Larry Pressler

Larry Pressler
United States Senator from South Dakota
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	James Abourezk
Succeeded by	Tim Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's 1st district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	Frank E. Denholm
Succeeded by	Tom Daschle
Personal details
Born	Larry Lee Pressler (1942-03-29) March 29, 1942 Humboldt, South Dakota
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Harriet
Religion	Christianity

Larry Lee Pressler (born March 29, 1942) is a U.S. Republican politician. He was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the United States Senate. On November 10, 2009 President Barack Obama named Larry Pressler to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.

Background

Pressler was born in Humboldt, South Dakota, the son of Antone Lewis Pressler and Loretta Genevieve Claussen. He was raised on his family's farm. He is a graduate of the University of South Dakota, Oxford University (attending St. Edmund Hall as a Rhodes Scholar), the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Harvard Law School. He became a lawyer, and then served in the Vietnam War in the United States Army from 1966 until 1968. After serving for several years in the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer he was elected to the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979. He was a Senator from South Dakota from 1979 to 1997, and was chairman of the Commerce Committee from 1995 to 1997.

Since leaving the Senate, he has spent much of his time teaching at various universities around the world, and has been granted two lifetime Fulbright teaching awards. He taught most recently as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Sciences Po University, Paris, France, and Reims, France, in the Fall of 2012. He chiefly teaches international relations to graduate students.

Career

Political career

Larry Pressler was a member of Congress for twenty-two years, serving in the U.S. House (R-S.D.) from 1975–1979 and a member of the U.S. Senate (R-S.D.) from 1979-1997. Pressler held such positions as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Science and Transportation Committee, Foreign Relations Committee and European and Asian Subcommittees. He briefly sought the Republican Presidential Nomination in 1980.

Pressler then authored and won congressional and presidential approval of a sweeping reform of telecommunications legislations through the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Pressler negotiated the compromises that gained the support of diverse industry groups in telecom, broadcasting, and cable TV, as well as of the Bill Clinton White House, state utility commissions, and public morality advocates.

Ironically, though the law was touted as a 'rare legislative achievement in terms of bipartisan reform', it led to Pressler’s defeat in his re-election bid for a fourth Senate term, losing to Tim Johnson in 1996. Johnson argued that instead of promoting the economy of his home state of South Dakota, Pressler was promoting out-of-state business and high-tech industries and was in turn supported by them. Pressler was the only incumbent Republican senator to lose reelection that year.

Senator Pressler has remained active in the political arena. In 2000, he was a member of Republican Presidential Candidate George W. Bush's Information Technology Steering Committee, and also served on the Bush Presidential Transition Team in 2001.

Pressler attempted a political comeback in 2002 by running for South Dakota's open at-large House seat but he essentially discontinued his campaign when Republican Governor Bill Janklow unexpectedly entered the race. Pressler was also appointed as an official observer of Ukraine's national election in December 2004.

In 2008, Pressler revealed that he cast an absentee ballot for Barack Obama, saying that he had never voted for a Democrat before. In October 2012, based on veteran's issues, Pressler endorsed Obama for a second term with an article in the Huffington Post and on national television networks. Pressler, a board member of the Jericho Homeless Veterans' Group, said his endorsement was related to Agent Orange issues for Vietnam veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans, and the homeless veterans issue. Pressler, based on his Vietnam service, is a member of the Disabled American Veterans. Pressler also campaigned in a bipartisan team for Obama in the fall of 2012, speaking on behalf of the Obama ticket to certain veteran's groups in Virginia.

Abscam investigation

Pressler is noted for being possibly the only member of Congress to flatly refuse to take a bribe from undercover FBI agents and then to report the bribe attempt to the FBI during the Abscam investigations in 1980. John Murtha also declined the bribe, but expressed interest in later opportunities. The Washington Post reported in a front page story on Sunday, February 4 the following:

Thanks to the FBI's undercover "sting" operation, there now exists incontrovertible evidence that one senator would not be bought. Preserved among the videotape footage that may be used as bribery evidence against a number of members of Congress, there is a special moment in which Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) tells the undercover agents, in effect, to take their sting and stick it. Pressler, according to law enforcement sources was the one approached member of Congress who flatly refused to consider financial favors in exchange for legislative favors, as suggested by undercover agents posing as Arabs. At the time he said he was not aware that he was doing anything quite so heroic.

