Michael Dukakis is a retired American politician. He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on November 3, 1933. Dukakis gradated from Harvard Law School. After graduating from Harvard he won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving from 1963 to 1971. Dukakis served as the 65th Governor of Massachusetts, from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the second Greek-American governor in U.S. history, after Spiro Agnew. He is also the longest serving governor in Masschusetts history. He was nominated by the Democratic Party for president in the 1988 election, losing to the Republican candidate, Vice President George H. W. Bush.
Dukakis won the Democratic presidential nomination for the 1988 presidential election, but lost the election to George H. W. Bush carrying only ten states and Washington, D.C.. However, he improved on the Democratic performance in the previous two elections. After the elections were over, Dukakis announced that he would not seek another term as governor, and eventually he left office in 1991.
“Our greatest strength comes not from what we possess,
but from what we believe; not from what we have,
but from who we are.”
After leaving office, Dukakis served on the board of directors for Amtrak and taught political science at Northeastern University and UCLA. In 2012, Dukakis backed the Senate campaign of Elizabeth Warren.
Mchael Dukakis is the cousin of actress Olympia Dukakis.
