Howard Dean

Howard Dean (born November 17, 1948, New York, New York, U.S.) is an American physician and politician who was governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2002. He ran for the Democratic nomination for the president of the United States in the 2004 election and served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Dean was born to Howard Brush Dean, Jr., a stockbroker, and Andrée Belden Maitland, an art appraiser. He attended college at Yale University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1971. He studied at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City, completing his M.D. in 1978, before moving to Shelburne, Vermont, and establishing a medical practice.

Dean began his political career in 1982 as a state representative in the Vermont House of Representatives. He was then elected lieutenant governor in 1986. Dean became Vermont’s governor on August 14, 1991, after the death of Gov. Richard Snelling. As governor he achieved a balanced budget and implemented a program that provided universal health care for children and pregnant women in the state. He also signed a civil unions law in 2000.

On June 23, 2003, Dean officially announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the presidential election of 2004. His campaign focused on the issues of health care, a balanced budget, and a restructuring of the war in Iraq, which he had opposed from its outset. Dean became the first presidential candidate to rely heavily on the power of the Internet to communicate with and accept donations from his supporters. He withdrew from the race in February 2004 after placing third in the Wisconsin primary. Dean founded Democracy for America (DFA), a grassroots political action committee committed to endorsing progressive candidates, in 2004.

Dean served as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2011. During his tenure he created and championed the “50 State Strategy,” an effort to run competitive Democratic candidates in all states and at all levels of government to secure the long-term future of a Democratic majority. Dean strengthened the party by using social media and other Internet tools to bolster the party’s ability to organize. Improved organization and communication were often cited as major reasons that in 2008 Democrats recovered several congressional seats and won the presidential election.