His wrestling career at Yale was interrupted by service as a United States Marine captain in World War II and the Korean Conflict. Today, John Chafee serves his country on a higher level as the third-term senior U. S. Senator from Rhode Island.

Chafee was an undefeated freshman wrestler at Yale in 1941. On his return to school, he placed second in the Eastern Intercollegiates in 1947, and won the New England championship before returning to service in Korea in 1951.

After completing his military obligations, he earned a Harvard Law School degree and became an attorney in Providence. He entered politics in the Rhode Island legislature in 1956, serving six years and becoming minority leader.

Running for Governor in 1962, he won by a mere 398 votes, but was reelected to second and third terms by the largest margins in the state's history. He served as Secretary of the Navy in the Nixon administration from 1969 to '72. His career in the U. S. Senate began in 1976, when he was the first Republican elected from Rhode Island in 46 years.

He has served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and has been the senior member of the Senate Committees on Finance, and on Environment and Public Works, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a member of the Senate Arms Control Observer Group.

In addition to his degrees from Yale and the Harvard Law School, Senator Chafee has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from five colleges and universities and became a Chubb Fellow at Yale in 1965.