Thomas Kean

Thomas Howard Kean (born April 21, 1935 in New York City) was the Republican Governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990.

In December 2002, Kean was appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, a high-profile independent commission charged with investigating the September 11 Terrorist Attacks. The commission is widely considered the most important independent government commission since the Warren Commission.

On April 4, 2004, Kean stated that the September 11 attacks could have been prevented had the United States government acted sooner to dismantle al-Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats. The statement was reflected in greater detail in the commission's July 22, 2004 final report, which concluded that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had ill-served the American people in failing to predict or prevent the September 11 attacks.

Born to a long line of New Jersey politicans, Kean was educated at two Ivy League universities, Princeton and Columbia Universities. Originally a teacher of history and government, he was elected, in 1967, as a Republican Assemblyman to the New Jersey State Legislature. He served as the New Jersey House Speaker in 1972, and became the minority leader in 1974. In 1973, he briefly served as Acting New Jersey Governor. He ran successfully for Governor in 1981, and served two terms.

After leaving office, Kean became the President of Drew University, in which capacity he still serves, though he has announced that he will resign at the end of the 2004-2005 year.

Kean is the author of The Politics of Inclusion, published in 1988 by Free Press.