Wellstone, Paul David, 1944-2002

Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until his death. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota, Wellstone was a leader of the progressive wing of the national Democratic Party.

Born in Washington, D.C., Wellstone attended high school in Arlington, Virginia, graduating from Yorktown High School. He then graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. and Ph.D. in political science. Wellstone was a professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a community organizer in Rice County before entering politics. The trustees of Carleton College briefly fired Wellstone in the late 1970s for his activism and lack of academic publications. After his students held a sit-in, the trustees rehired him and gave him tenure. Wellstone remains the youngest tenured faculty member in Carleton's history. In 1982, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Auditor against Republican Arne Carlson.

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