Vance Hartke

Rupert Vance Hartke was an American politician who served as a Democratic United States senator from Indiana from 1959 until 1977. Hartke was elected to the Senate after serving as the mayor of Evansville, Indiana. In the Senate, he supported the Great Society and became a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War. Hartke ran for president in the 1972 Democratic primaries but withdrew after the first set of primaries. He left the Senate after losing his 1976 reelection campaign to Richard Lugar.