Mansfield, Michael Joseph definition of Mansfield, Michael Joseph in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Mansfield, Michael Joseph, 1903–2001, U.S. senator (1953–77), b. New York City. After working (1922–31) as a mining engineer, he taught (1933–42) history at Montana State Univ. before serving (1943–53) as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected (1952) to the Senate, Mansfield succeeded Lyndon B. Johnson Johnson, Lyndon Baines, 1908–73, 36th President of the United States (1963–69), b. near Stonewall, Tex.

Early Life

Born into a farm family, he graduated (1930) from Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Southwest Texas State Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. as Senate majority leader and held that post from 1961 until 1977 when he became ambassador to Japan. He retired in 1989. As majority leader he wielded much power and during the 1960s and 70s he helped win the passage of major civil-rights legislation, liberal social reform programs, and important foreign-policy laws. Mansfield had the longest tenure as majority leader of any senator in U.S. history.

Bibliography

See biography by D. Oberdorfer (2003).