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Henry Martin Jackson
U.S. Senator, Washington
In office January 1953–September 1983
Preceded by	Harry P. Cain
Succeeded by	Daniel J. Evans
Personal details
Nationality	american
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Helen Jackson

Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was a U.S. Congressman and Senator for Washington State from 1941 until his death. As a Cold War anti-Communist Democrat, Jackson's political philosophies and positions were a forerunner for modern neoconservatism.

Jackson was nicknamed "Scoop" by his sister, after a comic strip character that he is said to have resembled.

Career

Born in Everett, Washington, Jackson went on to graduate with a Bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Washington, where he joined the Delta Chi fraternity. In 1935 (the year of his law school graduation) he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Everett. He found immediate success, and was the prosecuting attorney for Snohomish County from 1938 to 1940.

He successfully ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1940 and took his seat in the House of Representatives with the Seventy-Seventh Congress on January 3, 1941. From that date forward, Jackson did not lose a congressional election. He attended the International Maritime Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1945 with the American delegation, and was elected president of the same conference in 1946, when it was held in Seattle, Washington. From 1945 to 1947, Jackson was also the chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. In the 1952 election, Jackson relinquished his seat in the House for a run at one of Washington's Senate seats—he won that election, and remained a Senator for thirty years. In 1963, Jackson was made chairman of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, a post he held until 1979. From 1977 until 1981, Jackson was chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Jackson was not only successful as a politician in Washington State, but also found recognition on the national level, rising to the position of chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1960. He did not achieve the party's ultimate honor, however, as he was denied the Democratic nomination for President despite two attempts,1972 and 1976.

In 1974, Jackson co-sponsored the Jackson-Vanik amendment with Charles Vanik, which denied normal trade relations to certain countries with non-market economies that restricted the freedom of emigration. The amendment was intended to help refugees, particularly religious minorities, specifically Jews, to emigrate from the Soviet Bloc. Jackson and his assistant, Richard Perle also lobbied personally for some people who were affected by this law — among them Natan Sharansky. Jackson also led the opposition within the Democratic Party against the SALT II treaty.

Jackson was often criticized for his close ties to the defense industries of his state. Opponents derided him as "the Senator from Boeing" because of his perceived close relationship with that company. Jackson served almost his entire Senate tenure, concurrently, with his good friend and Democratic colleague Warren G. Magnuson. "Scoop" and "Maggie" - as they affectionately called each other - were one of the most effective delegations in the history of the United States Senate in terms of "bringing home the bacon" for their home state.

Influence on Neoconservatism

Jackson believed that one confronted evil with power. His support for civil rights and equality at home, married to his opposition to detente, his support for human rights and democratic allies, and his firm belief that the United States could be a force for good in the world inspired a legion of loyal aides who went on to propound Jackson's philosophy as part of neoconservatism. In addition to Perle, neoconservatives Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Charles Horner, and Douglas Feith were former Democratic aides to Jackson who joined the Reagan administration in 1981, and are now prominent foreign policy makers in the 21st-century Bush administration. Wolfowitz has called himself a "Scoop Jackson Republican.". The Washington State Democratic Party has officially denounced the Neoconservative’s posthumously adoption of Senator Jackson’s legacy in oral arguments speaking for a 2006 WSDCC resolution.

Legacy

Jackson died in 1983 in Everett of an aortic aneurysm, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in that city. With his death in office, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was initially renamed Henry M. Jackson International Airport, but political resistance to the change led to this being reversed in favor of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It wasn't that the public didn't want to honor the late Senator, but rather leaders in both Seattle and Tacoma (Tacoma, in particular), fearing the loss of convention business, demanded that their cities name be included in the name of the airport. The airport lies between the two cities in the municipality of SeaTac. Since then, the University of Washington has named the Jackson School of International Studies in his honor. The US Navy submarine Henry M. Jackson was also named after him, in recognition of his longtime support of the nation's military. In 1998, the Everett School District completed construction of Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington. The Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area was created in his honor by the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act. Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1984.

In 2005, twenty-two years after his death, US government officials, including three members of the Central Intelligence Agency, seized and removed several of Senator Jackson's archived documents housed at the University of Washington . Though a team of Washington University staff in 1983 removed all information considered classified at the time, the officials were verifying anything still considered classified, or reclassified since then, had been removed. The documents are pending declassification at the University as of February 2005.

In March 2005, the Henry Jackson Society was formed by scholars at the University of Cambridge, England - this organization or think tank is regarded as dedicated to the promotion of neo-conservative and Atlanticist geopolitics. A number of leading US neo-conservative figures such as Richard Perle, William Kristol and James Woolsey are patrons of the society.

See also

• Washington state congressional delegates

External links

• Henry M Jackson Foundation
• The Henry Jackson Society at the University of Cambridge
• - "Democrat hawk whose ghost guides Bush", from The Guardian 6 December 2002.
• Henry Jackson on Find-A-Grave

• 1912 births
• 1983 deaths
• Delta Chi brothers
• Democratic National Committee chairs
• Elks
• Neoconservatism
• Norwegian-Americans
• People from Washington
• Phi Delta Phi brothers
• Presbyterians
• Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington
• United States presidential candidates
• United States Senators from Washington