the slack as expected. But the resulting brain drain is also credited with boosting the development of the fledgling personal computer industry. Many young computer scientists fled from the universities to startups and private research labs like Xerox PARC.

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March 16: March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). There are 290 days remaining....

1903: 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696....

October 5: October 5 is the 278th day of the year (279th in Leap years). There are 87 days remaining....

Mike Mansfield related Images and Photos (experimental)

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