Former US Senator Hatfield Dies at 89

Mark Hatfield, a former five-term U.S. senator and outspoken war critic, has died at a home in the northwestern city of Portland.

He died Sunday at the age of 89. No cause of death was given.

Hatfield served 30 years in the Senate beginning in 1967, where he worked to end U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and later voted against the Persian Gulf war – a vote in opposition to all but one of his fellow Republican Party senators.

He also pushed for a ban on U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the 1980s.

Hatfield took part in the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima while serving in the Navy, and visited the Japanese city of Hiroshima after it was hit by an American atomic bomb.

His Senate career was marred by two ethics scandals involving financial ties between his wife and a Greek financier, and failing to report thousands of dollars worth of gifts.

Before being elected to the Senate, Hatfield served two terms as governor of the state of Oregon.

Photo: U.S. Senate Historical Office

Former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Shalikashvili Dies

General Shalikashvili greets President Bill Clinton. (Photo: U.S. Army)

Former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Shalikashvili Dies
Saturday, 23 July 2011

Retired U.S. General John Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has died at age 75.

There were no immediate reports on the cause of Shalikashvili's death. He suffered a stroke in 2004.

General Shalikashvili served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1993 to 1997 under then-President Bill Clinton. He made decisions on U.S. military involvement in Bosnia, Haiti and other troubled spots in the world.

Shalikashvili was born in Poland in 1936 and came to the U.S. as a teenager. He rose through the ranks in the Army and succeeded former General Colin Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, in 1993.

Following word of Shalikashvili's death Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama said the general's “extraordinary life represented the promise of America.” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called him an “extraordinary patriot who faithfully defended his country for four decades, rising to the pinnacle of the military profession.” The current chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, said during Shalikashvili's tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he “skillfully shepherded” the U.S. military through the early years of the post-Cold War era.

General Shalikashvili spent his later years living near Fort Lewis in the western U.S. state of Washington.