Muskie, Edmund (1914–1996)

Edmund Muskie served as the 58th secretary of state (1980–1981) under President Jimmy Carter. He also served as house member, governor, and senator of Maine. Muskie was a prominent leader during the development of the Democratic Party in Maine. The state had been a Republican stronghold, notable due to its being only one of two states carried by Alf Landon over Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election. Muskie was a leader in the environmental movement and became one of the first environmentalist to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Edmund Muskie's lasting legacy is the large amount of environmental legislation for which he was either directly responsible or supported. His crowning achievement was the Clean Air Act of 1970, which was the first federal ...