Richard Lugar

Richard Lugar
United States Senator from Indiana
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Vance Hartke
Succeeded by	Joe Donnelly
Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Joe Biden
Succeeded by	Joe Biden
In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	Chuck Percy
Succeeded by	Claiborne Pell
Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee
In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Preceded by	Tom Harkin
Succeeded by	Tom Harkin
In office January 4, 1995 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Patrick Leahy
Succeeded by	Tom Harkin
44th Mayor of Indianapolis
In office January 1, 1968 – January 1, 1976
Preceded by	John Barton
Succeeded by	William Hudnut
Personal details
Born	Richard Green Lugar (1932-04-04)April 4, 1932 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died	April 28, 2019(2019-04-28) (aged 87) Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Charlene Smeltzer ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	4
Education	Denison University (BA) Pembroke College, Oxford (BA, MA)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1957–1960
Rank	Lieutenant, junior grade
Richard Lugar's voice Richard Lugar speaks on the Nunn–Lugar Act Recorded November 25, 1991

Richard Green Lugar (/ˈluɡər/ LOO-gər; April 4, 1932 – April 28, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Born in Indianapolis, Lugar graduated from Denison University and the University of Oxford. He served on the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners from 1964 to 1967 before he was elected to two terms as mayor of Indianapolis, serving from 1968 to 1976. During his tenure as mayor, Lugar served as the president of the National League of Cities in 1971 and gave the keynote address at the 1972 Republican National Convention.

In 1974, Lugar ran his first campaign for the U.S. Senate. In the year's senate elections he lost to incumbent Democratic senator Birch Bayh. He ran again in 1976, defeating Democratic incumbent Vance Hartke. Lugar continued to be reelected until 2012, when he was defeated by Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in the Republican primary by 21 points, ending his 36-year tenure in the U.S. Senate. Lugar ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 1996 primaries but lack of success led to his withdrawal early in the campaign.

During Lugar's tenure, he served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1985 to 1987 and from 2003 to 2007, serving as the ranking member of the committee from 2007 until his departure in 2013. Lugar also twice served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, from 1995 to 2001 and briefly again in part of 2001. Much of Lugar's work in the Senate was toward the dismantling of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons around the world, co-sponsoring his most notable piece of legislation with Georgia Democrat Sam Nunn: the Nunn–Lugar Act.

Following his service in the Senate, Lugar created a nonprofit organization which specializes in the policy areas he pursued while in office.