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74-473: According to the amendment, written by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), the Federal government will no longer provide multilingual communications and services, except for those already guaranteed by law. It would also make English the " national language " and require new citizens to pass a test of their English proficiency and knowledge of American history. Key portion of the final amendment, section 767 of

148-737: A 20-page brochure published under the Seal of the United States Senate reiterating his "hoax" statement and comparing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to a " Soviet style trial". In a section headed "The IPCC Plays Hockey" he attacked what he called "Mann's flawed, limited research." The brochure restated themes from Inhofe's Senate speech, and in December 2003 he distributed copies of it in Milan at

222-816: A 2011 interview, Inhofe claimed that he and David Boren were both upset with Hall, so the pair decided to both campaign against him; Boren would primary him as a Democrat to weaken his campaign and Inhofe would run as the Republican challenger and defeat him. However, the plan was thrown off when Boren won the Democratic nomination. In October, then-President Gerald Ford visited Oklahoma to campaign for Inhofe. A poll later that month by The Daily Oklahoman showed Boren leading Inhofe 74%–25%. Inhofe ended up losing to Boren by 64%–36%. In 1976, State Senator Frank Keating announced his campaign for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district and announced that Inhofe would be

296-516: A September 2006 Senate speech Inhofe argued that the threat of global warming was exaggerated by "the media, Hollywood elites and our pop culture". He said that in the 1960s the media had switched from warning of global warming to warning of global cooling and a coming ice age , then in the 1970s had returned to warming to promote "climate change fears". In February 2007 he told Fox News that mainstream science increasingly attributed climate change to natural causes, and only "those individuals on

370-600: A Tulsa mayoral election with Randle raising $ 78,062 and Inhofe raising $ 48,987. Inhofe's biggest donors were the Metropolitan Builder's Association, oilman Robert L. Parker, and Paul D. Hinch. On May 2, he was sworn in as Mayor of Tulsa . Inhofe's first proclamation as mayor was to celebrate Sun Day and support alternative energy ; in the proclamation he said, "I think we're all interested in looking for alternative sources of energy. And of course, we want clean sources." In his first month in office, he decried

444-607: A Tulsa mayoral race set in the last election by raising $ 87,667. In 1982 he was reelected with 59% of the vote. He lost his 1984 re-election campaign to Terry Young . In 1986 , when Representative James R. Jones decided to retire to run for the U.S. Senate, Inhofe ran for the 1st District and won the Republican primary with 54%. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Gary Allison 55%–43%. In 1988 he won reelection against Democrat Kurt Glassco 53%–47%. In 1990 he defeated Glassco again, 56%–44%. After redistricting,

518-579: A debate, because I know this would discredit me." As Environment and Public Works chairman, Inhofe gave a two-hour Senate floor speech on July 28, 2003, in the context of discussions on the McCain-Lieberman Bill . He said he was "going to expose the most powerful, most highly financed lobby in Washington, the far left environmental extremists", and laid out in detail his opposition to attribution of recent climate change to humans, using

592-502: A donation Jones had received from Ross Perot , but he retracted his accusation that the donation affected Jones's voting record after threats from Perot and his lawyers. Inhofe was endorsed by the American Conservative Union and National Conservative Political Action Committee during the general election. Former California governor, and future president, Ronald Reagan endorsed and campaigned with Inhofe. He

666-576: A hearing on climate change, disputing Mann's work. In his 2006 book The Republican War on Science , Chris Mooney wrote that Inhofe "politicizes and misuses the science of climate change ". During the 2006 North American heat wave , Inhofe said that the environmentalist movement reminded him of "the Third Reich , the Big Lie ": "You say something over and over and over and over again, and people will believe it, and that's their strategy." In

740-611: A legal entitlement to additional services in that language or any language other than English. If any forms are issued by the Federal Government in a language other than English (or such forms are completed in a language other than English), the English language version of the form is the sole authority for all legal purposes. [1] Archived 2015-10-19 at the Wayback Machine Shortly after the approval of

