Dukakis, Michael (1933–)

Michael S. Dukakis was governor of the state of Massachusetts and the Democratic nominee for president in the 1988 election. Much of his loss to George H. W. Bush in that election is thought to have derived from political miscalculations such as a photo op in an M1 Abrams tank in Michigan and the failure of his campaign to respond to Republican attacks ads that portrayed Dukakis as soft on crime.

Dukakis was born to Greek-immigrant parents in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts. After serving 2 years in the U.S. Army overseas and graduating from Harvard Law School in 1960, Dukakis began his political career later that year when he was elected as a Town Meeting Member in Brookline as well as the chairman of the town's Democratic organization. In 1962, he was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts legislature. Following an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 1970, Dukakis was elected governor in November 1974, defeating Republican incumbent, Frank Sargeant.

As governor, Dukakis was credited in leading the state of Massachusetts through one of its worst economic periods in history, inheriting record levels of unemployment and the largest budget deficit the state had ever seen. Despite these achievements, known as the “Massachusetts Miracle,” Dukakis lost the governor's race in 1978 to Edward King, only to defeat him 4 years later. He was then reelected to an unprecedented third term in 1986.

After winning the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1988 over a field that included Jesse Jackson, Dick Gephardt, Gary Hart, and Al Gore, Dukakis selected Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen (1921–2006) as his running mate. Despite a strong showing in some states, the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket could not overcome the incessant “liberal” tag Republicans attached to him. This, coupled with the previously mentioned tank incident as well as attacks on Dukakis's prison furlough program that allowed convicted murderer Willie Horton to commit new atrocities, eroded much support from the DukakisBentsen ticket in the eyes of the American public. Dukakis also suffered from media portrayals, particularly in the presidential debates, as a cold, unemotional technocrat. Shortly after his presidential loss, Dukakis announced that he would not run again for governor of Massachusetts and served the remainder of his term [Page 195]quietly as the state began to fall once again into economic crisis. Once out of office, Dukakis traveled with his wife Kitty to Australia and Hawaii and later joined Amtrak's board of directors as vice chairman.

Currently a professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, Dukakis has additionally been a visiting professor or guest at Harvard University, University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Hawaii, and Florida Atlantic University. He also coauthored a textbook on American government with fellow Democratic presidential candidate Paul Simon titled How to Get Into Politics—and Why: A Reader.