Danforth practiced law at the New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1964 to 1966. He was a partner at the law firm of Bryan, Cave, McPheeters and McRoberts in St. Louis from 1966 to 1968.[4]
In 1968, Danforth was elected Missouri Attorney General, the first Republican elected to the office in 40 years,[8] and the first from his party elected to statewide office in 22 years.[9] On his staff of assistant attorneys general were future Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator Kit Bond,[10] future Missouri Governor, U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft,[11] future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,[12] and future federal judge D. Brook Bartlett.[13] Danforth was reelected in 1972.[14]
In 1976, Danforth ran to succeed Symington, who was retiring.[16] He had little opposition in the Republican primary.[17] The Democrats had a three-way battle among Symington's son James W. Symington, former Missouri Governor Warren Hearnes, and rising political star Congressman Jerry Litton.[16] Litton won the primary, but he and his family were killed when the plane taking them to their victory party in Kansas City crashed on takeoff in Chillicothe, Missouri.[18] Hearnes, who had finished second in the primary, was chosen to replace Litton as the Democratic nominee.[16][18] In the general election, Danforth defeated Hearnes with nearly 57% of the vote.[19]
In 1982, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate was Harriett Woods, a relatively unknown state senator from the St. Louis suburb of University City. She was active in women's rights organizations and collected union support and was a cousin of Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio. Her speeches denounced Ronald Reagan's policies so vigorously that she ran on the nickname "Give 'em Hell, Harriett" (a play on the famous Truman phrase). Danforth defeated Woods 51% to 49%, with Woods's pro-choice stance said to be the reason for her loss.[20]
In 1988, Danforth defeated Democrat Jay Nixon, 68%–32%. He chose not to run for a fourth term and retired from the Senate in 1995. He was succeeded by former Missouri governor John Ashcroft. Nixon was later elected Missouri Attorney General, and, in 2008, governor of Missouri.[21]
In January 2001, when Missouri Democrats opposed Ashcroft's nomination for U.S. Attorney General, Danforth's name was invoked. Former U.S. Senator Tom Eagleton reacted to the nomination by saying: "John Danforth would have been my first choice. John Ashcroft would have been my last choice."[22]
Tenure
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During the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Danforth used his clout to support Thomas, who had served Danforth during his state attorney general years and later as an aide in the Senate.[4]
Danforth portrayed himself as a political moderate, but voted like his right-wing Republican colleagues, including sustaining filibusters. He was once quoted as saying he joined the Republican Party for "the same reason you sometimes choose which movie to see—[it's] the one with the shortest line."[23]
Danforth is a longtime opponent of capital punishment, as he made clear on the Senate floor in 1994.[24]
In 1988, George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign vetted Danforth as a potential running mate. Bush selected Senator Dan Quayle (whose middle name is "Danforth") instead.[25]
UN Ambassador
Danforth's swearing in to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations by JusticeClarence Thomas, his former assistant, 2004
On July 1, 2004, Danforth was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding John Negroponte, who left the post after becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq in June. He is best remembered for attempts to bring peace to the Sudan but stayed at the UN for just six months. Danforth was mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Six days after the announcement that Condoleezza Rice was going to take the position, Danforth submitted his resignation on November 22, 2004, effective January 20, 2005. His resignation letter[26] said, "Forty-seven years ago, I married the girl of my dreams, and, at this point in my life, what is most important to me is to spend more time with her."[27]
Post-Senate career
Danforth talks with reporters about his investigation of the 1993 incident involving the FBI and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, 1999Report to the Deputy Attorney General Concerning the 1993 Confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex, Waco, Texas, John Danforth, Independent Counsel, November 8, 2000. Federal government document.
In July 2000, Danforth's name was leaked as being on the short list of potential vice presidential nominees for Republican nominee George W. Bush, along with Michigan Governor John Engler, New York Governor George Pataki, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Secretary of Labor and former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole. One week before the 2000 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, campaign sources said that Dick Cheney, the man charged with leading the selection process for the nominee, had recommended Danforth,[33] but Bush selected Cheney himself.[34] Bush wrote in his book Decision Points that Danforth would have been his choice if Cheney had not accepted.[35][additional citation(s) needed] In September 2001, Bush appointed Danforth a special envoy to Sudan.[36] He brokered a peace deal[37] that officially ended the civil war in the South between Sudan's Islamic government and the U.S.-backed Christian rebels, but elements of that conflict still remain unresolved (as has the separate Darfur conflict). Known as the Second Sudanese Civil War, the conflict ended in January 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement.[38]
On March 30, 2005, Danforth wrote an op-ed in The New York Times critical of the Republican party. The article began: "By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians".[42] He also penned a June 17, 2005, piece headlined "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers".[43] In 2015, Danforth joined 299 other Republicans in signing an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage.[44]
Contributing to the anthology Our American Story (2019), Danforth addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative and focused on the "great American purpose" of "hold[ing] together in one nation a diverse and often contentious people." He encouraged continued work "to demand a functioning government where compromise is the norm, to integrate all our people into one indivisible nation, and to incorporate separated individuals into the wholeness of the community."[45] Danforth is a member of the Reformers Caucus of Issue One.[46]
In 1995, following his departure from the Senate, Danforth again became a partner at the Bryan Cave law firm.[4] As of 2021 Danforth is a partner at Dowd Bennett, a Clayton law firm just outside Saint Louis.[51]
In May 2012, a group led by Danforth's son-in-law and Summitt Distributing CEO Tom Stillman,[52] in which Danforth is a minority investor, took controlling ownership of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.[53] The group acquired full ownership of the team in June 2019.[54] Danforth has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[55] He is an honorary board member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope.[56]
Personal life
Danforth married the former Sally Dobson in 1957.[39] They have five children and 15 grandchildren.[57]
Author
Resurrection: The Confirmation of Clarence Thomas, Viking, 1994
Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, Viking Press, 2006. ISBN978-0670037872
^"Former Governor Wins Missouri G.O.P. Primary for Governor". The New York Times. Associated Press. August 3, 1994. p. A22. Retrieved March 10, 2021. Danforth, a Republican, is retiring after three terms from the seat once held by Harry Truman
^"About the Christopher S. Bond U.S. Court House". United States Courts: Western District of Missouri. Retrieved March 10, 2021. Bond became an assistant attorney general under former U.S. Senator John Danforth
^Brown, Lisa (June 3, 2015). "Danforth exits Bryan Cave, joins Dowd Bennett law firm". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved March 10, 2021. When Danforth was appointed special counsel to investigate the FBI's 1993 raid ..., Dowd assisted the former senator as deputy special counsel
^Bixler, Mark (12 Jan 2005). "HISTORIC PEACE AGREEMENT: Q&A / JOHN DANFORTH, former special envoy to Sudan 'Sudan could be a possible model' for all of Africa". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
^Claybourn, Joshua, ed. (2019). Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books. pp. 66–74. ISBN978-1640121706.
^"St. Louis Blues announce local minority partner, new radio deal". The Hockey News. Sports Illustrated. The Canadian Press. March 29, 2007. Retrieved March 10, 2021. Stillman, owner of Summit Distributing, ... and the son-in-law for former U.S. Sen. John Danforth
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