Arlen Specter
A fiercely independent senator who switched parties twice, wielded prosecutorial skill in historic hearings, and became a pivotal centrist swing vote.
1930–2012 (age 82)·American lawyer and politician·Birthday: February 12·The Silent Generation
Biography
Arlen Specter built a 30-year Senate career on a single, unshakable principle: his own judgment. The Philadelphia prosecutor who helped shape the single-bullet theory for the Warren Commission brought that same sharp, combative style to Capitol Hill. A Republican for most of his tenure, he was a constant irritant to his party's orthodoxy, a pro-choice, pro-labor moderate who relished his role as a swing vote. His grilling of Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings remains a defining, controversial moment. Specter's political survival instinct was legendary; he narrowly won re-election five times in a swing state. In 2009, facing a primary challenge from the right, he switched back to the Democratic Party, a move that underscored the vanishing center in American politics. Through brain tumors, heart surgeries, and party upheavals, he remained a stubborn fixture, a reminder of a time when deal-making and ideological unpredictability could still define a political life.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Arlen was born in 1930, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Arlen Was Born
The biggest hits of 1930
#1 Movie
All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Front
Arlen's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1930Born
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
1935Started school
Social Security Act signed into law
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,450President: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
1943Became a teenager
Allies invade Sicily; Battle of Stalingrad ends
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,290Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I've Heard That Song Before" — Harry JamesBest Picture: Casablanca
1946Could drive
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1948Could vote
Israel declares independence; Berlin Blockade begins
Gas: $0.26/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Twelfth Street Rag" — Pee Wee HuntBest Picture: Hamlet
1951Turned 21
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1960Turned 30
Kennedy-Nixon debates become first televised presidential debates
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,900Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Theme from A Summer Place" — Percy FaithBest Picture: The Apartment
1970Turned 40
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1980Turned 50
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1990Turned 60
Hubble Space Telescope launched; Germany reunifies
Gas: $1.15/galHome: $79,100Min wage: $3.80/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"Hold On" — Wilson PhillipsBest Picture: Dances with Wolves
2000Turned 70
Y2K passes without incident; contested Bush-Gore election
Gas: $1.51/galHome: $119,600Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Breathe" — Faith HillBest Picture: Gladiator
2010Turned 80
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2012Died at 82
Curiosity rover lands on Mars; Sandy Hook shooting
Gas: $3.64/galHome: $143,200Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Somebody That I Used to Know" — GotyeBest Picture: Argo
Key Achievements
- Served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania for five terms, from 1981 to 2011, the longest tenure in the state's history.
- Played a key role as a moderate Republican swing vote on issues like abortion rights, stem cell research, and economic stimulus bills.
- Served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (2005-2007) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1995-1997).
- As a junior counsel to the Warren Commission, he authored the controversial 'single-bullet theory' regarding President Kennedy's assassination.
Did You Know?
He was a regular squash player into his late seventies, often before Senate votes.
He wrote a memoir titled 'Life Among the Cannibals: A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing as We Know It.'
He survived two bouts of Hodgkin's lymphoma and a brain tumor while in office.
He began his political life as a Democrat, served as a Republican for over 40 years, and ended his career as a Democrat again.
“My change in party will enable me to be re-elected.”
