Former Sen. Jeremiah Denton Dies at 89
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Jeremiah Denton, a Republican who served as a senator from Alabama in the 1980s after returning a hero from Vietnam, has died. He was 89.
Interviewed in captivity, U.S. Navy Capt. Denton famously telegraphed his maltreatment in Vietnam, blinking the word “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” in morse code. He tearfully came home after being a prisoner of war for nearly eight years.
Retiring as a rear admiral, Denton was elected to the Senate in 1980, becoming the first Alabama Republican to hold a seat since Reconstruction.
Denton was a staunch social conservative, advocating chastity outside of marriage.
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