Arthur Ravenel Jr.

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Arthur Ravenel Jr.
Arthur Ravenel Jr.jpg
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
Preceded byThomas F. Hartnett
Succeeded byMark Sanford
Member of the South Carolina Senate
from the 34th district
In office
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2005
Preceded byGreg Smith
Succeeded byRaymond E. Cleary III
Member of the South Carolina Senate
from the 44th district
In office
January 8, 1985 – January 3, 1987
Preceded byDistrict established
Succeeded bySherry Shealy Martschink
Member of the South Carolina Senate
from the 16th district
In office
January 13, 1981 – January 8, 1985
Preceded byAllen Ruffin Carter
Arnold Samuel Goodstein
Thomas Forbes Hartnett
Succeeded byCaldwell Thomas Hinson
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Charleston County
In office
January 13, 1953 – January 13, 1959
Preceded byMulti-member district
Succeeded byMulti-member district
Personal details
Born (1927-03-29) March 29, 1927 (age 94)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (until 1960s)
Republican (1960s–present)

Arthur Ravenel Jr. (born March 29, 1927) is a businessman and a Republican politician from Charleston, South Carolina.

Early life[]

The Charleston-born Ravenel served in the United States Marine Corps from 1945 to 1946. He received a bachelor of science degree from the College of Charleston in 1950. He was a realtor and general contractor. He was a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1953 to 1959.

He became a Republican in the early 1960s and ran many times for office. He lost elections for the South Carolina State Senate three times (1962, 1974, and 1976), for the United States House of Representatives (1971 special election), and for mayor of Charleston (also 1971).

Political career[]

Ravenel was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina Senate in 1980. He served until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Charleston-based 1st District. He was reelected three more times without serious opposition. He did not run for reelection in 1994, but instead ran for governor. He finished second in the Republican primary to then State Representative David Beasley, but lost the runoff. Beasley, considered more conservative than Ravenel, went on to win the general election. In 1996, Ravenel was elected to his old seat in the state Senate, where he served until 2005.

Ravenel staged a comeback in 2006, having been elected at the age of 79 to a seat on the school board of Charleston County. Only a year earlier, he had suffered a bout of Guillain–Barré syndrome.[1] In the same election, his son Thomas Ravenel, also a Republican, was elected state treasurer. He did not seek reelection in 2010, and retired from politics.[2]

Controversies[]

Ravenel said that he had run for the state Senate in 1996 specifically to seek funding for a new bridge between Charleston and Mount Pleasant to replace the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge and Silas N. Pearman Bridge. Both bridges were nearing the end of their useful lives, and had been criticized as safety hazards. Due to his efforts in passing laws for the new bridge's funding, fellow lawmakers voted to name the cable-stayed bridge in Charleston the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Some felt that the bridge should not be named after Ravenel, with the head of the South Carolina Infrastructure Bank saying in 1999, "Certainly, Arthur Ravenel is a fine, decent person, but that bridge is bigger than any one individual and it should reflect all the qualities of the state and not some state senator who happens to be in the Legislature the time the structure is being built."[3]

Ravenel is a member of Moultrie Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and was a supporter of the Confederate flag being flown at the South Carolina statehouse.[4] He provoked controversy in response to a reporter's question in 2000 when he referred to the NAACP as the "National Association for Retarded People".[5] Ravenel once said that his fellow white congressional committee members operated on "black time", which he characterized as meaning "fashionably late".[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Our Lowcountry Skyline, Ten Years Later: The Ravenel Bridge". Mount Pleasant Magazine. July 7, 2015.
  2. ^ Gabriel, Pam. "A Bridge to History: Arthur Ravenel Jr". Mount Pleasant Magazine (March/April 2014). Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  3. ^ "Bridge controversies now history". Charleston Post and Courier. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  4. ^ "The 'Unity Rally' Is Being Held On This Guy's Bridge?". FITSNews. June 20, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  5. ^ "Giuliani's South Carolina adviser has controversial history with NAACP". "Political Ticker" blog. CNN. June 26, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  6. ^ ""Rudy's New South Carolina Co-Chair". The New York Observer. June 25, 2007. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.

External links[]

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Thomas F. Hartnett 		Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st congressional district
1987–1995 		Succeeded by
Mark Sanford
  • v
  • t
South Carolina's delegation(s) to the 100th–103rd United States Congresses (ordered by seniority)
100th Senate: Thurmond • Hollings House: Spence • Derrick • Spratt • Tallon • Patterson • Ravenel
101st Senate: Thurmond • Hollings House: Spence • Derrick • Spratt • Tallon • Patterson • Ravenel
102nd Senate: Thurmond • Hollings House: Spence • Derrick • Spratt • Tallon • Patterson • Ravenel
103rd Senate: Thurmond • Hollings House: Spence • Derrick • Spratt • Ravenel • Clyburn • Inglis
Retrieved from ""