Chuck Hagel
Overview
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. A member of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. In 2009, he was elected as Chairman of the Atlantic Council
Atlantic Council
The Atlantic Council is a Washington, D.C. think tank and public policy group whose mission is to "promote constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st...
.
Born in North Platte
North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, to Betty Dunn Hagel and Charles Dean Hagel, who had German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
and Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
ancestry, he graduated from St. Bonaventure High School (now Scotus Central Catholic High School
Scotus Central Catholic High School
Scotus Central Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Columbus, Nebraska. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha.-General information:Scotus Central Catholic is located in Columbus, Nebraska...
) in Columbus, Nebraska
Columbus, Nebraska
Columbus is a city in east central Nebraska, United States. Its population was 22,111 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Platte County.-Pre-settlement history:...
, the Brown Institute for Radio and Television
Brown College (Minnesota)
Brown College is a for-profit school and is a subsidiary of Career Education Corporation. It is located in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, near Minneapolis/St. Paul...
in 1966 and the University of Nebraska at Omaha
University of Nebraska at Omaha
The University of Nebraska at Omaha is a four-year state university located in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Founded in 1908 as Omaha University, the institution became the public Municipal University of Omaha in 1931. It assumed its current name in 1968 following a merger into the University...
in 1971. Hagel is a Vietnam War veteran
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
, having served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
infantry, attaining the rank of Sergeant (E-5) from 1967 – 1968.
Quotations
I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.
On Bush, the GOP, and the USA PATRIOT Act|Patriot Act,
We are the adult power in the world. It is because of the United States, our action or inaction, that there will be a resolution here.
This is a ping-pong game with American lives. These young men and women that we put in Anbar province, in Iraq, in Baghdad, are not beans. They're real lives. And we better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder.
On the Iraq troop surge of 2007|Iraq troop surge of 2007,
If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.
Asking his fellow Senators to support a joint resolution opposing President George W. Bush's troop deployment plan,