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John Tower Elected in 1961 to fill the seat vacated by Vice President Lyndon Johnson, John Tower became the first Republican Senator from Texas since Reconstruction. And when the Republicans took over the Senate in 1980, he became chairman of the Armed Services Committee. But he couldn't get the job he really wanted: Secretary of Defense. President George Bush appointed him, but his former Senate colleagues turned him down. Some folks said his history of heavy drinking and carousing with women made him unfit to serve. They were afraid he might be easy prey for a sexy Soviet spy. James Bond could hold his liquor, but they weren't too sure about John. He said he was a moderate drinker. But John's chances weren't helped when newspapers ran a photo of him wearing a Superman costume, which looked especially silly on him since he was only five-foot-five. And he looked like he had a good buzz on, too. He was also hurt by rumors of womanizing, which were aired by his second wife during their bitter 1987 divorce. Other folks were concerned about who else he might be "in bed with" -- namely, military contractors. After he left his job as arms control negotiator in 1986, he took home $750,000 in consulting fees from military contractors the next year. John died in a plane crash in 1991. |
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