Lowell Weicker was a Republican U.S. congressman who later went Independent and served as governor of Connecticut.
- Died: June 28, 2023 (Who else died on June 28?)
- Details of death: Died at a hospital in Middletown, Connecticut, at the age of 92.
- We invite you to share condolences for Lowell Weicker in our Guest Book.
Lowell Weicker’s legacy
After serving in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, Weicker began his political career in the Connecticut General Assembly. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968, and he served a single term before setting his sights on the Senate. He won election in 1970 and began the first of his three terms there. He co-wrote the Americans with Disabilities Act. Among his most famous accomplishments in the Senate was serving on the Watergate Committee, where he was the first Republican senator to demand President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Weicker continued to speak out against the president with opinions that were initially unpopular in his home state but later got him reelected as public opinion on the president evolved.
Over the course of his three terms in the Senate, Weicker became increasingly liberal, ultimately alienating his fellow Republicans and Connecticut voters. He lost his bid for a fourth term in 1989, and soon after that, he dropped his Republican Party membership. When he ran for governor of Connecticut in 1990, it was as a candidate from A Connecticut Party, a new party created by Weicker. He won the election and served a single term, during which he directed the state government to implement its first income tax while lowering sales tax. It was a controversial move that brought him enemies in his state, but within two years, it turned a budget deficit of more than $2 billion into a surplus. He was honored with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award for his leadership on the budget issue.
Weicker declined to run for a second term as governor. He switched his party affiliation to Independent after his time in office, and he continued speaking out about national political issues. Weicker sat on boards of directors for such organizations as the World Wrestling Federation and Trust for America’s Health, serving as president of the latter’s board for a decade.
Notable quote
“Now, would I want to be part of today’s Washington scene? Absolutely not. It’s a constant food fight and everybody trashing everybody else. All civility is going out of politics.” —from a 2011 interview for the Stamford Advocate
Tributes to Lowell Weicker
Full obituary: Connecticut Post
