WILMINGTON, Del.—Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, a former Delaware governor and congressman who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He …
WILMINGTON, Del.—Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, a former Delaware governor and congressman who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 86. Du Pont, a scion of the family that established the DuPont Co., died at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday after a long illness, his former chief of staff, Bob Perkins, said. Born to wealth and status, du Pont broke with family tradition in the 1960s, forgoing a comfortable career with his family’s chemical company for a life in politics. “I was born with a well-known name and genuine opportunity. I hope I have lived up to both,” du Pont said in announcing his longshot presidential bid in September 1986. As a presidential candidate, du Pont attracted attention for staking out controversial positions on what he hoped would reverberate with voters as “damn right” issues. They included random drug testing for high school students, school vouchers, replacing welfare with work, ending farm subsidies, and allowing workers to invest in individual retirement accounts as an alternative to Social Security. Some of those ideas have since become more mainstream. He won the endorsement of New Hampshire’s largest newspaper but failed to gain traction among voters. He ended his campaign after finishing next-to-last in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Afterward, du Pont remained engaged in politics. He frequently wrote opinion pieces for publications such as the Wall Street Journal and co-founded the online public policy journal IntellectualCapital.
