William Scranton

William Warren Scranton (born July 19, 1917), U.S. Republican Party politician, He served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967. From 1976 to 1977, he served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Governor of Pennsylvania

In 1962, the Republican party in Pennsylvania, which had lost the two previous gubernatorial elections and seen the states electoral voted go to Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, became convinced that a moderate like Scranton would have enough bipartisan appeal to revitalize the party. He ran for Governor of Pennsylvania

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against Richardson Dilworth, the mayor of Philadelphia. The ticket was balanced by

Related Topics:
Richardson Dilworth - Mayor of Philadelphia

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having Raymond P. Shafer, who would succeed him as governor, as his running mate. The Scranton/Shafer team won the a landslide victory in the election besting their opponents by nearly half a million votes out of just over than 6.6 million cast.

Related Topics:
Raymond P. Shafer - Running mate

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Although he did not actively seek the 1964 Republican nomination for President of the United States in the beginning, a ?Draft Scranton? movement quickly gathered momentum among moderate Republicans who saw him as an alternative to ultraconservative front-runner Senator Barry Goldwater. Scranton first declined to enter the race but later threw his hat into the ring on June 12, 1964. Scranton won the support of ten state delegations, but Goldwater went on to win the nomination on the first ballot.

Related Topics:
1964 - President of the United States - Barry Goldwater - June 12

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Under existing Pennsylvania law, Scranton was limited to a single term and could not run for reelection. After his term in office, Scranton attended the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1967-1968 and helped write a new constitution for the state. In 1968, President elect Richard Nixon asked Scranton to become Secretary of State, but he declined. He did serve as a special envoy to the Middle East but in this capacity he made several remarks and recommendations which some in the American Jewish community regarded as antisemitic and Nixon quickly distanced himself from the former governor.

Related Topics:
1968 - Richard Nixon - Secretary of State - Middle East - Antisemitic

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