Pierre ‘Pete’ du Pont IV dies; ran for president in 1988

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Among the du Ponts, who preferred the privacy of their homes and the offices and plants of the chemical company that bore their name, Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont I9 was a bit of a rebel.

Du Pont, who died Saturday at age 86 after a long illness, according to his former chief of staff, broke with family tradition by leaving the family business for a career in law and politics.

That led du Pont to multiple elected offices and an unsuccessful bid in the 198788 Republican presidential primary race.

The du Ponts, industrialists, were among the nation’s wealthiest families. That wasn’t a problem for du Pont when he ran for statewide office in Delaware.

After one term in the Delaware state House and three terms in Congress, du Pont was elected governor in 1976 and set about working to restore the state’s financial stability.

However, his elite background turned out to be a problem for him in his race for national office.

“I was born with a wellknown name and genuine opportunity. I hope I have lived up to both,” du Pont said in announcing his longshot presidential bid in September 1986. As a little-known governor of a small state, du Pont had to distinguish himself from the rest of the Republican field - including 9ice President *eorge Bush and Sen. Bob Dole.

He did that by questioning sacrosanct social programs that his better-known rivals feared to address, such as doing away with farm subsidiaries.

Some of his positions were more conservative than those taken by then-President Ronald Reagan, including mandatory drug testing of high school students.

Du Pont insisted his was a candidacy of ideas, and he offered no apologies, even after Bush dismissed as “nutty” du Pont’s idea to create another form of Social Security modeled on private IRA accounts. The idea later became a mainstream Republican proposal. So did another one, school choice.

“Before you run for president, you ought to decide why you want to be president and what you do if you get there,” du Pont once said. “The only thing that would be worth being in that Mob is to try to change the things that need to be changed.”

But du Pont’s February 1988 withdrawal became inevitable after his poor showings in the Iowa caucuses and the 1ew Hampshire primary.