Don Nickles

Donald Lee "Don" Nickles
United States Senator for Oklahoma
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Henry Bellmon
Succeeded by	Tom Coburn
Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Kent Conrad (North Dakota)
Succeeded by	Judd Gregg (New Hampshire)
Senate Minority Whip
In office July 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Harry Reid (Nevada)
Senate Majority Whip
In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by	Harry Reid
Senate Majority Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office  June 6, 2001
Preceded by	Harry Reid
Succeeded by	Harry Reid
In office June 12, 1996 – January 3, 2001
Succeeded by	Harry Reid
Oklahoma State Senator for District 20
In office January 2, 1979 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Roy Grantham
Succeeded by	William O'Connor
Born	December 6, 1948 Ponca City, Kay County, Oklahoma
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Linda Lou Morrison Nickles
Children	Four children Parents: Robert C. and Coeweene Bryan Nickles
Alma mater	Oklahoma State University at Stillwater (Bachelor of Arts)
Military Service
Service/branch	Oklahoma National Guard
Years of service	1970 to 1976

Donald Lee Nickles, known as Don Nickles (born December 6, 1948), is the president of the Nickles Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., and a Republican former United States Senator for his native Oklahoma. He served from 1981 until 2005 and was considered both a fiscal and social conservative. When he retired from the Senate, he was the longest serving senator from Oklahoma. Initially elected at the age of thirty-one, he remains the youngest Republican ever elected to the Senate.

Background

Born and reared in Ponca City in Kay County in northern Oklahoma, he was the son of Robert C. Nichols and the former Coeweene Bryan. He attended Ponca City public schools. While studying at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in business administration in 1971, he and his wife, the former Linda Lou Morrison, operated Don Nickles Professional Cleaning Service there. After college, he worked for Nickles Machine Corporation in Ponca City, a business begun in 1918 by his grandfather, Clair A. Nichols (1887-1984).

Political life

Prior to his U.S. Senate election, a post which he filled for four terms, Nickles served for two years in the state Senate for District 20. Nickles had determined that nearly half of his profits from the dry-cleaning business went to federal taxes. When his father died in 1961, when Nickles was only twelve years of age, the family had to sell off some business assets to meet the federal estate tax. These two events led to Nickles becoming a strong defender of capitalism. Senator Nickles hence sponsored legislation to cut taxes, reduce government spending, enhance national defense, and to try to ameliorate the official U.S. government's hostility to religion. He sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act, which permitted states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states. DOMA was partially struck down in 2013 and completely so in 2015 with the Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriages.

As the Republican Whip, Nickles called for the resignation of fellow Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi as majority leader (after succeeding Bob Dole) because of remarks Lott made at the 100th birthday celebration of retiring Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in December 2002. The statements were considered by Lott's critics to have been insensitive to civil rights issues though Lott said that he never realized that his remarks were unacceptable. Lott was replaced after then President George W. Bush came out against the Mississippian.

After the election of Ronald Reagan, a group of conservative senators, including the freshman Don Nickles, questioned the conservative credentials of Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court. The opponents noted that O'Connor had been an abortion supporter while serving in the Arizona State Senate, and they expected her to join the liberal bloc on the court. Reagan, however, stubbornly stood behind O'Connor, who was confirmed 99-0, after those hesitating to confirm her followed Reagan's lead. In time the O'Connor's critics proved right and Reagan wrong because in 1992, O'Connor, who relished her role as a "swing justice," joined a 5-4 court majority in the opinion,Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey which upheld Roe v. Wade.

In 1993, Nickles was one of only three Senators, along with Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Robert C. "Bob" Smith of New Hampshire, to vote against the confirmation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg of New York, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton as the second woman to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg, a popular judicial liberal who carried the backing of all of the Moderate Republican senators.