Lincoln Chafee was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He left, attended Harvard Law School (1959), and began his public service career as an assistant attorney general for the State of Rhode Island (1960-1961). He also began his public service career as special counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations (1963-1964), and as a member of the Rhode Island Unemployment Compensation Board (1964-1965). He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Gerald Ford from August 3, 1975 to January 20, 1977, where he was responsible for civil defense, space policy, energy policy, and operational readiness
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Mr. Chafee returned to private life until January 2001 when he was appointed by Governor Lincoln Almond to be United States Senator for Rhode Island. Since being sworn in on January 3, 2001, Senator Chafee has been serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.
He is also serving on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Mr. Chafee was one of only three senators to vote against the Bush Administration's plan to invade Iraq based on faulty intelligence that did not exist at that time.