In an overall review of the Abscam cases, Judge J. Pratt had the highest praise for Senator Pressler. "Pressler, particularly, acted as citizens have a right to expect their elected representatives to act. He showed a clear awareness of the line between proper and improper conduct, and despite his confessed need for campaign money, and despite the additional attractiveness to him of the payment offered, he nevertheless refused to cross into impropriety."

Pressler Amendment involving Pakistan

Pressler was also the key sponsor of the "Pressler Amendment", which banned most economic and military assistance to Pakistan unless the President certified on an annual basis that “Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device and that the proposed United States assistance program will reduce significantly the risk that Pakistan will possess a nuclear explosive device.” No President has issued this certification since October 1989. When President George H. W. Bush determined that Pakistan had developed such a weapon, aid and many commercial relations to Pakistan were cut off. However, Pakistan had already footed the $463.7 million bill for a fleet of F-16 aircraft and had emerged empty-handed from this aborted purchase. More than eight years after George H.W. Bush issued the Pressler sanctions, Clinton agreed in December 1998 that the United States would eventually reimburse Pakistan.

Non-political career

Larry Pressler, 2011

Since leaving the U.S. Senate in 1997, Senator Pressler has pursued a business and teaching career. His business pursuits have largely centered on a telecommunications law practice; lobbying; and serving on corporate and advisory boards of several companies.

After his reelection defeat, Pressler passed the New York bar and worked as a lawyer. Pressler subsequently became senior partner of the law firm O'Connor and Hannan where he served for six years, and then formed his own law firm, The Pressler Group. Pressler is a member of the New York Bar, the Washington DC Bar, and the Supreme Court Bar.

Pressler currently serves on several corporate boards and is a visiting professor and Senior Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the Thomas Hawkins Johnson Visiting Scholar at the United States Military Academy, where he lectures on international relations and has advised cadets seeking Rhodes scholarships and other graduate fellowships. In the ten years since leaving Congress, Pressler has served as a senior adviser to Salomon Smith Barney, Monticello Capital, Blackhorse Asset Management and Leopard Capital's Leopard Sri Lanka Fund. Pressler has lectured at more than twenty universities in China, India and the U.S. Pressler and currently lives and works in both Washington, D.C., and New York City.

In 2010 Pressler was appointed to the board of the Jericho Project’s Veterans Advisory Council which assists homeless veterans in the Bronx.

Pressler has also been appointed to the board of directors for the Baruch School of Public Affairs in New York City.

In 2013, Pressler was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Achievements and associations

Pressler was an Adjunct Professor of Telecommunication/Internet Policy at Baruch College (City University of New York). He was awarded a Fulbright Senior Lectureship at the University of Bologna, Italy for Spring semester 2009 and lectured on international relations from January to June 2009.

Pressler was awarded the following medals and citations for his two tours of duty as a U.S. Army Lieutenant (1967–68) in Vietnam: (which are included on his DD Form 214) Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation with one Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with four Bronze Service Stars, Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with Device, Overseas Service Bars, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation Badge.

Pressler is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society, the Century Association and the Harvard Club of New York, the Cosmos Club and the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C., the Vietnam Veterans Association, and the American Rhodes Scholars Association.

External links

• Larry Pressler's website
• Larry Pressler on the Issues

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record at The Washington Post

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Frank E. Denholm	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's 1st congressional district 1975–1979	Succeeded by Tom Daschle
United States Senate
Preceded by James Abourezk	United States Senator (Class 2) from South Dakota 1979–1997 Served alongside: George McGovern, James Abdnor, Tom Daschle	Succeeded by Tim Johnson
Political offices
Preceded by Ernest Hollings South Carolina	Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee 1995–1997	Succeeded by John McCain Arizona