His family arrived here via the Mayflower and an important city in Pennsylvania bears his family's name.
Former Pennsylvania Governor William W. Scranton has died.
He left Yale Law to fight in WW II, after serving briefly in the Eisenhower administration he returned home to Scranton to run for Congress. In an overwhelmingly Democratic district he won. Two years later at the urging of Ike he ran for Governor against the powerful Mayor of Philadelphia and he won.
In 1964 he ran a last minute campaign to save the Republican party from nominating Barry Goldwater for President. He was man who believed in public service but became so disgusted by politics that after his single term as Governor he said he would never run for public office again, and he never did.
He did however, serve as a special adviser, special envoy, task force chair, study commission chair for 4 Presidents and for President Ford he served as UN Ambassador. He was a man of great wealth and privilege and he spent his entire life in the service of people and country. He was a fiscal conservative but he supported many progressive government programs and the civil rights movement.
He is someone I always admired and always wished I could have voted for.
The nation and Pennsylvania are certainly better places because of Bill Scranton and it with sadness I mourn his passing but with gratitude I celebrate his life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/us/politics/william-scranton-former-pennsylvania-governor-dies-at-96.html?hp
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20130729_ap_fc03ac587e4d4519bc340b3ec29d5ea1.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/william-scranton-dead-dies_n_3670987.html
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