A Lifetime of Leadership
Chris Dodd was born May 27, 1944, in Willimantic, Connecticut, the fifth of six children to the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd and Grace Murphy Dodd. From the outset, public service was in his blood; Chris’s father was one of the lead prosecutors during the Nuremberg Nazi war crimes tribunals that set the standard for America’s moral authority before he was elected to the United States Senate, while three of his aunts were well-known public school teachers in small communities.
Forty-six years ago, Chris stood on the East Front of the Capitol and heard John Kennedy’s famous inaugural address calling all Americans to be a part of something greater than themselves. After graduating from Providence College, Chris joined the United States Peace Corps in 1966 and moved to the Dominican Republic where he built a school and a maternity clinic in rural communities, became fluent in Spanish, and saw what the world could achieve when America leads. Upon returning home once he fulfilled his two-year commitment, Chris enlisted in the Army National Guard and later served in the U.S. Army Reserves.
In 1972, Chris earned a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law and practiced in New London before he was called to public service like his father. Elected to Congress in 1974, Chris served three terms in the House of Representatives on behalf of Connecticut’s Second District. He was elected to the US Senate in 1980.
Today in his fifth term, Chris is Connecticut’s senior United States Senator – a respected leader who brings people together to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. A onetime General Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, today Chris is the trusted chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees America’s financial institutions.
The Congress’s premier advocate for children and families, known as the “Children’s Senator,” Chris formed the first Children’s Caucus in the Senate and spent seven years working to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act that has helped 50 million working Americans never have to choose between the job they need and the family they love. A longtime supporter of early childhood education, he also authored and enacted landmark child care legislation, was named “Senator of the Decade” by the National Head Start Association and has secured funding for federal research into autism and outreach efforts aimed at mothers who give birth prematurely.
Chris Dodd’s reputation for independence, vision, and effectiveness extends to even the toughest issues. Even before the tragedy of September 11th, Chris recognized the importance of America’s first responders, authoring and passing landmark legislation that has provided more than $3 billion to help towns and cities hire, equip, and train firefighters. In the aftermath of the disputed 2000 Presidential election, Chris authored the Help America Vote Act which has been called the most important voting rights legislation since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And he has long championed bringing fiscal discipline into the federal budget-making process, introducing a “pay-as-you-go” budget proposal early in his Senate career and co-sponsored the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit reduction legislation.
As a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chris has played a central role in nearly every foreign policy debate over the past 25 years, working with six Presidents and fostering relationships with many of today’s most important world figures. A recipient of the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award and recognized expert on Latin and South America, he has worked to foster peace, prosperity and democracy abroad. In addition, Chris has fought to ensure our troops in Iraq have the essential equipment that they need and deserve.
Chris lives in East Haddam, Connecticut with his wife Jackie and their young daughters Grace and Christina.
