Dukakis, Michael 1933-
US politician

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Greek immigrants, he studied law at Harvard and served in Korea (1955-57) before concentrating on a political career in his home state. Elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts legislature in 1962, he became Governor of that state in 1974. His first term was unsuccessful, marred by an unwillingness to compromise, and he was defeated in 1978. However he returned in 1982, committed to work in a more consensual manner, and was elected Governor again. His second term coincided with the state's emergence as a centre of US high technology and its new-found prosperity helped assure his re-election with an increased majority in 1986. He captured the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, defeating Jesse Jackson and presenting himself as a neo-liberal, but was defeated by the Republican George Bush in 1988.