Carl Milton Levin was born on June 28, 1934, and passed away on July 29, 2021. He was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he led the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2015.

He was born in Detroit and graduated from Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. From 1964 to 1967, he worked as the general counsel of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. Later, he served as a special assistant attorney general for the Michigan Attorney General's Office. From 1969 to 1977, he was a member of the Detroit City Council, and he was the council's president for the last four years of his term.

In 1978, Levin ran for the United States Senate and won against Republican candidate Robert P. Griffin. He was re-elected in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. On March 7, 2013, he announced he would not run for a seventh term. On March 9, 2015, he joined the Detroit-based law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. At the same time, he started the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School. The center aimed to improve the honesty, fairness, and accountability of public and private organizations by supporting bipartisan oversight and promoting good governance.

Levin became Michigan’s senior senator in 1995 and was the longest-serving senator in the state’s history. When he retired, he was the fourth longest-serving senator in the U.S. Senate. In March 2021, he released his memoir, Getting to the Heart of the Matter: My 36 Years in the Senate, which was published by Wayne State University Press.

Early life, education, and career

Levin was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Jewish parents named Bess Rachel (née Levinson) and Saul R. Levin. Saul worked on the Michigan Corrections Commission. Levin graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1952 and later attended Swarthmore College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1956. During summers while he was a student, he worked as a taxi driver and on an automobile factory line. He then studied law at Harvard Law School and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1959. He was later given honorary degrees from Swarthmore College in 1980, Michigan State University in 2004, Wayne State University in 2005, Lawrence Technological University in 2006, and Michigan Technological University in 2008.

After completing his law degree, Levin joined the State Bar of Michigan. He worked as a lawyer for the firm Grossman, Hyman and Grossman and also taught law at Wayne State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. From 1964 to 1967, he served as General Counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. During this time, he helped create the Detroit Public Defender's Office and led its Appellate Division, which later became the State Appellate Defender's Office. From 1968 to 1969, he worked as a special assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan and as the chief appellate defender for the city of Detroit.

Levin was elected to the Detroit City Council (then called the Detroit Common Council) in 1969. He served two four-year terms, from 1970 to 1977. He was president of the City Council during his entire second term. While serving as council president, Levin became frustrated with how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development handled homes that were taken back by banks, which caused neighborhoods to decline. He and other council members used a bulldozer to help tear down some of the abandoned houses. He worked closely with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, the city's first African-American mayor, and was described by Forbes as Mayor Young's "right hand man." During his time on the City Council, Levin practiced law part-time, working for the law firm Schlussel, Lifton, Simon, Rands and Kaufman from 1971 to 1973. Later, he served as general counsel at the firm Jaffe, Snider, Raitt, Garratt and Heuer from 1978 to 1979.

United States Senate

In 1978, Levin was chosen to serve in the United States Senate, winning against the current Republican Senator Robert P. Griffin.

• Committee on Armed Services (chair)
• As the chair of this committee, Sen. Levin had the right to participate in all subcommittee meetings.
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security
• Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia (chair)
• Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (chair)
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Select Committee on Intelligence

Sen. Levin helped create 51 laws that were passed by Congress.

Political positions

Levin led the Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 until he retired in 2015. He became the top Democratic member of the committee on January 7, 1997, and held this position while the Democratic Party had fewer seats in the Senate. Levin previously led the committee when the Democratic Party had more seats in the Senate, from January 3–20, 2001, and June 6, 2001, to January 6, 2003.

Levin joined the Armed Services Committee when he became a senator. He explained that he wanted to learn more about the military because he had never served and believed it was important to help others.

Levin supported efforts to control military spending and reduce government secrecy. He worked to make many documents public, especially those that contained false claims about connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

Levin believed that closing unnecessary military bases would improve the military. He helped pass the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act, which shut down some bases.

Levin supported the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helps secure and destroy nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in post-Soviet countries. He argued that this program could prevent dangerous leaders from rising in the region. When some lawmakers tried to reduce funding for the program, Levin joined a group of senators from both parties to oppose the cuts. In 2003, he supported expanding the program to include non-Soviet countries, and in 2005, he helped remove rules that delayed the expansion.