814-546: A meeting about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , where he met "green activists" with posters quoting him as saying that global warming "is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people". He signed a poster for them, and thanked them for quoting him correctly. In an October 2004 Senate speech he said, "Global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on

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888-537: A member of the Armed Services Committee, Inhofe was among the panelists questioning witnesses about the 2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse , saying he was "outraged by the outrage" over the revelations of abuse. Although he believed that the individuals responsible for mistreating prisoners should be punished, he said that the prisoners "are not there for traffic violations ... they're murderers, they're terrorists , they're insurgents ". In 2006, Inhofe

962-709: Is a significant contributor to global warming. Inhofe received money from the fossil fuel industry . For example: " Exxon 's beneficiaries in Congress include the Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, who called global warming a hoax, and who has received $ 20,500 since 2007, according to the Dirty Energy Money database maintained by Oil Change International." On November 23, 2009, as the Climatic Research Unit email controversy emerged, Inhofe said

1036-649: Is a unifying effect with a common language, and indicating the importance of knowing English to get ahead in America. Senator Harry Reid , Democrat from Nevada , called the amendment "racist" in a speech before the Senate, arguing that it targeted speakers of Spanish. Senators Bunning (R-KY), Martinez (R-FL), Rockefeller (D-WV) did not vote. Jim Inhofe James Mountain Inhofe ( / ˈ ɪ n h ɒ f / ; INN -hoff ; November 17, 1934 – July 9, 2024)

1110-757: The USS Piranha for Tulsa , but it was determined that the Arkansas River was too shallow for the ship to travel that far upriver. The Muskogee City-County Trust Port Authority donated five acres of waterfront property to locate the ship in Muskogee . In September 1970, the USS Batfish was considered as an alternative and on December 9, 1971, the Batfish was given to the State of Oklahoma . The ship

1184-426: The 1972 Republican National Convention . He also worked on U.S. senator Dewey Bartlett 's campaign as the co-chair for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district . In his own district, Inhofe faced no Republican primary challenge and faced Democratic nominee Happy Miles in the general election. He won the general election by over 7,000 votes; afterward, he was elected by fellow Republican state senators to serve as

1258-706: The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen . Inhofe was unable to secure meetings with any negotiators or delegations to the conference and only met with a small group of reporters. The minority group of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works prepared a report on "the CRU Controversy", published in February 2010, which listed as "Key Players" 17 scientists including Mann and Phil Jones . Inhofe said it showed that

1332-565: The 32nd Oklahoma Legislature that passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives , but they failed in Senate committee. Republican party officials tried to recruit Inhofe to run for Treasurer of Oklahoma in 1970, but he declined to run. In 1970, Governor Dewey Bartlett created the Oklahoma Narcotics and Drug Abuse Council and appointed Inhofe as an inaugural member. That November, he was elected minority caucus chair of

1406-511: The Bush administration disputed. During the hearing Senator Jim Jeffords read out an email from Hans von Storch saying he had resigned as editor-in-chief of the journal that published the Soon and Baliunas paper, as the peer review had "failed to detect significant methodological flaws in the paper" and the critique by Mann and colleagues was valid. In a continuation of these themes, Inhofe had

1480-567: The Democratic primary with a coalition of labor union and black voters; and Inhofe was supported in the general by his Republican base, anti-union and anti-black Democrats , and 22% of black voters. In April, he was elected mayor of Tulsa , defeating Democrat Rodger Randle , 51%–46%. The Tulsa Daily World heralded the race as Inhofe's "first general election victory in six years, and Randle's first election loss since he entered politics in 1970." The race broke then-fundraising records for

1554-628: The Democratic Party in a party newspaper. Newspapers in the state responded by pointing out Inhofe had supported just as much spending; the article was syndicated by the Associated Press and Inhofe responded by publishing a Tulsa World op-ed arguing he had tried to amend bills to remove wasteful spending and was consistently critical of spending. He did not seek a third term to the Oklahoma Legislature and

