Longtime GOP Senate moderate Arlen Specter dies

October 15, 2012 - 1:18 pm | Category: Politics

Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. senator, died Sunday from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at his home in Philadelphia. He was 82.

Specter began and ended his political career as Democrat, but spent many years as a moderate Republican, often voting across party lines. He was one of just a trio of Republicans in Congress to vote for President Obama’s stimulus plan.

He also played a role in several major political events, serving as an assistant counsel to the Warren Commission and helping to mastermind the single-bullet theory in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was also a key factor in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert H. Bork and Clarence Thomas.

He is survived by his wife, Joan, and two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four granddaughters.