Jane Gray Muskie (February 12, 1927- December 25, 2004) was the widow of U.S. senator and 1968 vice presidential candidate Edmund Muskie, whose 1972 presidential campaign collapsed after he emotionally defended Mrs. Muskie following scathing criticism from an editorial in the conservative Manchester Union Leader newspaper. The editorial alleged that Mrs. Muskie enjoyed excessive drinking and telling dirty jokes. An emotional Edmund Muskie defended his wife outside the newspaper's offices in the cold New Hampshire winter. Senator Muskie appeared to cry, but he later claimed that melted snowflakes, not tears, were streaming down his face.
After Edmund Muskie died in 1996, Jane Muskie retreated to private life. She died quietly at her home in Bethesda, Maryland on Christmas Day, 2004, after a bout with Alzheimer's Disease.
Muskie was born in Rumford, Maine, the son of Roman Catholic Polish immigrants.
Muskie became one of the first environmentalists to enter the U.S. Senate and was a leading campaigner for new and stronger measures to curb pollution and provide a cleaner environment.
Muskie's broadcast was seen as thoughtful and definitive in comparison to the message of President Nixon, who appearing in fl and white, seemed harsh and paranoid over unrest in the nation over Vietnam and the economy.
Muskie was born Edmund Sixtus Marciszewski in Rumford, Maine, the son of Roman Catholic Polish immigrants.
Muskie was tapped by President Jimmy Carter to serve as Secretary of State, following the resignation of Cyrus Vance from that post in 1980.
Muskie left public office following Carter's loss of the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Carter on January 16 1981.
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