Happy 90th Birthday, Governor Tom Kean

Thomas H. Kean, one of the most popular governors in New Jersey history, is celebrating his 90th birthday today.

Kean was elected governor in 1981 after winning the closest gubernatorial race in New Jersey history.  He defeated Democrat Jim Florio, a South Jersey congressman, by just 1,797 votes, a 49.6% to 49.38% margin.  Four years later, Kean was re-elected in the largest landslide ever recorded in a New Jersey governor’s race: 70% of the vote and a plurality of 794,229 votes.

A descendant of New Jersey’s first Governor, William Livingston, Kean is the scion of one of the nation’s most notable political families.   His great-great-great-grandfather, John Kean, represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress and served until joining George Washington’s administration.  His father, Robert W. Kean (R-Livingston), served ten terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and his grandfather, Hamilton Fish Kean, was a United States Senator from New Jersey.  His great-uncle, John Kean, was a congressman from Central Jersey.  A cousin, John Kean, was also a U.S. Senator.

His son, Thomas H. Kean, Jr., spent 21 years in the New Jersey Legislature and was the longest-serving Senate Minority Leader in state history.   He is serving his second term as the congressman from New Jersey’s 7th district.

Born three years after his father was elected to Congress, Kean spent nearly his entire life in politics.

Kean volunteered on his father’s 1958 campaign for the United States Senate and, in 1959, became the president of the Livingston Young Republican Club.  He served as a Republican county committeeman in Livingston, served on the staff of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, and worked as the youth coordinator for Pennsylvania Gov. William Scranton’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 1964.

He launched his political career in 1967 as a candidate for the State Assembly in a politically competitive Essex County-based district that included Caldwell, Essex Fells, Irvington, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Roseland, and South Orange – a district that would be unwinnable for a Republican today.

The election came in the second mid-term election of Democratic Gov. Richard J. Hughes, and during the turbulent days that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s One-Man, One-Vote decision that ended at-large races for Essex County Assembly seats and instead divided the county, for the first time into six separate, dual-member Assembly districts; the Senate would still run countywide for another six years.

Essex County Republicans were sharply divided in 1967, and Kean joined the organization slate that faced a challenge from the Reform Republicans.    He and his running mate, Philip Kaltenbacher, won the Republican primary by over 2,200 votes against former Assemblyman Donald FitzMaurice (R-Maplewood) and Vivian Tompkins Lange, the sister of former U.S. Attorney William Tompkins.  Kean scored a landslide general election victory against Democrats Bernard Kuttner and Eugene McNany, winning by over 14,000 votes.  Perennial candidate Joseph Shanahan was also in that race.

Kean and Kaltenbacher were re-elected by over 17,000 votes against Democrats Harvey Sklaw and Gerard Simons in 1969; after defeating Irvington Councilman Joseph Galluzzi in the GOP primary by a 4-1 margin in 1971, they defeated Simons and Harry A. McEnroe, Jr. (D-South Orange), who would later serve as an Essex County Freeholder and Eight term assemblyman, by more than 12,000 votes.

Despite the 1973 Watergate Democratic wave, Kean ran 4,839 votes ahead of his new running mate, Jane Burgio, and 5,918 votes in front of the top Democratic vote-getter, 26-year-old labor leader Thomas P. Giblin.

Kean became the Assistant Majority Leader in his second term as an assemblyman.  He served as Majority Leader in 1971, Speaker in 1972 and 1973, and Minority Leader from 1974 to 1977.

His election as Speaker came despite a Democratic majority in the Assembly; Kean made a deal with four Democratic assemblymen to become the 36-year-old Assembly Speaker.

After running for Congress – he lost a GOP primary to Millicent Fenwick (R-Bernardsville) by 83 votes in 1974 – and for Governor – he finished second in the Republican primary in 1977. Kean won the 1981 gubernatorial primary with 31% of the vote in an eight-candidate field.

In 1977, Kean sought the Republican nomination for governor, but lost the Republican primary by 66,610 votes, 55%-36%, in a four-candidate field; he won only Essex and Ocean counties.   He gave up his Assembly seat to run for governor.

After serving as a commissioner of the New Jersey Highway Authority and as a correspondent for New Jersey Network News, Kean ran for governor again in 1981.  He was one of eight candidates – five from Essex County – and won the primary by 38,947 votes, 31%-21%, over Paterson Mayor Pat Kramer.  Also in that race: businessman and self-funder Bo Sullivan (17%), Senate Minority Whip James Wallwork (15.5%), Senate Minority Leader Barry Parker (6.5%), Assemblyman Anthony Imperiale (4.6%), Hamilton Mayor Jack Rafferty (3.2%), and former Board of Public Utilities President Richard McGlynn (1.4%).

Kean delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Republican National Convention and was mentioned as a presidential and vice presidential candidate.  After leaving office, he served as president of Drew University; he chaired the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.