Joseph Lieberman Fast Facts
CNN Editorial Research
Here’s a look at the life of Joseph Lieberman, former United States senator from Connecticut.
Personal
Birth date: February 24, 1942
Birth place: Stamford, Connecticut
Birth name: Joseph Isadore Lieberman
Father: Henry Lieberman, package-store owner
Mother: Marcia (Manger) Lieberman
Marriages: Hadassah (Freilich) Lieberman (1983-present); Elizabeth Haas (1965-1981, divorced)
Children: with Hadassah Lieberman: Hani and Ethan (stepson); with Betty Haas: Rebecca and Matthew
Education: Yale University, B.A., 1964, Yale Law School, L.L.B, 1967
Religion: Jewish
Other Facts
Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential campaign. He is the first Jewish person to be nominated by a major party.
When Lieberman ran for state senate in 1970, one of the volunteers who worked on his campaign was future President Bill Clinton.
At Yale, his nickname was “Senator.”
He has said that he took time off from college in 1963 to spend a few weeks in Mississippi doing civil rights work.
Timeline
1967-1969 – Works with the private law firm Wiggin and Dana.
1968 – Runs the Connecticut presidential campaign of Democrat Robert F. Kennedy.
1970 – Is elected to the Connecticut Senate, representing New Haven.
1972-1983 – Partner in the law firm Lieberman, Segaloff and Wolfson.
1975-1981 – Majority leader of the Connecticut Senate.
1980 – Runs unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress.
1983-1988 – Attorney general of Connecticut.
November 8, 1988 – Becomes the first Orthodox Jew to be elected to the US Senate.
1989-2013 – US senator from Connecticut.
1995-2001 – Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council.
August 8, 2000 – Vice President Gore selects Lieberman as his running mate in the presidential race.
January 7, 2003 – Publishes the book, “An Amazing Adventure: Joe and Hadassah’s Personal Notes on the 2000 Campaign,” along with his wife Hadassah Lieberman.
January 13, 2003 – Declares he will run for president in the 2004 election.
February 3, 2004 – Drops out of the race for president.
August 8, 2006 – Is defeated in Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary by Ned Lamont. Lieberman then announces he will run in the election as an Independent.
November 7, 2006 – Wins reelection as an Independent.
December 17, 2007 – Endorses Republican Senator John McCain during the primary campaign for the presidential nomination. The endorsement stirs up controversy and after the election, the Senate Democratic Caucus strips him of his spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Lieberman is allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
January 19, 2011 – Announces that he will not run for reelection.
January 2013 – Retires from the Senate.
June 6, 2013 – Joins the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP.
January 2, 2014 – Announces he will serve as executive board chairman of Victory Park Capital, a private equity firm.
January 12, 2015 – After the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, Lieberman writes an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal and states that a global alliance is necessary to combat terrorists.
August 10, 2015 – United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group that campaigns for sanctions against Iran, announces that Lieberman is its new chairman.
May 17, 2017 – White House Spokesman Sean Spicer says that Lieberman is a candidate to replace James Comey as director of the FBI.
May 25, 2017 – Withdraws his name from consideration for the position of FBI director.
September 9, 2019 – In an opinion piece for USA Today, Lieberman, representing UANI, writes that the 2020 democratic presidential candidates should support Trump’s Iran policy and not pledge to rejoin the 2015 nuclear agreement.
October 19, 2021 – Lieberman’s book, The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again, is published.
December 4, 2023 – Yeshiva University announces the establishment of the Senator Joseph Lieberman Center for Public Service and Advocacy.
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