In 1992, Levin voted to approve the START I treaty, which limited nuclear weapons. He also supported the START II treaty in 1996, which banned certain types of missiles. In 2010, he voted for the New START Treaty, which reduced the number of nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia could deploy. He said this treaty showed the United States’ commitment to reducing global nuclear risks.

At a missile defense conference in 2009, Levin spoke about the importance of U.S.-Russia cooperation on missile defense. He said that working with Russian experts could help address major threats and improve international relations.

As chair of the Armed Services Committee, Levin helped pass the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 and the law ending the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for LGBTQ+ individuals in the military in 2010. He also supported laws to address sexual assault in the military in 2013 and 2014.

Levin led Senate investigations into how U.S. soldiers treated detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. He supported the Detainee Treatment Act, which banned torture of detainees. He ensured the law protected detainees’ rights to challenge their detention in court. Under his leadership, the committee also reviewed issues like fake parts in military purchases and the use of private security companies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2014, Levin received the Frank L. Weil Jewish Military Award for his work helping Jewish and other minority service members.

After the 9/11 attacks, Levin supported a resolution allowing President George W. Bush to use military force against groups linked to al-Qaeda.

Levin criticized the Bush administration’s focus on the Iraq War instead of Afghanistan, saying the U.S. ignored the people who attacked on 9/11. In 2008, he expressed concerns about the lack of a clear strategy for success in Afghanistan and the failure of NATO to provide enough troops and supplies.

Levin opposed the 2009 increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan, arguing that more Afghan soldiers and police should be trained instead. He supported increasing the Afghan National Army to 240,000 and the Afghan National Police to 160,000 by 2012. He questioned officials about the troop increase, saying it might not help if Afghan forces were not ready to work with U.S. troops. He also opposed setting a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Levin was an early critic of using U.S. military force in Iraq. He said in 2002 that Saddam Hussein would not use weapons of mass destruction and proposed a law requiring international support for any military action in Iraq. He voted against the Iraq War resolution, arguing that the United Nations should approve any war against Saddam Hussein.

Political campaigns

Levin was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978. In the Democratic primary election, he won against former U.S. Representative Richard Vander Veen. In the general election, he competed against former Senate Minority Whip Robert P. Griffin and won with 52% of the vote compared to Griffin’s 48%. He was re-elected to the Senate five times before retiring.

In 1984, Levin faced a difficult re-election challenge against former astronaut Jack R. Lousma and won by only four percentage points. In 1990, he defeated Congressman Bill Schuette by a large margin. He was re-elected in 1996 and 2002 with little opposition from Republicans. In 2002, Levin received 61% of the vote against Republican candidate Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski, even though President George W. Bush and the Republican Party were popular at the time and a gubernatorial race was closely contested that year. In 2008, Levin won against state representative Jack Hoogendyk with a clear victory.

Personal life and death

Carl Levin married Barbara Halpern in 1961, and together they had three daughters and six grandchildren.

Carl's family has been involved in Michigan politics for many years. His older brother, Sander Levin, served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Michigan's 12th congressional district from 1983 to 2019. Sander's son, Andy Levin, worked as a policy analyst for the AFL–CIO and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, taking his father's place after he retired. Carl's uncle, Theodore Levin, was a chief judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Carl's first cousin, Charles Levin, served as a judge on the Michigan Supreme Court. Another first cousin, Joseph Levin, ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In March 2021, Levin told people he had lung cancer. He died at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit on July 29, 2021, at the age of 87.

Honors and awards

• In 2004, he received the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Oakland University.
• In 2004, he was given the National Guard Association of the U.S. Harry S. Truman Award.
• In 2006, Time named him one of the "10 best senators."
• In 2007, he was awarded the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Foundation's Freedom medal.
• In 2011, he received Global Financial Integrity's Award for Exemplary Leadership for his "untiring efforts on behalf of financial integrity in the U.S. and abroad."
• In 2013, he was given the Secretary of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Medal.
• In 2014, he was awarded the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Leadership Award.
• In 2014, he was awarded the First Global Citizen Award from Lawrence Tech.
• In 2016, the USS Carl M. Levin, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was named in his honor. It was christened in 2021 and commissioned in Baltimore on June 24, 2023.