Blue Ashcroft Popular Books

Blue Ashcroft Biography & Facts

John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the United States Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. He previously held various positions in Missouri politics; as Auditor of Missouri (1973–1975), Attorney General of Missouri (1976–1985), Governor of Missouri (1985–1993), and as a United States Senator representing Missouri (1995–2001). He later founded The Ashcroft Group, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm. Ashcroft graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1960 before receiving a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. After unsuccessfully running for the U.S. House of Representatives, he was elected Missouri State Auditor in 1974. He then served two consecutive terms as Missouri Attorney General and as Missouri Governor (a historical first for a Republican candidate in the state). He is only Republican to serve two full consecutive terms as governor to date. He also served one term as a U.S. Senator from Missouri until losing a race for a second term in 2000. Ashcroft had early appointments in Missouri state government and was mentored by John Danforth. He has written several books about politics and ethics. After George W. Bush was elected president in 2000, he selected Ashcroft to serve as U.S. Attorney General. As Attorney General, Ashcroft was a key supporter of the USA Patriot Act following the September 11 attacks and the use of torture to suspected terrorists. Ashcroft stepped down as Attorney General in February 2005 and was replaced by Alberto Gonzales. Since 2011, Ashcroft sits on the board of directors for the private military company Academi (formerly Blackwater) and is a professor at the Regent University School of Law, a conservative Christian institution affiliated with the late televangelist Pat Robertson; he has also been a member of the Federalist Society. His son, Jay Ashcroft, is also a politician, serving as Secretary of State of Missouri since January 2017. Early life and education Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Grace P. (née Larsen) and James Robert Ashcroft. The family later lived in Willard, Missouri, where his father was a minister in an Assemblies of God congregation in nearby Springfield, served as president of Evangel University (1958–1974), and jointly as President of Central Bible College (1958–1963). His mother was a homemaker, whose parents had emigrated from Norway. His paternal grandfather was an Irish immigrant. Ashcroft graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1960. He attended Yale University, where he was a member of the St. Elmo Society, graduating in 1964. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School (1967). After law school, Ashcroft briefly taught Business Law and worked as an administrator at Southwest Missouri State University. During the Vietnam War, he was not drafted because he received six student draft deferments and one occupational deferment because of his teaching work. Missouri political career State Auditor (1973–1975) In 1972, Ashcroft ran for a congressional seat in southwest Missouri in the Republican primary election, narrowly losing to Gene Taylor. After the primary, Missouri Governor Kit Bond appointed Ashcroft to the office of State Auditor, which Bond had vacated when he became governor. In 1974, Ashcroft was narrowly defeated for election to that post by Jackson County Executive George W. Lehr. Lehr had argued that Ashcroft, who is not an accountant, was not qualified to be the State Auditor. Attorney General of Missouri (1976–1985) Missouri Attorney General John Danforth, who was then in his second term, hired Ashcroft as an assistant state attorney general. During his service, Ashcroft shared an office with future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (and, in 2001, Justice Thomas administered Ashcroft's oath of office as U.S. attorney general). In 1976, Danforth retired from the state attorney general post to run for the U.S. Senate, and Ashcroft ran replace him. He was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democrat James Baker in the general election. He was scheduled to be sworn in on January 10, 1977, but Danforth resigned from his post early ahead of his swearing in to the U.S. Senate, so Ashcroft was appointed attorney general on December 27, 1976. In 1980, Ashcroft was re-elected with 64.5 percent of the vote, winning 96 of Missouri's 114 counties. In 1983, Ashcroft wrote the leading amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., supporting the use of video cassette recorders for time shifting of television programs. Governor of Missouri (1985–1993) Ashcroft was elected governor in 1984 and re-elected in 1988, becoming the first (and to date only) Republican in Missouri history elected to two consecutive terms. In 1984, his opponent was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ken Rothman. The campaign was so negative on both sides that a reporter described the contest as "two alley cats [scrapping] over truth in advertising". In his campaign ads, Ashcroft showed the contrast between his rural-base and the supporters of his urban-based opponent from St. Louis. Democrats did not close ranks on primary night. The defeated candidate Mel Carnahan endorsed Rothman. In the end, Ashcroft won 57 percent of the vote and carried 106 counties—then the largest Republican gubernatorial victory in Missouri history. In 1988, Ashcroft won by a larger margin over his Democratic opponent, Betty Cooper Hearnes, the wife of the former governor Warren Hearnes. Ashcroft received 64 percent of the vote in the general election—the largest landslide for governor in Missouri history since the U.S. Civil War. During his second term, Ashcroft served as chairman of the National Governors Association (1991–92). U.S. Senator from Missouri (1995–2001) In 1994 Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri, again succeeding John Danforth, who retired from the position. Ashcroft won 59.8% of the vote against Democratic Congressman Alan Wheat. As Senator: He opposed the Clinton Administration's Clipper encryption restrictions, arguing in favor of the individual's right to encrypt messages and export encryption software. In 1999, as chair of the Senate's subcommittee on patents, he helped extend patents for several drugs, notably the allergy medication Claritin, to prevent the marketing of less-expensive generics. On March 30, 2000, with Senator Russ Feingold, Ashcroft convened the only Senate hearing on racial profiling. He said the practice was unconstitutional and that he supported legislation requiring police to keep statistics on their actions. In 1998, Ashcroft briefly considered running for U.S. president, but, on January 5, 1999, he decided that he would seek re-election to his Senate seat in the 2000 election and not run for president. In the Republican primary, Ashcroft defeated Marc P.... Discover the Blue Ashcroft popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Blue Ashcroft books.