William Proxmire

Bill Proxmire
United States Senator from Wisconsin
In office August 28, 1957 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	Joseph McCarthy
Succeeded by	Herb Kohl
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Dane County 2nd district
In office January 10, 1951 – January 13, 1953
Preceded by	John M. Blaska
Succeeded by	Ervin M. Bruner
Personal details
Born	Edward William Proxmire (1915-11-11)November 11, 1915 Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 15, 2005(2005-12-15) (aged 90) Sykesville, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Elsie Stillman Rockefeller ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1955)​ Ellen Hodges Sawall ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	4
Education	Yale University (BA) Harvard University (MBA, MPA)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1941–1946
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	Counterintelligence Corps
Battles/wars	World War II
William Proxmire's voice Proxmire on the risk of increased demagoguery with televised coverage of the Senate Recorded July 29, 1986

Edward William Proxmire (November 11, 1915 – December 15, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. He holds the record for being the longest-serving senator from Wisconsin.^[1]

Known as a political maverick and an aggressive critic of wasteful government spending, Proxmire invented and awarded the tongue-in-cheek Golden Fleece Award to appropriations he found particularly egregious. He was a member of the Senate Banking Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the Joint Economic Committee. On the Joint Economic Committee, he exposed numerous instances of wasteful spending on military programs such as the C-5 aircraft and the F-16 fighter, as well as other government programs such as the development of a supersonic transport airplane (SST).