Remembering Frank Lautenberg: The Senate's last WWII vet

Democrats lose a longtime champion of liberal causes, and the Senate loses its last link to the generation that served in World War II.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg: One of the left's unsung heroes.
(Image credit: JEFF ZELEVANSKY/Reuters/Corbis)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the oldest member of the Senate, died early Monday of complications from viral pneumonia, his office said. He was 89. Lautenberg had battled stomach cancer and other illnesses in recent years.

Lautenberg's health had been failing for months, and he missed several key votes. But he made a dramatic return to Capitol Hill in April to vote for bills aiming to reduce gun violence, an issue he was passionate about. Lautenberg went to the Senate floor in a wheelchair, and called out "aye" in support of expanded federal background checks for gun buyers. The measure failed, however, as did Lautenberg's amendment seeking to ban high-capacity ammunition clips.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.