Arthur Ravenel Jr. (March 29, 1927 – January 16, 2023) was an American businessman and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician from Charleston, South Carolina. From 1987 to 1995, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early life

Ravenel was born on March 29, 1927, to Arthur Ravenel, Sr. and Mary Allen Boykin. During the waning days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Charleston-born Ravenel enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, serving from 1945 to 1946. He received a bachelor of science degree from the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

in 1950, then became realtor and general contractor.

Political career

First elected at age 25, he was a Democratic member of the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

from 1953 to 1959. Ravenel became a Republican in 1960 and ran many times for office. He lost elections for the

South Carolina State Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the sam ...

three times (1962, 1974, and 1976), for the United States House of Representatives (in a 1971

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

), and for mayor of Charleston (also 1971). Ravenel was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina Senate in 1980. He served until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Charleston-based 1st District that became open when incumbent Tommy Hartnett ran for Lt. Governor. During his four terms in Congress, he focused his attention on constituent services, rarely sponsoring legislation. He was reelected three more times without serious opposition. He did not run for reelection in 1994, but instead ran for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. He finished second in the Republican primary to then State Representative

David Beasley David Muldrow Beasley (born February 26, 1957) is an American politician and the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. A member of the Republican Party, he served one term as the 113th Governor of South Carolina from 199 ...

, but lost the runoff. Beasley, considered more conservative than Ravenel, went on to win the general election. In 1996, Ravenel was elected to his old seat in the state Senate, where he served until 2005. Ravenel staged a comeback in 2006, having been elected at the age of 79 to a seat on the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

of Charleston County. Only a year earlier, he had suffered a bout of

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain oft ...

. In the same election, his son

Thomas Ravenel Thomas Jonathan Jackson Ravenel (born August 11, 1962) is an American politician and reality television star. He is the son of former Representative Arthur Ravenel Jr. from South Carolina. He starred for five seasons on the Bravo reality-televi ...

, also a Republican, was elected state treasurer. The younger Ravenel resigned from the office after only six months following serious legal allegations.

Controversies

Ravenel said that he had run for the state Senate in 1996 specifically to seek funding for a new bridge between Charleston and Mount Pleasant to replace the

John P. Grace Memorial Bridge The John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, or the Cooper River Bridge as it was familiarly known, was a cantilever bridge that crossed the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened on August 8, 1929, and was built by the Cooper River Bridge ...

and

Silas N. Pearman Bridge The Silas N. Pearman Bridge, known locally as the New Cooper River Bridge from the opening date to the groundbreaking of its replacement, was a cantilever bridge that crossed the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It op ...

. Both bridges were nearing the end of their useful lives, and had been criticized as safety hazards. Due to his efforts in passing laws for the new bridge's funding, fellow lawmakers voted to name the

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

in Charleston the

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge (also known as the Ravenel Bridge and the Cooper River Bridge) is a cable-stayed bridge over the Cooper River in South Carolina, US, connecting downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. The bridge has a main span ...

. Some felt that the bridge should not be named after Ravenel, with the head of the South Carolina Infrastructure Bank saying in 1999, "Certainly, Arthur Ravenel is a fine, decent person, but that bridge is bigger than any one individual and it should reflect all the qualities of the state and not some state senator who happens to be in the Legislature the time the structure is being built." Ravenelle himself made light of the controversy, joking after diagnosis of his illness that he might die, to the satisfaction of “those people who say you shouldn’t name things after people before they’re dead.” Ravenel was a member of Moultrie Camp,

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohis ...

, and a supporter of the

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

being flown at the South Carolina statehouse. He provoked controversy in response to a reporter's question in 2000 when he referred to the NAACP as the "National Association for Retarded People". Asked for an apology, Ravenel, who had a son with Down’s Syndrome, offered one to those who suffered from mental conditions. Ravenel once said that his fellow white congressional committee members operated on "black time", which he characterized as meaning "fashionably late"."

Personal life and death

Ravenel died in Charleston on January 16, 2023, at the age of 95. He was buried at the cemetery of

Huguenot Church The Huguenot Church, also called the French Huguenot Church or the French Protestant Church, is a Gothic Revival church located at 136 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Built in 1844 and designed by architect Edward Brickell White ...

in Charleston.

References

External links