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1628-592: The Luntz memo . Beginning in 2003, when he was first elected Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Inhofe was the foremost Republican promoting climate change denial . He famously claimed in the Senate that global warming is a hoax , invited contrarians to testify in Committee hearings, and spread his views via the Committee website run by Marc Morano as well as through his access to conservative media. In 2012, Inhofe's The Greatest Hoax: How

1702-650: The Oklahoma House of Representatives as a Democrat . Inhofe started kindergarten in Des Moines, Iowa , but moved halfway through the year to Hazel Dell in Springfield, Illinois . He skipped first grade after the schoolhouse burned down and started second grade after his family moved to Tulsa at Barnard Elementary School. As a teenager, he would "hire Indians to pick wild blackberries" and then sell them in his neighborhood. He went on to attend Woodrow Wilson Junior High and Tulsa Central High School , where he

1776-647: The Oklahoma Senate for the 33rd Oklahoma Legislature . In 1971, Inhofe served as the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party 's State Convention. While Inhofe had initially filed a resolution for Oklahoma to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, he retracted his support later that year. In 1969, Inhofe sponsored a successful bill to bring a retired U.S. Navy submarine to Oklahoma. Inhofe initially wanted

1850-570: The Republican primary and the general election. He was sworn in December 29, 1966. During his time in the State House, Inhofe formed a close friendship with Democratic Representative David Boren . In the Oklahoma House, Inhofe's first successful measure was a bill to allow for personalized license plates in Oklahoma that passed during his first legislative session . During his first term, he spoke against federal regulation at

1924-514: The United States House Committee on Public Works Sub-committee on Roads and voted in favor of an abortion liberalization law. In 1968, he served as the vice-chair of the rules committee for the Oklahoma Republican Party state convention. That May, he announced he would not seek re-election to the Oklahoma House of Representatives and instead would challenge Democrat state senator Beauchamp Selman for his seat in

1998-412: The master of ceremonies at his campaign launch announcement; however, Inhofe did not appear at Keating's announcement and instead announced he was considering his own campaign. Inhofe officially announced his candidacy on February 19, 1976. In the Republican primary, he defeated Keating and Tulsa Public Schools board member Mary Warner, 67%–25%–8%. In a 2011 interview, he credited his primary win to

2072-456: The 1st District contained only two counties, all of Tulsa and some parts of Wagoner . In 1992 , Inhofe was reelected with 53% of the vote. In 1987 Inhofe voted against President Ronald Reagan 's budget, which included tax increases and no increase in defense spending. He first came to national attention in 1993, when he led the effort to reform the House's discharge petition rule, which

2146-767: The 2008 election cycle, Inhofe's largest campaign donors represented the oil and gas ($ 446,900 in donations), leadership PACs ($ 316,720), and electric utilities ($ 221,654) industries/categories. In 2010, his largest donors represented the oil and gas ($ 429,950) and electric ($ 206,654) utilities. The primary PACs donating to his campaigns were Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association ($ 55,869), United Parcel Service ($ 51,850), National Association of Realtors ($ 51,700), NRA Political Victory Fund ($ 51,050), and American Medical Association ($ 51,000). Additionally, if company-sponsored PACs were combined with employee contributions, Koch Industries would be Inhofe's largest contributor, with $ 90,950 according to OpenSecrets . As

2220-448: The American people. It was true when I said it before, and it remains true today. Perhaps what has made this hoax so effective is that we hear over and over that the science is settled and there is a consensus that, unless we fundamentally change our way of life by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, we will cause catastrophic global warming. This is simply a false statement." In January 2005 Inhofe told Bloomberg News that global warming

2294-548: The Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future was published by WorldNetDaily Books , presenting his global warming conspiracy theory . He said that, because "God's still up there", the "arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous", but also that he appreciated that this argument was unpersuasive, and that he "never pointed to Scriptures in

