Lawyer, businessman, and Democratic politician, in 1948 he was elected
as the youngest member of the 80th Congress. He quit Congress in 1954,
moved to Houston, and established Lincoln Consolidated, a holding
company that owned Lincoln Liberty Life Insurance Co. Bentsen went on
to build a vast corporate empire including directorships in Lockheed
Aircraft, Continental Oil, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline, Trunkline Gas,
and the Bank of the Southwest in Houston, becoming like his father a
multimillionaire. In 1970 he returned to politics and defeated
George Bush
for a seat in the U.S. Senate, which he held until 1992. Bentsen
unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976
and served as
Michael Dukakis' running mate in the 1988 presidential campaign.
As a Senator, he voted for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
and the Equal Rights Amendment and supported health insurance, federal
funding for medical education, scientific research, preventive health
care, bilingual education (he was fluent in Spanish), and public works
jobs. Chair of the Senate Finance Committee from 1987 to 1992, he also
served as a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee, the Joint Committee on Taxation, and the Joint Economic
Committee. President
Bill Clinton appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury
on January 20, 1993, which Bentsen served until his resignation
December 22, 1994, choosing to return home to Texas.
