Ben Walker

Benjamin Joseph Walker (October 17, 1942 – February 19, 2013) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, Walker previously served as the 37th Governor of California from 1999 to 2001.

Walker died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 2013 at the age of 70. His daughter, Anne, served in the U.S. Senate and was a candidate for president in 2020.

Early life and education
Ben Walker was born on October 17, 1942, in San Francisco, California, as the oldest of three children. In 1948, Walker's father died of lung cancer, leaving his family in poverty for many years.

After finishing high school, Walker was accepted at Stanford University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1964. Walker continued his higher education, earning a Master of Public Policy in 1966 and a Juris Doctor in 1969, both from Stanford University. In 1974, Walker completed his academic studies, earning a Doctor of Philosophy in public policy from Stanford University.

Early career
After obtaining his Juris Doctor in 1969, Walker began working as a law clerk to a federal district judge in San Francisco. He worked for this judge until 1974, when he began practicing law at a private law firm.

In 1978, Walker co-founded a private law firm in San Francisco and named it Walker, Benson, and Barnes. Walker quit his job at the law firm in 1991 to run for office.

Mayor of San Francisco
In 1991, Walker launched his first campaign for public office, running for Mayor of San Francisco. He believed that his background as a lawyer and academic would help his candidacy, and he ran of one of the most progressive platforms of any candidate in the country, leading some to publicly refer to him as a Communist. He won the election by over thirty thousand votes and was sworn in on January 8, 1992.

With a consistent 63% approval rating, Walker ran for re-election and was unopposed. His eight-year tenure as mayor focused on cleaning up the city, getting the homeless off of the streets, and fixing the city's roads. Walker left office with a 78% approval rating.

Governor of California
After leaving office as mayor in 1998, Walker ran for Governor of California. He consistently did well in polls and won in a crowded primary of seven candidates, including Gray Davis, who was the lieutenant governor at the time. Walker won the general election with 61% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee and state attorney general Dan Lungren.

As governor, Walker improved the state economy; by the time he left office in 2001, California had the fourth-largest economy in the world, as compared to the seventh-largest when he took office in 1999. In 2000, Walker was also ranked the most progressive governor in the country. His governorship was focused on social rights, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and a more open border with Mexico, as well as the state's growing economy. Upon his resignation in 2001, Walker left office with a 62% approval rating.

Chair of the Democratic National Committee
Walker was elected as Chair of the Democratic National Committee in 1995. During his tenure as chairman, he focused on recruitment to the party and achieving a majority in both houses of Congress. Walker also worked hard to ensure that a Democrat would be succeeding Bill Clinton as president. In 2001, he resigned the chairmanship after being elected president and was succeeded by Meghan Madison.

2000 election
Walker announced his 2000 presidential campaign on January 17, 2000, in a speech in San Francisco. He ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination and chose Ohio governor Steve Chisler as his running mate. Walker and Chisler defeated the Republican ticket of Felix Quintos and Donald Powell and the Independent ticket of John Wright and Mark Meadows with 479 electoral votes to Quintos' 59 and Wright's zero.

2004 election
Walker announced his re-election bid on November 28, 2003, with Chisler as his running mate. As a result of deciding to focus more on the presidency than the campaign, he was defeated by Republican nominee Greg Abbott, winning only 148 electoral votes to Abbott's 390. Walker conceded the election that night.

Presidency
Walker was inaugurated on January 20, 2001. After multiple states passed anti-abortion laws, Walker sued them and won the landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Ohio, that maintained the legality and constitutionality of abortion. Walker also passed legislation that legalized same-sex marriage, raised the national minimum wage to $10/hour, granted statehood to the District of Columbia, and enacted a single-payer universal healthcare system commonly referred to as Walkercare. Walker also used executive action to free all non-violent, drug-related federal offenders and memorialize singer-songwriter John Denver.

Upon the Democratic Party losing control of both chambers of Congress in the 2002 midterms, Walker enabled his administration to successfully work with Republican leaders to pass his legislative agenda. After the 2002 midterms, Walker went through a Cabinet reshuffle, firing many prominent members of his Cabinet, including John Wright, Leon Hansen, and Greg Abbott. Walker gave three State of the Union addresses during his presidency.

On September 11, 2001, during the first months of his presidency, Middle Eastern terrorists hijacked commercial airplanes and used them to destroy multiple important buildings, including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. During these attacks, Walker spoke with passengers onboard a third hijacked flight whose intended target was the U.S. Capitol and guided them through a process that allowed passengers to kill the hijackers, regain control of the airplane, and safely land the airplane in the woods of central Pennsylvania. As a result of these attacks, 2,937 people died; nonetheless, Walker successfully avoided a war with the Middle East and covertly killed multiple terrorists in connection with the attacks. Throughout his presidency, Walker also met with world leaders around the world, attended multiple conferences and summits, and made multiple trade and diplomacy deals. In 2004, Walker and Vice President Chisler traveled to Havana to negotiate a peace deal with the Castro government that resulted in the end of sanctions, the trade embargo, and travel restrictions to Cuba. Also in 2004, Walker gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

After having been defeated in the 2004 presidential election, Walker invoked the 25th Amendment and made Steve Chisler the acting president until Inauguration Day. Walker left office on January 20, 2005.

Post-presidency
Upon leaving office in 2005, Walker joined the faculty at Stanford University as a professor of public policy. In 2012, he received his teacher tenure from that school. In 2015, Walker retired as a professor and became professor emeritus of the School of Public Policy at Stanford.

In 2006, Walker ran for Secretary-General of the United Nations but lost to Ban Ki-moon by one vote. In 2008, Walker was considered for chief justice after the resignation of Mike Hodges, who resigned to become vice president. However, he turned it down to continue his teaching job.

Honors and awards
Walker has been awarded four Presidential Medals of Freedom, all with distinction. One of these medals were awarded by Greg Abbott, one by Catherine Graham, and one by Mike Hodges. In addition, Walker became the first person inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Personal life
Walker has been married twice. He was married to his first wife, Carol, for 28 years until she died of breast cancer in 1994. In 2000, Walker married then-Senate candidate Caitlyn Vance, who died in a car accident in 2005.

Walker has one child, Anne, whom he had with his first wife. Anne served as the Governor of California and as the U.S. Senator from the Southwest and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Later life and death
After eight years in retirement, Walker died of a cerebral hemorrhage after suffering a stroke at his home in San Francisco. He was 70 years old when he died.