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Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe (née Bouchles; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senator, representing Maine for three terms from 1995 to 2013. A lifelong member of the Republican Party, Snowe played an influential role in influencing the outcome of close votes in the U.S. Senate and in ending U.S. Senate filibusters. In 2006, Time magazine named her one of "America's Best Senators". Throughout her U.S. Senate career, she was considered one of the chamber's most moderate members.
On February 28, 2012, Snowe announced that she would not seek re-election in the 2012 U.S. Senate election, and she retired when her third term ended on January 3, 2013. She cited hyperpartisanship, leading to a dysfunctional Congress, as her primary reason for her retirement. In January 2013, she was replaced by former Maine governor Angus King, a former Democrat and current independent who won the 2012 U.S. Senate election in Maine.
In May 2013, Snowe was appointed senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-chairs its Commission on Political Reform and serves on the center's board of directors.
Snowe was born Olympia Jean Bouchles in Augusta, Maine, on February 21, 1947, the daughter of Georgia (née Goranites) and George John Bouchles. Her father emigrated to the United States from Sparta, Greece, and her maternal grandparents were Greek. She is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
When she was eight years old, her mother died of breast cancer. Less than a year later, her father died of cardiovascular disease. Left orphaned, she was moved to Auburn, where she was raised by her aunt, a textile mill worker, and uncle, a barber, along with their five children. Her brother John was raised separately by other family members. A few years later, disease also claimed her uncle's life. Snowe attended Saint Basil Academy in Garrison, New York for third through ninth grades, and then returned to Auburn, where she attended and graduated from Edward Little High School.
She then attended the University of Maine in Orono, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1969. On December 29, 1969, shortly after graduating, she married Peter Snowe, a Republican Maine Representative, in New York City.
Snowe entered politics and rose quickly, winning a seat on the Board of Voter Registration and then working for U.S. Representative and later U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
In 1973, tragedy again struck Snowe when her husband was killed in an automobile accident. At the urging of her family, friends, neighbors, and local leaders, Snowe ran for her husband's Auburn-based seat in the Maine House of Representatives, and, at the age of 26, won it. In 1974, she was re-elected. In 1976, she won election to the Maine Senate, where she represented Androscoggin County. The same year, she was a delegate to both Maine's Republican convention and to the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, which nominated Gerald Ford as its nominee in the 1976 presidential election.
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Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe (née Bouchles; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senator, representing Maine for three terms from 1995 to 2013. A lifelong member of the Republican Party, Snowe played an influential role in influencing the outcome of close votes in the U.S. Senate and in ending U.S. Senate filibusters. In 2006, Time magazine named her one of "America's Best Senators". Throughout her U.S. Senate career, she was considered one of the chamber's most moderate members.
On February 28, 2012, Snowe announced that she would not seek re-election in the 2012 U.S. Senate election, and she retired when her third term ended on January 3, 2013. She cited hyperpartisanship, leading to a dysfunctional Congress, as her primary reason for her retirement. In January 2013, she was replaced by former Maine governor Angus King, a former Democrat and current independent who won the 2012 U.S. Senate election in Maine.
In May 2013, Snowe was appointed senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-chairs its Commission on Political Reform and serves on the center's board of directors.
Snowe was born Olympia Jean Bouchles in Augusta, Maine, on February 21, 1947, the daughter of Georgia (née Goranites) and George John Bouchles. Her father emigrated to the United States from Sparta, Greece, and her maternal grandparents were Greek. She is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
When she was eight years old, her mother died of breast cancer. Less than a year later, her father died of cardiovascular disease. Left orphaned, she was moved to Auburn, where she was raised by her aunt, a textile mill worker, and uncle, a barber, along with their five children. Her brother John was raised separately by other family members. A few years later, disease also claimed her uncle's life. Snowe attended Saint Basil Academy in Garrison, New York for third through ninth grades, and then returned to Auburn, where she attended and graduated from Edward Little High School.
She then attended the University of Maine in Orono, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1969. On December 29, 1969, shortly after graduating, she married Peter Snowe, a Republican Maine Representative, in New York City.
Snowe entered politics and rose quickly, winning a seat on the Board of Voter Registration and then working for U.S. Representative and later U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
In 1973, tragedy again struck Snowe when her husband was killed in an automobile accident. At the urging of her family, friends, neighbors, and local leaders, Snowe ran for her husband's Auburn-based seat in the Maine House of Representatives, and, at the age of 26, won it. In 1974, she was re-elected. In 1976, she won election to the Maine Senate, where she represented Androscoggin County. The same year, she was a delegate to both Maine's Republican convention and to the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, which nominated Gerald Ford as its nominee in the 1976 presidential election.