Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is a retired American politician and lawyer. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, he served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and 1983 to 1991, the second Greek-American to serve as such after Spiro Agnew. He previously served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963 to 1971.
Dukakis later ran for president in 1988. At the time he was initially seen as a relatively strong candidate (albeit in a weak field of Democratsnote ) due to overseeing the 'Massachusetts Miracle' as Governor. He defeated the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Gore to become the Democratic Party's nominee and would be up against George H. W. Bush in the general election.
Although Bush was Vice President to the popular Ronald Reagan, Dukakis enjoyed a significant lead early in the campaign. It started going wrong, however, when the fall came along. Amongst the mistakes made by Dukakis were his appearing in a tank in military gear (which did not suit him, to say the least) and a completely tone deaf response to a death penalty question during a debate. Additionally, the Bush campaign successfully painted him as an out-of-touch (even though Dukakis came from humble origins) liberal who was soft on crime. Dukakis went down to a heavy defeat, although he did keep it closer than both Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter had managed to do in each of the two immediately previous elections.
He is married to author Kitty Dickson and they have four children. Olympia Dukakis was his cousin.
Media:
Film-Live Action
- The Junior Defenders: He makes an uncredited cameo appearance.
Live Action Television
- Cheers: He appeared as himself in an episode.
- Late Line: Appears in an episode.
- Saturday Night Live: Jon Lovitz played him during the 1988 presidential election.
- St. Elsewhere: Appears in an episode when he was still governor.
Western Animation
- The Simpsons: In "The Kid Is All Right", Lisa had a nightmare about "losers" in which Dukakis, Walter Mondale and John Kerry appeared to her in ghostly forms, referencing that all three were Democrats who lost U.S. presidential elections: Mondale in 1984, Dukakis in 1988 and Kerry in 2004.
