This article is about the former governor of New Jersey. For his son, see Thomas Kean Jr.
Thomas Howard Kean (born April 21, 1935 in New York City) is an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 48th Governor of New Jersey, from 1982 to 1990. Kean is best known globally, however, for his 2002 appointment as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, widely known as the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for investigating the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks and providing recommendations to prevent future terrorist attacks. He was appointed to this post by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Early life
Kean was educated at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and then at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey and Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

Education
Originally a teacher of history and government, Kean was elected, in 1967, as a Republican to the New Jersey General Assembly.
With a split among the Assembly's Democrats, Kean obtained the support of one of the Democratic factions and thereby was elected New Jersey Assembly Speaker in 1972. In the next Assembly, in 1974, the Democrats united behind one candidate for Speaker and Kean was relegated to minority leader of the Assembly. In 1973, he briefly served as acting New Jersey Governor.

New Jersey political career
In 1977, Kean ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for New Jersey Governor. Although he has spent most of his career as a political moderate, in this 1977 race Kean ran to the right of New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Raymond Bateman. Bateman defeated Kean and won the nomination, though Bateman went on to lose the general election to Brendan Byrne.

1977 Gubernatorial loss
Kean fared better four years later, in 1981, when he again ran for Governor, and this time defeated U.S. Representative James Florio in the closest election in New Jersey Gubernatorial election history; Kean won by fewer than 1,800 votes.
Kean proved hugely popular in office. In striking contrast to his slim 1981 victory, he won re-election in 1985 with the largest margin of victory in the history of New Jersey Gubernatorial races, defeating Peter Shapiro, then the Essex County County Executive.

1981 Gubernatorial victory and 1985 re-election
In 1988, reflecting his stature as an up-and-coming leader of the Republican Party's moderate wing, Kean delivered the keynote speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans. The same year, he also authored a book, The Politics of Inclusion, published by Free Press, which urged political cooperation among historically divided interest groups and politicians.

1988 Republican Convention speech
Limited to two Gubernatorial terms by the New Jersey State Constitution, Kean left office in January, 1990 as one of the most popular political figures in New Jersey political history. He was succeeded by Florio, who won a landslide victory in November 1989. Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester, New Jersey Congressman Bob Franks, and other leading New Jersey and national Republican figures began their political and public policy careers in his state administration.

Gubernatorial legacy
Following the end of his second Gubernatorial term, Kean was named President of Drew University, a small liberal arts university in Madison, New Jersey. Kean's considerable standing as a popular former governor of the state was helpful as he undertook an upgrading of the university's campus and academic programs. Popular among the student body, Kean served as Drew's President until 2005.

Drew University

Involvement beginning in 1990

Main article: 9/11 Commission Heading the September 11 Commission
Bush initially selected former Nixon Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to head the Commission, known as the "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States", or the 9/11 Commission. But on December 13, 2002, Kissinger resigned as the Commission's Chairman under pressure related to his global business conflicts.
Noting Kean's post-Gubernatorial foreign policy involvement and his reputation as a consensus-oriented political leader, Bush nominated Kean to succeed Kissinger in leading the important and politically-sensitive Commission. The Commission is widely considered the most important independent U.S. government commission since the Warren Commission, which was charged with investigating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and perhaps the most important in American history given its mammoth responsibility for investigating the causes of the first foreign attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812, and recommending steps to defend the U.S. from future attacks. Kean's appointment to head the Commission, and later the work and final report of the Commission, drew substantial global attention.

Bush appoints Kean
Just as some had criticized Kissinger's nomination, Kean's leadership of the Commission also drew some criticism. Some alleged that Kean did not have the depth of foreign policy and national security expertise needed to manage an investigation so integral to the future of American national security. Supporters of Kean in the Bush administration and elsewhere, however, countered that Kean's work since 1990 as a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy, the post-Castro Cuba Commission and his foreign policy and national security commentary and analysis following his Governorship established adequate national secrurity and foreign policy credentials for him to assume such a critically important assignment.
Once the Commission began its work, some critics argued that Kean, the Commission members, and the Commission staff almost all had various business and political conflicts that made it difficult to lay blame on their political allies. One prominent example was the Commission's Staff Director, Philip D. Zelikow, who had served on George W. Bush's Presidential transition team and had worked closely with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a key Commission witness, in the George H. W. Bush administration.
Kean has also been criticized for using his role as the chairman of the 9/11 Commission in order to make profit, such as his book, Without Precedent. Some also argue that his endorsement of TV movie, The Path to 9/11, was misguided. The film features some scenes which are known to be unfactual, according to those involved and the official 9/11 Commission Report. Kean was also a paid consultant to the film and was credited as an executive producer.

Criticisms of Kean's 9/11 Chairmanship

Main article: 9/11 Commission Report Kean: 9/11 was "preventable"
On August 15, 2006, a book by Kean and 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee H. Hamilton, titled Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, was released regarding the September 11 attacks and the September 11 Commission.
In the book, Kean and Hamilton write that the 9/11 Commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by officials from The Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration during their investigation that they considered a separate investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Pentagon and FAA officials.
The book is published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Without Precedent
Kean served as a paid consultant and spokesman for the ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11, which aired nationally and without commercial interruption on September 10, 2006. On September 11, the second part of the miniseries aired, also without commercial interruption, with the exception of a 20-minute break at 9pm ET, when President Bush addressed the nation on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
While not technically considered a documentary by ABC, prior to its airing, the series drew criticism for misrepresenting facts leading up the September 11 attacks. Many former high-ranking Clinton administration officials, including Clinton himself, and other scholars, have publicly questioned the accuracy of the miniseries and asked for it not be aired. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called the miniseries portrayal of her as "false and defamatory"[1]. Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine also criticized her character's portrayal, complaining in the Los Angeles Times about the "mythmakers" who created the film, calling the project "false."[2]
Kean defended the docudrama in July 2006 and until the eve of the broadcast, declining to disclose the amount of his payment from ABC for supporting the project.

ABC's The Path to 9/11
On July 4, 2007, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda publicly released a video, featuring its Deputy Chief Ayman al-Zawahri urging all Muslims to unite in a holy war against the U.S. in Iraq and elsewhere. The 95-minute video was discovered and released by U.S. intelligence forces and, in addition to al-Zawahri's comments, featured video excerpts of Kean citing Al-Qaeda as one of the most formidable security threats that the U.S. has ever confronted, presumably with the intention of bolstering the morale of Al-Qaeda supporters through Kean's citation of the magnitude of the movement's strength and threat. Comments by Kean cited on the video include a reference to the fact that Al-Qaeda remains as strong in 2007 as it was before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The video also appeared to validate that Al-Qaeda was closely monitoring U.S. political developments, especially including the work of the September 11 Commission, which Kean chaired. It also suggested that Al-Qaeda intended to focus not just on engaging the West in Iraq, but also in other countries. "As for the second half of the long-term plan," al-Zawahri says on the video, "it consists of hurrying to the fields of Jihad like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia for Jihadi preparation and training"[3].

July 2007 Al-Qaeda video cites Kean comments on Al-Qaeda's strength
As of 2004, Kean was a member of a number of corporate board of directors, including ARAMARK, Hess Corporation, Pepsi Bottling Group, and major financial firms CIT Group Incorporated and Franklin Templeton Investments.

Personal
Kean University in Union Township, New Jersey, formerly located in Newark and named Newark State College and Kean College, is named in memory of Kean's father, Robert, who served New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1959. The land the university currently sits on was once owned by the Kean Family