He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and the Navy Commendation Medal.Mr. Kernan was employed by Procter & Gamble in
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and the Navy Commendation Medal.
Mr. Kernan was employed by Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, then returned to Indiana the place he labored for the South Bend Group Faculties and several other space firms. In 1980, he was appointed metropolis comptroller.
In 1987, Mr. Kernan, a Democrat, was elected mayor of South Bend, with financial improvement close to the highest of his agenda. When he was elected to his third four-year time period, he gained a document 82 p.c of the vote and have become town’s longest-serving mayor on the time.
The next 12 months, with Gov. Evan Bayh, a Democrat, ineligible to hunt re-election due to time period limits, Frank O’Bannon named Mr. Kernan as his operating mate for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket. Each have been elected. (Mr. O’Bannon had been lieutenant governor beneath Governor Bayh.)
As lieutenant governor, Mr. Kernan centered on tax reform, job creation and problems with particular concern to veterans and farmers.
Re-elected in 2000, he assumed the governor’s job in September 2003 when Mr. O’Bannon died at 73 after having a stroke. Mr. Kernan then named Kathy Davis, a state and Indianapolis official, as lieutenant governor, making her the primary lady to carry that job. He made strides in bettering kindergarten and neighborhood school schooling.
He sought a full time period in 2004 however misplaced to the Republican, Mitch Daniels, and returned to non-public life. He taught political science at Notre Dame and was president and managing investor of the South Bend Silver Hawks, then a farm membership of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was instrumental in retaining the membership, now referred to as the South Bend Cubs, on the town.
Within the 2011 South Bend mayoral election, Mr. Kernan endorsed Pete Buttigieg, who went on to serve eight years in Metropolis Corridor earlier than operating for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.