Charles Ellsworth Goodell (March 16, 1926–January 21, 1987) was a U.S. Representative and a Senator from New York, notable for coming into both offices under special circumstances following the deaths of his predecessors.

Early life and education

Goodell was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, N.Y., on March 16, 1926. He attended the public schools of Jamestown and later graduated from Williams College in 1948. During the Second World War he served in the United States Navy as a seaman second class 1944-1946, and in the United States Air Force as a first lieutenant during the Korean War 1952-1953.

Goodell graduated from Yale University School of Law in 1951, and also received a graduate degree from Yale University Graduate School of Government in 1952; he was a teacher at Quinnipiac College in New Haven in 1952 as well. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1951, the New York bar in 1954, and commenced practice in Jamestown, New York.

Political career

Goodell was a congressional liaison assistant for the Department of Justice 1954-1955. He was elected in a special election on May 26, 1959, as a Republican to the Eighty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel A. Reed ; reelected to the Eighty-seventh Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from May 26, 1959, until his resignation September 9, 1968. On September 10, 1968, he was appointed by governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of the assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy and served from September 10, 1968, to January 3, 1971.

In 1970, the New York Republican Party was split deeply over the issue of the conservatism of much of the grassroots support for the party versus the perceived liberalism of the party organization, leadership, and Governor Rockefeller himself. While Rockefeller's supporters were strong enough within the party and its regular organization to assure Goodell's receiving the party's nomination for another term, conservative activists left the party en masse to support someone farther to the right. Goodell was not discouraged. Running under the slogan "Senator Goodell — He's too good to lose", he received the nomination of the Liberal Party as well as that of the regular Republican organization, which was perfectly permissible under New York laws allowing for electoral fusion. Despite Rockefeller's support and that of the Liberals, Goodell split the liberal/progressive vote with the Democratic Party and was defeated by Conservative Party nominee James L. Buckley for election to the seat, and actually finished a distant third, with 24.3% of the vote.

Goodell resumed the practice of law and was a resident of Washington, D.C., until his death there on January 21, 1987.