1992 Democratic Presidential Primary


                           The Tsongas Committee

Chapter VIII
A CALL TO ECONOMIC ARMS
Forging A New American Mandate
 
PAUL E. TSONGAS

VIII. Biography

When former Senator Paul E. Tsongas announced his presidential candidacy in April, it marked a major step in the return to national leadership by a distinguished public servant

Elected to the United States Senate from Massachusetts in 1978, following two terms in Congress, Paul Tsongas forged a record that established him as one of America's most effective and creative young leaders. Colleagues and supporters were shocked when, in 1984, Paul announced that he would not seek re-election but would return home with his family. Paul had been diagnosed with cancer. With an agressive course of treatment Paul successfully battled the disease and, with a clean bill of health from his doctors, resumed his career.

A member of the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag and Eliot, Paul serves on the boards of seven corporations, and numerous nonprofit organizations including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, The Recycling Advisory Council, and the International Institute for Energy Conservation. In 1989 he was appointed Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education.

Paul Tsongas' political career began in 1968 at the age of 27. Returning home from service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia, he challenged an entrenched political establishment and won election to the Lowell City Council. Four years later he was elected Middlesex County Commissioner and fulfilled his promise to clean corruption out of county government. In 1974 he became the first Democrat in this century to win election to serve the Massachusetts Fifth District in Congress.

Paul and his wife, Niki, live in Lowell, Massachusetts with their daughters, Ashley, 17, Katina, 13 and Molly, 9. Paul is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale University Law School. He is the author of two books; The Road from Here: Liberalism and Realities in the 1980s and Heading Home.


Index


Introduction
 1
I.
Economic Survival – The Creation of National Wealth
 5
II.
Education  – The Meeting House of Our Society
 32
III.
The Environment — Equilibrium With Earth
 38
IV.
Energy, Fossil Fuels – Someday There Won't Be Any
 47
V.
Foreign Policy – Time to Heal Thyself
 58
VI.
The Culture of America – The Essential Need
 70
VII.
Return to Purpose
 85
VIII.
Biography
 86