CINXE.COM

<html> <head> <title>Thomas Vilsack</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap>This is a beta version of NNDB</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/368/000044236/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0>Thomas Vilsack<img src="vilsack40.jpg" height=254 width=213 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Thomas Vilsack">AKA Thomas James VilsackBorn: <a href="/lists/865/000106547/" class=proflink>13-Dec</a>-<a href="/lists/949/000105634/" class=proflink>1950</a> Birthplace: <a href="/geo/661/000069454/" class=proflink>Pittsburgh, PA</a> Gender: Male Religion: <a href="/lists/758/000094476/" class=proflink>Roman Catholic</a> Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Politician Party Affiliation: DemocraticNationality: United States Executive summary: US Secretary of AgricultureTom Vilsack was informally called "Kenneth" when he was placed in a Catholic orphanage as a newborn. He was about five months old when he was adopted by Bud and Dolly Vilsack, heirs to Pittsburg's Iron City Brewery. It was a fairly well-off family until Vilsack's early teens, when some of his father's real estate investments soured, and his mother endured drug and alcohol addictions, eventually recovering. Young Vilsack was sent to a prestigious private school, where he was elected class vice president. He met his wife in college in the early 1970s, reportedly introducing himself with the line, "Are you a <a href="/people/892/000027811/">Humphrey</a> or a <a href="/people/110/000024038/">Nixon</a> supporter?" He studied law in New York, then settled in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he went to work at his father-in-law's legal firm. About ten years after Vilsack arrived in town, the Mayor was shot and killed by a disgruntled resident during a City Council meeting. In the aftermath of the assassination, Vilsack was elected Mayor and went on to serve three terms. He moved on to the State Senate in 1992, and in 1999 he became Iowa's first Democratic Governor in about three decades. In two terms as Governor he rarely made news beyond Iowa, but on November 30, 2006, Vilsack announced his candidacy for President in 2008 at a "community pot luck dinner" in Mount Pleasant. Politically, he is a middle-of-the-road Democrat. As Governor, Vilsack brags of leading the war on methamphetamine, building a new high-tech $50-million crime lab, tripling the number of Iowa children covered by health insurance, extending prison sentences and strengthens post-prison supervision of sex criminals, and organizing a statewide drug-purchasing program that reduces the price of prescription medicines. As a Presidential candidate, Vilsack has called for decreasing America's dependence on foreign oil, and exploration of alternative energy sources. Since 2005, he has been the chairman of the <a href="/group/269/000093987/">New Democrat Movement</a>, a group largely funded by oil companies, military contractors, and corporate interests that works to ensure that Democratic Party candidates take centrist positions. The DLC and most of its member-politicians supported NAFTA, CAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They opposed any efforts to block <a href="/people/639/000107318/">Samuel Alito</a> from reaching the US Supreme Court, and criticized such progressives as <a href="/people/308/000024236/">Howard Dean</a> and <a href="/people/252/000032156/">Tom Harkin</a> as "out-of-touch liberals". Vilsack's wife, Christie, is a former school teacher and newspaper columnist. She was criticized by the hypersensitive for a 1994 article in which she wrote, "I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires." The Vilsacks have two adult children, both attorneys.Father: Bud Vilsack (adoptive father, real estate salesman) Mother: Dolly Vilsack (adoptive mother, homemaker) Sister: Alice (b. 1944) Wife: Ann Christine Bell Vilsack ("Christie", school teacher-news columnist, m. 18-Aug-1973) Son: Jess William Vilsack (attorney) Son: Douglas James Vilsack (attorney)     High School: <a href="/edu/116/000346075/">Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA (1968)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/674/000082428/">BA, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY (1972)</a>     Law School: <a href="/edu/095/000112756/">JD, Albany Law School, Union University, Albany, NY (1975)</a>     <a href="/gov/488/000051335/">US Secretary of Agriculture</a> (21-Jan-2009 to present)     <a href="/gov/941/000051788/">Governor of Iowa</a> (15-Jan-1999 to 12-Jan-2007)     <a href="/gov/107/000121741/">Iowa State Senate</a> (1992-98)     <a href="/gov/539/000042413/">Mayor</a> Mount Pleasant, IA (1987-92)     <a href="/event/457/000179917/">Left at Orphanage</a>     <a href="/event/680/000104368/">Adopted</a> 10-Apr-1951     <a href="/org/935/000111602/">American Bar Association</a>     <a href="/org/570/000167069/">Hillary Clinton for President</a>     <a href="/org/521/000117170/">Iowa State Bar Association</a>     <a href="/org/494/000163005/">Jobs for America's Graduates</a> Board of Directors     <a href="/org/526/000041403/">Delta Upsilon Fraternity</a> Official Website: <a href="http://www.tomvilsack08.com/" target=_blank>http://www.tomvilsack08.com/</a> <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=44236"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=44236">Thomas Vilsack</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. Do you know something we don't? <a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/feedback/?id=44236" rel="nofollow">Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile</a> Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications </td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 0px 8px 25px;"></td></tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>