Inhofe Amendment - Misplaced Pages Continue

2368-487: The House leadership had long used to bottle up bills in committee. Inhofe was the longest-serving U.S. senator from Oklahoma , having served between 1994 and 2023. In 1994 , incumbent senator David Boren , who had been serving in the Senate since 1979, agreed to become president of the University of Oklahoma and announced he would resign as soon as a successor was elected. He faced Congressman Dave McCurdy in

2442-532: The Inhofe amendment, the Senate voted for another bill by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), according to which English is the "common unifying language of the United States," but mandated that nothing in that declaration "shall diminish or expand any existing rights" regarding multilingual services. It passed 58–39. Inhofe proposed his amendment, saying that there should not be a right to demand that government business be conducted in any other language, that there

2516-549: The May primary election and then worked on J. Robert Wooten's 1966 lieutenant gubernatorial campaign as the Tulsa County campaign chair. In November 1966, Joseph McGraw resigned from the Oklahoma House of Representatives 70th district to run for newly elected governor Dewey Bartlett 's former state senate seat, triggering a special election. Inhofe was the first to announced his campaign for McGraw's former house seat. He won

2590-681: The National Mutual Casualty company in August 1942. His father, Perry Inhofe, was educated at Duke University and worked as a lawyer, president of multiple insurance companies , and banker. In 1949 his company, Tri-State, was ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to cease discouraging union membership. His father was also active in the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and YMCA ; and he

2664-646: The Senate Armed Services Committee. During his Senate career he was known for his rejection of climate science , his support of constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage , and the Inhofe Amendment to make English the national language of the United States. James Mountain Inhofe was born in Des Moines, Iowa , on November 17, 1934, the son of Blanche (née Mountain) and Perry Dyson Inhofe. He moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma , after his father became president of

2738-474: The U.S. Senate with a score of 0.91 out of 1, behind Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Ted Cruz (R-TX). Inhofe was best known for his criticism of climate change as a "hoax" and his defense of the oil industry , a major industry in Oklahoma. In December 1997, Inhofe called the Kyoto Protocol , an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into

2812-528: The United States Senate. Inhofe chaired the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2015 to 2017. Inhofe served as acting chairman of the Armed Services Committee between December 2017 and September 6, 2018, while John McCain fought cancer. After McCain's death, he became chairman and served until February 3, 2021. From February 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023, he served as Ranking Member of

2886-411: The assistant floor leader in the 34th Oklahoma Legislature . He was elected minority leader of the Oklahoma Senate for the 35th Oklahoma Legislature to succeed Donald Ferrell who had lost re-election. In April 1975, he appointed the first blind page in Oklahoma history: 15 year-old Angela Keele. Later that year, Inhofe and Charles Ford wrote an article criticizing David Boren and spending by

2960-803: The atmosphere, a "political, economic, and national security fiasco." Before the Republicans regained control of the Senate in the November 2002 elections, Inhofe had compared the United States Environmental Protection Agency to a Gestapo bureaucracy, and EPA Administrator Carol Browner to Tokyo Rose . In January 2003, he became Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works , and continued challenging mainstream science in favor of what he called "sound science", in accordance with

3034-540: The bill: The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America. Unless otherwise authorized or provided by law, no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English. If exceptions are made, that does not create

Inhofe Amendment - Misplaced Pages Continue

3108-576: The city's reliance on federal funding, promised to "seek minorities to fill positions in city government, and nominated Jewish , senior citizen, anti-abortion , and Christian fundamentalist members to the Tulsa Human Rights Commission. In January 1979, Inhofe attended the first swearing in of a governor of Oklahoma to occur in Tulsa when George Nigh was sworn in to serve the last five days of David Boren 's term after Boren

