Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.
Pell attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island and received an A.B. in history from Princeton University in 1940. While...
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Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.
Pell attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island and received an A.B. in history from Princeton University in 1940. While in Princeton, he was a member of Colonial Club.
Pell enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1941, four months before Pearl Harbor. He served as a ships cook, and eventually earned a commission. During the war he served on North Atlantic convoy duty and in Sicily and Italy. After the war he remained in the United States Coast Guard Reserve, and eventually retired with the rank of Captain.
From 1945 to 1952, he served in the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Washington, D.C.. He...
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