Henry M. Jackson

Washington's Scoop, defense intellectual and author of the amendment that linked trade to emigration.

Overview

Jackson represented Washington from 1941, first in the House and from 1953 in the Senate, until his sudden death in 1983. He authored the Jackson-Vanik amendment of 1974, denying most-favored-nation trade status to communist states restricting emigration, which anchored Soviet Jewry's freedom struggle. A Democrat championing defense budgets, the Alaska pipeline, and nuclear energy, he lost the 1972 and 1976 nominations, his hard-line views splitting the party between Cold War liberals and McGovern doves. He chaired the Energy Committee through the energy crises, and the navy named a ballistic missile submarine for him.