3182-419: The companies that ended in 1990 with Perry paying $ 3 million to his brother. Inhofe received a B.A. in economics from the University of Tulsa in 1973. Until his 1994 campaign for the U.S. Senate, his official biographies and news articles about him indicated that he had graduated in 1959. Inhofe initially denied the stories that uncovered the discrepancy, but later acknowledged them. After admitting that

3256-716: The controversy was "about unethical and potentially illegal behavior by some of the world's leading climate scientists." On May 26 Inhofe formally requested that the Inspector General of the United States Department of Commerce investigate how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had dealt with the emails, and whether the emails showed any wrongdoing; it found no major issues or inappropriate actions. In July 2010 Inhofe said, "I don't think that anyone disagrees with

3330-487: The day after his Senate speech, Inhofe chaired an Environment and Public Works hearing with contrarian views represented by Baliunas and David Legates , and praised their "1,000-year climate study", then involved in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , as "a powerful new work of science". Against them, Michael E. Mann defended mainstream science and specifically his work on reconstructions (the hockey stick graph ) that they and

3404-530: The emails confirmed his view that scientists were "cooking the science". On December 7 on the CNN program The Situation Room , Inhofe said that the emails showed that the science behind climate change "has been pretty well debunked"; the fact checking organization PolitiFact concluded that Inhofe's statement was false. On the same day, Inhofe said he would lead a three-man "truth squad" consisting of himself and fellow senators Roger Wicker and John Barrasso to

3478-563: The environment." During the 109th Congress , Inhofe voted to increase offshore oil drilling , to include provisions for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the House Budget Amendment, and to deny funding for both low-income energy assistance and environmental stewardship, citing heavy costs and unproven programs. In May 2009, Inhofe gave support to the idea that black carbon

3552-554: The fact that we actually are in a cold period that started about nine years ago. Now, that's not me talking, those are the scientists that say that." The Union of Concerned Scientists said that Inhofe was wrong, pointing to a NOAA report indicating that the summer of 2010 had so far been the hottest on record since 1880. Inhofe added, "People on the other side of this argument back in January, they said, 'Inhofe, it has nothing to do with today's or this month or next month. We're looking at

3626-521: The far left, such as Hollywood liberals and the United Nations", disagreed. In 2006, Inhofe introduced Senate Amendment 4682 with Kit Bond (R- MO ), which would have modified oversight responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers . The League of Conservation Voters , an environmentalist group, said analyses for corps projects "have been manipulated to favor large-scale projects that harm

3700-506: The general election. Governor Dewey Bartlett knocked doors with Inhofe during his campaign and he later won the general election. After winning the special election, Republican party officials began considering Inhofe as a potential future U.S. Senate candidate. In 1969, he was the chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Convention and he supported efforts to liberalize abortions laws in Oklahoma in

3774-499: The general election. Inhofe was elected Boren's successor in an election cycle that saw the Republican Party take both houses of the U.S. Congress and the Oklahoma governorship. Inhofe took office on November 17, giving him more seniority than the incoming class of senators. After serving the last two years of Boren's term, he won his first full term in 1996 . He was reelected in 2002 , 2008 , 2014 , and 2020 . In

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3848-554: The movement to bring the USS Batfish to Oklahoma. While a state senator, he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Oklahoma in the 1974 election and the U.S. House in 1976 . He was elected to three terms as the Mayor of Tulsa , serving between 1978 and 1984. He served in the United States House of Representatives representing Oklahoma's 1st congressional district from 1987 to 1994; he resigned after his election to

3922-524: The next defense authorization act to reinforce President Donald Trump 's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement and reintroduce severe sanctions on Tehran. During the 115th , 116th , and 117th Congresses, Inhofe was a member of the following committees: Caucus memberships On July 15, 2021, Inhofe told Tulsa World he planned to retire at the end of his current term, in 2027. In February 2022, The New York Times reported that Inhofe

