1922-1999. US senator from Rhode Island, 1977-1999. Governor of R.I.
during most of the 60s and Navy Secretary in Richard Nixon's first term. Like many New England Republicans, he was not a Flying Monkey Right hyperconservative caricature: he was pro-choice, and an advocate for gun-law reform. He was also more of an environmentalist than his GOP peers. Often open to bipartisan compromise, even if the result was vanilla - you could never blame him for noisy political gridlock.