John V. Tunney
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John Varick Tunney (born June 26, 1934), was a Democratic Party United States Senator and Representative. He is the son of the famous heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney.
Tunney graduated from Yale University in 1956. He attended the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands, in 1957, and graduated from the University of Virginia law school, where he was a roomate of future Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy. He was admitted to the Virginia and New York bars in 1959 and practiced law in New York City.
Tunney joined the United States Air Force as a judge advocate and served until he was discharged as a captain in April 1963. He taught business law at the University of California, Riverside in 1961 and 1962. In 1963 he was admitted to practice law in California. He was a special adviser to the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime from 1963 until 1968.
Tunney was elected as a Democrat to be the California Representative of Riverside and Imperial Counties to the Eighty-ninth U.S. Congress and served from January 3, 1965 until his resignation on January 2, 1971.
Tunney was elected in 1970 to the United States Senate representing California for a single six-year term when he submitted the Tunney Act in 1974. He was defeated for re-election in 1976 by S. I. Hayakawa. He served from January 2, 1971, until his resignation on January 1, 1977. During this period, Senator Tunney produced a weekly radio report to California, in which he often interviewed other legislators.
Tunney wrote a book, The Changing Dream. He was the inspiration for Robert Redford's character in the film The Candidate.[citation needed]
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| Preceded by George Murphy |
United States Senator (Class 1) from California 1971–1977 |
Succeeded by S.I. Hayakawa |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | University of California, Riverside faculty | 1934 births | Living people | California politicians | Hague Academy of International Law people | Irish-American politicians | Members of the United States House of Representatives from California | People from New York City | United States Senators from California | University of Virginia alumni | Yale University alumni
