Arthur Ravenel Jr.

"Arthur Ravenel" redirects here. For the Charleston, South Carolina bridge, seeArthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

Arthur Ravenel Jr.
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina's1stdistrict
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Thomas F. Hartnett
Succeeded by	Mark Sanford
Member of theSouth Carolina Senate
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Greg Smith
Succeeded by	Raymond E. Cleary III
Constituency	34th district
In office January 13, 1981 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	Allen Ruffin Carter Arnold Samuel Goodstein Thomas Forbes Hartnett
Succeeded by	Sherry Shealy Martschink
Constituency	16th district (1981–1985) 44th district (1985–1987)
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives fromCharleston County
In office January 13, 1953 – January 13, 1959
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Multi-member district
Personal details
Born	(1927-03-29)March 29, 1927 Charleston, South Carolina,U.S.
Died	January 16, 2023(2023-01-16)(aged 95) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Resting place	Huguenot Church Cemetery Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic(until 1960s) Republican(after 1960s)
Relatives	Thomas Ravenel Charles D. Ravenel

Arthur Ravenel Jr.(March 29, 1927 – January 16, 2023) was an American businessman and aRepublicanpolitician fromCharleston, South Carolina.From 1987 to 1995, he served four terms in theU.S. House of Representatives.

Early life

Ravenel was born on March 29, 1927, to Arthur Ravenel, Sr. and Mary Allen Boykin.

During the waning days ofWorld War II,the Charleston-born Ravenel enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps,serving from 1945 to 1946. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from theCollege of Charlestonin 1950, then becamerealtorandgeneral contractor.

Political career

First elected at age 25, he was aDemocraticmember of theSouth Carolina House of Representativesfrom 1953 to 1959.

Ravenel became a Republican in 1960 and ran many times for office. He lost elections for theSouth Carolina State Senatethree times (1962, 1974, and 1976), for the United States House of Representatives (in a 1971special election), and for mayor of Charleston (also 1971).

Ravenel was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina Senate in 1980. He served until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Charleston-based 1st District that became open when incumbentTommy Hartnettran for Lt. Governor.

During his four terms in Congress, he focused his attention on constituent services, rarely sponsoring legislation.

He was reelected three more times without serious opposition. He did not run for reelection in 1994, but instead ran forgovernor.He finished second in the Republican primary to then State RepresentativeDavid Beasley,but lost the runoff. Beasley, considered more conservative than Ravenel, went on to win the general election. In 1996, Ravenel was elected to his old seat in the state Senate, where he served until 2005.

Ravenel staged a comeback in 2006, having been elected at the age of 79 to a seat on theschool boardofCharleston County.Only a year earlier, he had suffered a bout ofGuillain–Barré syndrome.In the same election, his sonThomas Ravenel,also a Republican, was elected state treasurer. The younger Ravenel resigned from the office after only six months following serious legal allegations.

Controversies

Ravenel said that he had run for the state Senate in 1996 specifically to seek funding for a new bridge betweenCharlestonandMount Pleasantto replace theJohn P. Grace Memorial BridgeandSilas N. Pearman Bridge.Both bridges were nearing the end of their useful lives, and had been criticized as safety hazards. Due to his efforts in passing laws for the new bridge's funding, fellow lawmakers voted to name thecable-stayed bridgein Charleston theArthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.Some felt that the bridge should not be named after Ravenel, with the head of the South Carolina Infrastructure Bank saying in 1999, "Certainly, Arthur Ravenel is a fine, decent person, but that bridge is bigger than any one individual and it should reflect all the qualities of the state and not some state senator who happens to be in the Legislature the time the structure is being built."Ravenel himself made light of the controversy, joking after diagnosis of his illness that he might die, to the satisfaction of “those people who say you shouldn't name things after people before they're dead.”

Ravenel was a member of Moultrie Camp,Sons of Confederate Veterans,and a supporter of theConfederate flagbeing flown at the South Carolina statehouse.He provoked controversy in response to a reporter's question in 2000 when he referred to theNAACPas the "National Association for Retarded People".Asked for an apology, Ravenel, who had a son withDown’s Syndrome,offered one to those who suffered from mental conditions.

Ravenel once said that his fellow white congressional committee members operated on "black time", which he characterized as meaning "fashionably late".

In August 2020, several episodes of the reality television seriesSouthern Charm,including one which featured Ravenel, were removed from streaming andVODservices over "racially charged moments within them". In the episode featuring Ravenel, he leaves a $5 tip at a restaurant and tells his son, Thomas, that he "[likes] to get rid" of $5 bills becauseAbraham Lincolnis on the front; he then looks at the camera and smiles "wryly".

Death

Ravenel died in Charleston on January 16, 2023, at the age of 95.He was buried at the cemetery ofHuguenot Churchin Charleston.

See also

• List of American politicians who switched parties in office

External links

• AppearancesonC-SPAN

• Biographyat theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress