Michael Dukakis

Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is an American politician of Greek origin, from Massachusetts.

Dukakis graduated from Swarthmore College in 1955, served in the U.S. Army, and then received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1960. He was Governor of Massachusetts from 1974 until 1978, but lost in to Ed King in the Democratic primary election when he ran for reelection. He was Governor again from 1982 until 1990. Dukakis presided over a period of prosperity in Massachusetts. Residents of the city of Boston and its surrounding areas remember him for the improvements he made to Boston's mass transit system, especially major renovations to the city's underground trains. He was known as the only governor who rode the subway to the state capitol every day.

He also gained fame as the only person in the state Government who went to work during the Blizzard of 1978. During the storm, he went into local TV studios to announce emergency bulletins.

He was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in the 1988 elections, but lost to George H. W. Bush. Nevertheless, he got a higher percentage of the vote than either Walter Mondale in 1984 or Bill Clinton (in a three way race) in 1992.

Bush criticized Dukakis for his liberal positions, including Dukakis's statement during the primary seasons that he was "a card-carrying member of" the American Civil Liberties Union, his veto of legislation requiring public school teachers to lead pupils in the Pledge of Allegiance, and his opposition to the resumption of capital punishment in the United States.

The issue of capital punishment came up at the October 13, 1988 debate between the two presidential nominees. Bernard Shaw, the moderator of the debate, asked Dukakis, "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis [his wife] were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis replied cooly, "No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life." The reply was sincere and well-put, but Dukakis' answer lacked the emotion needed for a question where he is forced to consider his wife's death. Many believe that this gaffe in part cost Dukakis the eletion. Other commentators felt the question itself was unfair in that it injected an irrelevant emotional element into the discussion of a policy issue.

The most controversial of Bush's attacks involved Dukakis's support for a prison furlough program that resulted in the release of convicted murderer Willie Horton, who committed a rape in Maryland after his escape. Al Gore was the first candidate to publicly raise the furlough issue, in a debate held in New York prior to the Democratic primary in that state, although Gore never mentioned Horton by name. Bush did mention Horton by name in a speech in June, 1988, although his campaign never used Horton's photograph in its advertisements. Dukakis was unable to refute criticism of his veto of a bill passed by the Massachusetts legislature to limit the furlough program, and his refusal to apologize to Horton's victims.

Dukakis has been blamed for allowing "liberal" to be considered a derogatory term, and was lampooned for an ill-considered photo-op in a tank in which his wearing of a helmet made him appear out of place and was used by the Bush campaign as evidence he would not make a good commander-in-chief. His vice-presidential candidate was Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas.

After the end of his term as governor, he served on the board of directors for Amtrak, and became a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. He continued to complain in media interviews about the "negative" 1988 Bush campaign throughout Bush's term and even subsequent to Bush's defeat in the 1992 election.

Dukakis is married to Katharine D. Dukakis (Kitty Dukakis) who is Jewish. Their children are John, Andrea, and Kara, they reside in his boyhood home in Brookline, Massachusetts.