Percy, Charles Harting (1919-2011), an Illinois Republican, was a United States senator from 1967 to 1985. In 1966, he defeated Democrat Paul H. Douglas, his former college economics professor, who had served three terms in the Senate. Percy became a leader of the younger, liberal Republican senators during his first Senate term. He was reelected in 1972 and 1978. From 1981 to 1985, he served as chairman of the Senate’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee. Percy ran for a fourth Senate term in 1984 but lost the election. He then started a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., to advise U.S. companies on international trade.
Percy was born in Pensacola, Florida, on Sept. 27, 1919. He grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. After college, Percy joined the Bell & Howell Company, a manufacturer of photographic equipment. He served in the Navy during World War II (1939-1945). In 1949, at the age of 29, he became president of Bell & Howell. He was chairman of the platform committee of the Republican National Convention in 1960. In 1964, he ran for governor of Illinois but lost. Percy died on Sept. 17, 2011.