3996-486: The next election. After Inhofe had already announced his campaign for the Oklahoma Senate , Beauchamp Selman announced he would not seek re-election, creating an open seat for the 1968 election. He faced Madison J. Bowers, who was endorsed by the Political Action Committee of Educators, in the Republican primary election. He won the primary and faced Democratic nominee Jerry L. Goodman in

4070-606: The passage of the record $ 716 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 . McCain died in August 2018, and Inhofe lauded him as his "hero". Inhofe also said that McCain was "partially to blame for" the White House's controversial decision to raise flags back to full mast after less than two days, as McCain previously "disagreed with the President in certain areas and wasn't too courteous about it". On March 6, 2019, Inhofe said he intended to put language in

4144-430: The primary reason for Inhofe's retirement was related to him suffering symptoms of long COVID , which had severely limited his capacity to do day-to-day activities, after an initial infection he had described as "very mild". Inhofe was ranked the most conservative member of Congress on the 2017 GovTrack report card. He received the same ranking for 2018. For 2019, he was ranked as the fifth-most conservative member of

4218-587: The rank of Specialist 4 and spent most of his service performing quartermaster duties at Fort Lee, Virginia . In 1961, his father formed a new life insurance company, Quaker Insurance, and Inhofe was appointed vice president. On June 17, 1970, Perry Inhofe died of a heart attack; Inhofe became president of Quaker Life Insurance and vice president of Mid-Continental Casualty Co. and Oklahoma Surety Co., while his brother Perry Jr. became president of Mid-Continental and Surety and vice president of Quaker Life. Inhofe and his brother eventually ended up in litigation over

4292-427: The stories were true, Inhofe explained that he had been allowed to take part in graduation ceremonies in 1959 though he was a few credits short of completing his degree, and did not finish his coursework until 1973. In February 1966, Inhofe launched his first campaign for office as a Republican ; he ran for the Oklahoma House of Representatives 's 71st district against incumbent representative Warren Green . He lost

4366-429: The use of the "Kasten Plan" , a system of precinct organization. He also criticized Democratic presidential candidate, and U.S. senator from Oklahoma, Fred Harris during his presidential primary campaign. During the primary, Inhofe had called for Democratic incumbent James R. Jones to be expelled from Congress for his conviction while in office for failing to report campaign contributions. Inhofe also criticized

4440-581: The word "hoax" four times, including the statement that he had "offered compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax" and his conclusion that "manmade global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people". He supported what he called "sound science", citing contrarian scientists such as Patrick Michaels , Fred Singer , Richard Lindzen , and Sallie Baliunas as well as some mainstream scientists. Two of these, Tom Wigley and Stephen Schneider , later issued statements that Inhofe had misrepresented their work. On July 29,

4514-551: Was "the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state ", and that carbon dioxide would not be restricted by the Clear Skies Act of 2003 . In a Senate Floor "update", he extended his argument against Mann's work by extensively citing Michael Crichton 's fictional thriller State of Fear , mistakenly describing Crichton as a "scientist". On August 28, 2005, at Inhofe's invitation, Crichton appeared as an expert witness at

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4588-578: Was a member of his high school's track team . In 1952, his mile relay quartet team broke a school record with a 3:32.6 time. In January 1953, he was elected treasurer of the Brones social club; he graduated from Central High School later that year. He attended the University of Colorado for three months and worked as a bartender. In 1956, he received a draft letter from the United States Army and he served from 1957 to 1958. He attained

4662-584: Was also endorsed by President Gerald Ford , U.S. representative John Rousselot of California , and the Tulsa Tribune . Polling before the election showed Jones leading Inhofe, 44% to 36%. In the general election, Jones won by 54%–45%. In January 1978, the Tulsa Daily World reported Republican party officials were courting Inhofe to run for Mayor of Tulsa . He initially denied he would run for any city office and instead insisted he

