Table of Contents
Bentsen Leaves a Lasting Legacy
Senator Lloyd Bentsen Center for Stroke Research to carry out late politician’s vision
exploring stroke causes, treatment
Former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and his wife, B. A.
Bentsen, were married for 63 years. He died
May 23. Photo by Kim Coffman
Former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen once said he wished he
could live two or three lives. For all practical purposes,
the 85-year-old native Texan achieved this goal.
Bentsen was a highly decorated World War II bomber pilot, a successful businessman who amassed a sizeable fortune in the insurance industry, and a revered politician who spent nearly 50 years in public service in the House and Senate. He also ran for both president and vice president and served as treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.
Bentsen died May 23 at his home in Houston surrounded
by his family, including his wife of 63 years,
B. A. Bentsen.
In 1998, Bentsen suffered a series of strokes
that left him partially paralyzed and confined to a
wheelchair. Last year, the Bentsen family committed
$1 million to The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston to establish The Senator Lloyd
Bentsen Center for Stroke Research.
“When my husband first had a stroke, we found there was no particular place to go for help,” B. A. Bentsen said last fall. “Lloyd and I said it would be so wonderful if there was a place that offered the latest research and treatment. If doctors could tell who is at risk in the early stages of the disease, these tragedies could be avoided.”
Born in Mission, Texas, Bentsen graduated from The University of Texas Law School at age 21. During World War II, he became a bomber pilot and squadron commander, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel.
At just 25 years of age, Bentsen was elected
Hidalgo County Judge and won a seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives two years later. He left
behind politics during the 1950s and ’60s while he
organized Consolidated American Life Insurance
Company, which later became the publicly traded
Lincoln Consolidated. In 1970, he returned to
the political arena by winning election to the U.S.
Senate. He was reelected in 1976 and 1982. He made
a bid for president in 1976 and ran as the vice presidential
nominee in 1988.
It was at that time during a televised debate against Republican rival Dan Quayle that Bentsen uttered his most-repeated quote. When Quayle defended his political inexperience by likening himself to John F. Kennedy, Bentsen remarked, “I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
Though the quip became part of the pop culture lexicon at the time, the comment was uncharacteristic of Bentsen, who was known as a courtly gentleman and renowned for garnering bipartisan support of economic initiatives.
In 1993 he was appointed the 69th Secretary of the Treasury by President Bill Clinton, and in 1999 Bentsen received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The list of honorary pallbearers at Bentsen’s May 30 memorial service read like a who’s who of local, national and international politicians and dignitaries, including: former Secretary of State Madeline Albright; former U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton; former Massachusetts Governor, Michael Dukakis, with whom Bentsen ran as vice president; former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier; diplomat Henry Kissinger; local businessmen Gerald Hines, Barry Margolis and Ed Randall; former Texas Governor Ann Richards; Houston Mayor Bill White; and UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D.
“Lloyd Bentsen was both a friend and an American
hero,” said Mayor White. “Lloyd was an excellent
businessman, and he gladly channeled his special
talents into public service. He was willing to make
that sacrifice. That’s one reason he enjoyed universal
respect that transcended party lines.”
The Bentsen family’s generous gift to establish The
Senator Lloyd Bentsen Center for Stroke Research
within the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular
Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM)
has allowed the health science center to expand research
into the debilitating effects of stroke, the third leading
cause of death in the United States, Willerson said.
“Lloyd Bentsen’s enduring legacy of selfless public service will continue as revolutionary research is performed at the center bearing his name,” Willerson said. “The work conducted at the IMM will, no doubt, advance the science of detecting stroke susceptibility, further exploring the cause of stroke and developing better treatment methods.”
Bentsen recorded and bequeathed his oral history
to The University of Texas. The bequest prohibits
opening the recording until five years after his death.
The Bentsen family suggests that remembrances
be made to The Senator Lloyd Bentsen Center for
Stroke Research. Sen. Bentsen’s son, Lan Bentsen,
is a member of the UT Health Science Center’s
Development Board and leads fund raising for the
new center. For information about making a gift, call
Victor Cuffee, 713-500-3224.
By Wendy K. Mohon, Public Affairs