Dennis John Kucinich - a Politician with Fighting Spirit

Dennis John Kucinich was born on October 8, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. His parents, Frank and Virginia Kucinich had seven children and Dennis John was the eldest of them. His father was a truck driver and was of Croatian ancestry whereas his mother was an Irish American homemaker.

Kucinich completed his graduation from Case Western Reserve University in 1973 with degrees in Bachelor of Arts as well as Master of Arts in speech and communication. As regards his personal life, he has been divorced twice and has married a third wife, Elizabeth Harper, on August 21, 2005. She is a British citizen. He has 1 daughter, Jackie, from his second marriage to Sandra Lee McCarthy.

Kucinich's political career started at a very young age. He was elected to the Cleveland City Council at the age of twenty three in 1969. Later on in 1972 he tried for a seat in the United States House of Representatives but lost by a small margin to William E Minshall, Jr., a republican candidate. In 1975 Kucinich became a municipal court clerk in Cleveland and continued in the same position for almost 2 years.

Kucinich had the distinction of becoming the youngest ever mayor of a major American city. He was elected as the mayor of Cleveland in the year 1977. He served in that position for 2 years till 1979. His tenure of mayor had some major drastic events like the Muni Light which he refused to sell and at one time, the Cleveland mafia had put out a hit on Kucinich, but the plot could not succeed. There were some experts who had placed Kucinich amongst the worst mayors for his temperament and performance. Kucinich had to pass through all these phases and ultimately in 1998, the council honored him for saving the city.