4736-424: Was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party , he was the longest serving U.S. senator from Oklahoma. He served in various elected offices in the state of Oklahoma for nearly 60 years, between 1966 and 2023. Born in Des Moines, Iowa , in 1934, Inhofe moved with his parents to Tulsa, Oklahoma , in 1942. His father, Perry Inhofe,

4810-414: Was an elected official representing the Tulsa area for nearly three decades. He represented parts of Tulsa in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1966 to 1969 and the Oklahoma Senate from 1969 to 1977. During his time in the state legislature he was known for feuding with the Democratic Party 's state leadership, particularly Governor David Hall and state treasurer Leo Winters , and spearheading

4884-517: Was an owner of insurance companies and his mother, Blanche Inhofe (née Mountain), was a Tulsa socialite . Jim was a high school track star and graduated from Central High School . He went on to briefly attend the University of Colorado before finishing his college degree at the University of Tulsa . He was drafted to the United States Army in 1956 and served between 1957 and 1958. He became vice-president of his father's insurance company in 1961 and president after his father's death in 1970. Inhofe

4958-482: Was considering a rematch against Congressman Jones; but, Inhofe announced his mayor campaign in February. He won the Republican primary with over 92% of the vote, defeating Keith Robinson and Paul Cull. During the first three weeks of the primary, he was injured with a broken leg from a tennis injury and could not campaign. In the general election against Rodger Randle , he was endorsed by then-Mayor Robert LaFortune and U.S. senator Dewey Bartlett . Randle had won

5032-466: Was elected to the U.S. Senate . In February, he appointed Ronald L. Young, the first African-American to ever serve on the City Commission. In December 1979, Inhofe officially announced his re-election campaign for a second term as mayor. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary and later won the general election, fending off Democratic nominee Richard Johnson and Independent candidate Robert Murphy. He broke Rodger Randle 's record fundraising for

5106-399: Was one of only nine senators to vote against the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 , which prohibits "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of individuals in U.S. Government custody. When chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain was absent seeking medical treatment for brain cancer, Inhofe became acting chairman of the committee. During this time, Inhofe helped secure

5180-429: Was planning to resign at the end of the 117th Congress. A special election for Inhofe's replacement was held in 2022 while he remained in office. He endorsed his former chief of staff, Luke Holland, in the special election. Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district Congressman Markwayne Mullin won the Republican primary and the special election. Inhofe resigned on January 3, 2023. It was reported in February 2023 that

5254-419: Was polling behind Denzil Garrison in the Republican primary 35% to 65%. Inhofe officially launched his campaign in May 1974. The main issue in both the Republican and Democratic primary campaigns was corruption during the term of incumbent Democratic governor David Hall . Inhofe defeated Garrison in the August primary. During the campaign, he lost 57 pounds and was down to 148 pounds. In

5328-483: Was succeeded as minority leader by Senator Stephen Wolfe . Inhofe had been floated as a potential gubernatorial candidate since 1972. Inhofe was considered a strong Republican candidate with his only weaknesses being his feuding with Leo Winters and the backlash to the USS Batfish project. By May 1973, he was openly campaigning, but had yet to officially announce his campaign. In October of that year, he

5402-452: Was the official sponsor of Miss Tulsa and Miss Oklahoma winner Louise O'Brien in 1950. His mother was a Tulsa socialite and hosted guests such as Johnston Murray . Inhofe's family had been involved in Oklahoma politics since the 1950s. His father, Perry Inhofe, had served on the executive committee for Democratic governor Raymond D. Gary 's successful 1954 campaign . In 1958, his brother, Perry Jr., ran an unsuccessful campaign for

5476-441: Was unofficially opened to the public July 4, 1972, with its official opening on Memorial Day 1973. In 1972, Inhofe was appointed to serve as co-chair for Richard Nixon 's 1972 presidential campaign in Oklahoma with Ralph Gordon Thompson . During the campaign, Inhofe solicited Barry Goldwater to write a letter of endorsement for Nixon's campaign in Oklahoma to win over conservative Republicans and he represented Oklahoma at

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