Tom Daschle Biography

Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Tom Daschle graduated from South Dakota State University in 1969. Upon graduation, he entered the United States Air Force, where he served as an intelligence officer in the Strategic Air Command until mid-1972.

After serving on the staff of Sen. James Abourezk (D-SD), Daschle was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, serving eight years. He is one of the first members of Congress to serve in a Democratic leadership position in his first term of office as a Regional Whip.

In 1986, Daschle was elected to the U.S. Senate. Two years later he became the first Co-Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and the first South Dakotan to be elected to a leadership position in the U.S. Congress. In 1994, Daschle was elected by his colleagues as their Democratic Leader. Only Lyndon Johnson served fewer years in the Senate before being elected to the position. Daschle is one of the longest-serving Senate Democratic Leaders in history and the only one to serve twice as both Majority and Minority Leader. During his tenure as Leader, Daschle co-managed only the second impeachment trial of a U.S. president, led the Senate in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the anthrax attack on his office one month later.

Today, Daschle is an advisor to the law firm of Alston and Bird, where he provides strategic advice on public policy issues such as climate change, energy, health care, trade, financial services, and telecommunications. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at American Progress, a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University and a public speaker.

In 2007, he joined with former Majority Leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on some of the pressing public policy challenges of our time. He is also Co-Chair of the ONE Vote ’08 Campaign, along with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to address health and poverty in the developing world in a more aggressive and successful way.

Sen. Daschle serves on the Advisory Boards of Intermedia Partners and the BP America Inc. External Advisory Council. He also serves on the boards of CB Richard Ellis, Mascoma Corporation, Prime BioSolutions, The Freedom Forum, the Mayo Clinic, the Center for American Progress, the LBJ Foundation, and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

He has published articles in numerous newspapers and periodicals and is the author of the book Like No Other Time. He holds a number of honorary doctorate degrees.

He is married to Linda Hall Daschle and has three children and four grandchildren.