Richard Blumenthal is an American veteran politician and current United States Senator from Connecticut. Blumenthal is also a lawyer, having graduated from the prestigious Yale Law School. From 1991 to 2011, he served as Connecticut’s Attorney General. He is a Democrat and has served as the senior state senator since 2013. He is also known to be the second richest member of the US Senate.
Richard Blumenthal’s Bio
On February 13, 1946, Richard Blumenthal was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Jane and Martin Blumenthal. Blumenthal’s father was a Jew who was president of a commodity trading company. He had immigrated to the United States, alone at age 17, from Frankfurt, Germany.
Richard attended a private school in the Bronx, Riverdale Country School. After graduating from Harvard College, he went to England and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge for a year. Then he went to Yale Law School, where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal. While attending Yale Law School, he was with his classmates with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Blumenthal has a brother named David Blumenthal, who chairs the Commonwealth Fund.
After college, Blumenthal became an administrative and forensic assistant for many figures in Washington, D.C. Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1970 to 1976, where he was promoted to sergeant. He served as a United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1977 to 1981. Later, in the early 1980s, he practiced in private law practice. He then served in the Connecticut House of Representatives, from 1985 to 1987. In 1990, he was elected Connecticut’s Attorney General and served for twenty years.
After sitting Democratic Senator Chris Dodda announced his retirement in 2010, Blumenthal announced his decision to run for the US Senate. Linda McMahon and professional wrestling mogul, ran for office in 2010. He won by a 12 point margin with 55% of the vote. He was sworn in on January 5, 2011.
He took his place in the Armed Forces of the Senate;Judicial; Aging; and health, education, labor and pensions committees. After Joe Lieberman retired in 2013, he became a senior senator from Connecticut. In 2016, he became the first person to receive more than 1 million votes in a Connecticut-wide election, after winning re-election with 63.2% of the vote.
Net value
Richard Blumenthal who is ranked as the second richest member of the Senate had an estimated net worth of $81,745,158 in 2015. His real estate portfolio accounts for $18 million of his assets. Senator Blumenthal has about $6.8 million, mostly dominated by JP Morgan Chase.
Education
Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. After high school, he went to Harvard College where he earned a bachelor’s degree. degree magna cum laude. At Harvard, Blumenthal was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. There, he became editorial chairman of the Harvard Crimson.
Blumenthal was selected for a Fiskec Scholarship that allowed him to study at the University of Cambridge in England for a year after graduating from Harvard College. After his year in England, he went to Yale Law School where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. He worked alongside the future US Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, one of his co-editors.
women
Cynthia Malkin, Blumenthal’s wife, is the daughter of a wealthy real estate investor, Peter Malkin. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Empire State Realty Trust, which owns a large number of properties across New York City, including the Empire State Building. Anthony Malkin (Cynthia’s brother) became President and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust in 2013.
He met his wife when he was 31 and she was just 16 at a party in Greenwich. They would meet again years later at the wedding of Cynthia’s cousin when she had just started attending Harvard University. They got engaged during his senior year and in 1982, a year later, they married after graduating. She was 21 and he was 36.
Family
Richard Blumenthal has been married to Cynthia Blumenthal (née Malkin) for over 30 years. They have four children: Claire, Matthew, David and Michael Blumenthal. Her parents were Martin Blumenthal and Jane Blumenthal (née Rosenstock) and her brother David Blumenthal; Chairman of the Commonwealth Fund.
Matthew Blumenthal, Richard’s eldest son is a candidate for State Representative in Connecticut’s 147th District. Matthew graduated from Harvard University and Yale Law School and joined the Marine Corps Reserve, just like his father. He led a rifle shooting platoon in Afghanistan in 2011. David Blumenthal, Richard’s second son, is studying at Georgetown Law.
Richard’s brother, David Blumenthal is an academic physician and health policy expert. In the late 1970s, he served on the professional staff of the U.S. Senate Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Resources, Health, and Scientific Research. In 1991, he became head of the Health Policy Research and Development Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1991.
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, Blumenthal received five draft reports. The first being an educational deferment and the others were based on his occupation. In April 1970, Blumenthal enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, which is generally considered an alternative for those wishing to avoid serving in Vietnam.
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From 1970 to 1976, he served in units in Washington DC and Connecticut, where he obtained the rank of sergeant. During the 2010 Senate campaign, Blumenthal allegedly said he fought in the Vietnam War, which caused an outcry. Blumenthal denied intentionally misleading voters into thinking he fought in the war when he only meant he served in the war.
He admitted to being very vague at times about his service record, leading people to believe he had fought in the war. He apologized for his lack of clarity when talking about his military service.