Peter H. Dominick

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Peter Hoyt Dominick
United States Senator from Colorado
In office January 3, 1963 – January 2, 1975
Preceded by	John A. Carroll
Succeeded by	Gary Hart
Born	July 7, 1915 Stamford, Connecticut
Died	March 18, 1981 (aged 65) Hobe Sound, Florida
Political party	Republican

Peter Hoyt Dominick (July 7, 1915 – March 18, 1981) was a politician and lawyer from Colorado. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the United States Senate from 1963 to 1975. His uncle, Howard Alexander Smith, was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1944 to 1959.

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Dominick graduated from St. Mark's School in 1933, from Yale University in 1937 as a member of Scroll and Key, and Yale Law School in 1940. He practiced law in New York City from 1940 until 1942, when he entered the United States Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet at the outset of American fighting in World War II. He served until his separation from military service in 1945, as a captain. He briefly recommenced his legal practice in New York City in 1946, before moving that same year to Denver, Colorado, where he continued to practice.

Dominick entered politics when he was elected a Republican to the Colorado House of Representatives where he served from 1957 to 1961. In 1960, he made a successful bid to the United States House of Representatives, defeating incumbent freshman Democrat Byron L. Johnson, and abandoned his law career in 1961. After a single term in the House of Representatives, Dominick made a successful run for the United States Senate, defeating one term incumbent Democrat John A. Carroll, 53.6% to Carroll's 45.6%. He was reelected in 1968 over Stephen L. R. McNichols, a former Governor of Colorado, 58.6% to McNichols' 41.5%.

Senator Dominick served as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 92nd Congress from 1971 to 1973. In a popular election year for Democrats, Dominick was defeated for a third term in 1974 to Gary Hart, 57.2% to his 39.5%. After leaving the Senate at the end of his term in 1975, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland by President Gerald Ford but served only briefly. He resided in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado until his death at Hobe Sound, Florida, on March 18, 1981. Former Senator Dominick's body was interred in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver.

[edit] See also

• United States Senate elections, 1962
• United States Senate elections, 1968
• United States Senate elections, 1974

[edit] References

• Peter H. Dominick at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-01-25

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