Conable was born in Warsaw, New York on November 2, 1922. He graduated from Cornell University in 1942, where he was president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He then enlisted in the Marines and was sent to the Pacific front in World War II. After the war, he received his law degree from Cornell University Law School in 1948. He later re-enlisted and fought in the Korean War.
Background
In 1962, Conable was elected as a Republican to the New York State Senate. After only one term, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964 from a Rochester-based district. He was reelected nine more times. He was known on both sides of the aisle for his honesty and integrity, at one point being voted by his colleagues the "most respected" member of Congress; he refused to accept personal contributions larger than $50.
A long-time ally of Richard Nixon, Conable broke with him in disgust after the revelations of the Watergate scandal. When the White House released a tape of Nixon instructing his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman to obstruct the FBI investigation, Conable said it was a "smoking gun", a phrase which quickly entered the political folklore.
In 1980, Conable appeared in Milton Friedman's PBS documentary Free to Choose.
Conable retired from the House in 1984. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed him president of the World Bank. His experience as a legislator proved crucial as he persuaded his former colleagues to almost double Congress's appropriations for the Bank. He retired in 1991.
He died from a staphylococcus infection in 2003, at his winter home in Sarasota, Florida.
Career
Following his retirement from the World Bank, he served on 4 corporate boards of directors. He was on the Executive Committee of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, the Boards of both the Museum of the American Indian and the American History Museum at the Smithsonian, the Commission on Global Governance (an independent UN-related Commission), and the Security and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Capital Formation and Regulatory Processes. He was a member of the Senior Advisory Committee and the Global Environmental Facility. He was also the Chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian. In addition, Mr. Conable served on the Board of the Genesee Country Museum and on the New York State Commission on Student Aid.
Achievements
Connections
In 1952, Conable married Charlotte Williams, his wife until his death.