Ted Stevens ’47

---

A member of the United States Senate for 35 years, Ted Stevens '47 is the fifth most senior member in the Senate and first among Republicans.

Stevens chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for annually allocating more than $1 trillion in federal funds among various government programs, agencies and departments. Stevens also has been chair of the Senate Rules Committee, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Ethics Committee.

Stevens currently serves as Senate President Pro Tempore, presiding over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President. As President Pro Tempore, he is third in the line of succession for the presidency.

Stevens is the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and has served on the appropriations subcommittees for Commerce, Justice, State, Interior, Labor, Health, Human Services and Education.

Virtually every senator is aware that Alaska is one-fifth the size of the entire United States, thanks to Stevens' constant reminder of this on the Senate floor. Stevens' popularity is evidenced by the 79 percent of the vote he received for his 2002 re-election.

Stevens initiated the first federal programs for AIDS and started the first federal programmatic commitment to breast cancer. Stevens has responded to requests for research support from UCLA quickly, enthusiastically and passionately.

Stevens received two Distinguished Flying Crosses for achievement as a pilot during World War II. Following the war, Stevens received a degree from UCLA in 1947 and then earned his law degree from Harvard Law School.

In 1960, Stevens was appointed solicitor of the Department of the Interior by President Dwight Eisenhower and worked successfully for Alaska's admission as the 49th state. In 2000, Anchorage International Airport was renamed the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

A former surfer, Stevens has his surfboard mounted on his Hart Building office wall. He fondly recalls taking surfing trips up and down the California coast as a teenager while living out of a 1931 Pontiac with a home-built roof rack. Surfing since has given way to fishing. Give him a few free hours on an Alaska summer day, and he'll head for the nearest fishing hole to indulge in his favorite pastime. Testament to his skills as an angler is the 71-pound Kenai Peninsula King Salmon he caught, which also is mounted on his office wall.

Stevens is a life member of the UCLA Alumni Association and received the Alumni Association's Professional Achievement Award in 1971.