Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. (born September 8, 1938) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party. While in the Senate, Nunn was involved in the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which aims to dismantle weapons of mass destruction, originally in the former Soviet Union. Nunn was also involved in the Goldwater–Nichols Act, which reformed the Department of Defense.
After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats imperiling humanity, for which he is the co-chair. His political experience and credentials on national defense reportedly earned him consideration as a potential running mate for presidential candidates John Kerry and Barack Obama after they became their party's nominees.
Nunn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Mary Elizabeth (née Cannon) and Samuel Augustus Nunn, who was an attorney and mayor of Perry, Georgia. Nunn was raised in Perry. He is a grandnephew of Congressman Carl Vinson.
Nunn is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. In high school, Nunn was a standout athlete, captaining the school's basketball team to the state championship.
Nunn attended Georgia Tech in 1956, where he was initiated as a brother of Phi Delta Theta. He transferred to Emory University in 1959 and received his undergraduate degree in 1961. He then received a degree from the Emory University School of Law in 1962.
After active-duty service in the United States Coast Guard, he served six years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and attained the rank of petty officer. He was also a Congressional staff member.
Nunn returned to Perry, Georgia, where he practiced law and managed his family's farm. He later was president of the Perry Chamber of Commerce.
Nunn first entered politics as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1968. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1972, defeating appointed U.S. senator David H. Gambrell in the Democratic primary and U.S. Rep. Fletcher Thompson in the general election. Nunn was reelected in 1978, 1984, and 1990. After announcing that he would not run for a fifth term in 1996, Nunn retired from the U.S. Senate in 1997, offering a lack of "zest and enthusiasm" as justification.
During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Nunn served as the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He also served on the Intelligence and Small Business Committees. His legislative achievements include the landmark Department of Defense Reorganization Act, drafted with the late senator Barry Goldwater, and the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which provided assistance to Russia and the former Soviet republics for securing and destroying their excess nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program deactivated more than 7,600 nuclear warheads. He was supposedly the "top choice" to be Secretary of Defense or State in 1992 and 1996 and in a prospective Gore cabinet in 2000.
Overall, Nunn was a moderate-to-conservative Democrat who often broke with his party on a host of social and economic issues. He opposed the budget bill of 1993, which included provisions to raise taxes to reduce the budget deficit. He neither supported nor opposed Hillary Clinton's attempt to establish universal health care, though he spoke out very strongly against the proposed insurance mandate.
Nunn actively worked to block President Bill Clinton's proposal to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. LGBT activist David Mixner openly referred to Nunn as an "old fashioned bigot" for opposing Clinton's plan to lift the military, though this was also reported to have angered the White House.
In 2008, Nunn endorsed a new Pentagon study to examine the issue of homosexuals serving openly in the military: "I think [when] 15 years go by on any personnel policy, it's appropriate to take another look at it—see how it's working, ask the hard questions, hear from the military. Start with a Pentagon study."
According to opensecrets.org, Sam Nunn received about $2.4 million during his 1989–1994 political career. His main contributors were the finance/insurance/real estate sector (totaling $411,665; $46,660 was received from Goldman, Sachs & Co.), the defense industry, lawyers and lobbyists, the alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages industry (including Coca-Cola), and the agriculture sector.
He voted in favor of school prayer, capping punitive damage awards, amending the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget, and limiting death penalty appeals. On certain issues like abortion, the environment, gun control, and affirmative action, Nunn took a more liberal line. He consistently voted in favor of increased immigration. One of his most controversial votes was his vote against the Gulf War.
In September 1994, Nunn, former president Jimmy Carter and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell were asked by President Bill Clinton to go to Haiti to force the departure of the military dictator Lieutenant General Raoul Cédras. In 1994, President Clinton publicly demanded that the Haitian government step aside and restore democratic rule. President Clinton deployed a large military force to surround the country in September 1994. Just before the troops reached Haiti, President Clinton sent a delegation led by Carter, the delegation wanted Nunn and Powell to urge Cédras to step down and leave the country. Cédras agreed and surrendered the government, and he and his top lieutenants left the country in October. Just days later, American forces escorted the country's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, into the capital. Afterwards, President Clinton lavished praise on Nunn's delegation for averting a military strike on the nation. "As all of you know, at my request, President Carter, Gen. Colin Powell, and Sen. Sam Nunn went to Haiti to facilitate the dictators' departure. I have been in constant contact with them for the last two days. They have worked tirelessly, almost around the clock, and I want to thank them for undertaking this crucial mission on behalf of all Americans", Clinton said.
Upon his exit from the Senate in late 1996, Nunn was the recipient of bipartisan praise from his colleagues. Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia concluded, "Senator Nunn quickly established himself as one of the leading experts in the Congress and, indeed, all of the United States on national security and foreign policy. He gained a reputation in our country and, indeed, worldwide as a global thinker, and that is where I think he will make his greatest contribution in the years to come, wherever he may be, in terms of being a global thinker. His approach to national security issues has been guided by one fundamental criteria: What Sam Nunn believes is in the best interest of the United States of America."
Nunn founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative in 2001 and he served as its co-chair and CEO until June 2017, when he became co-chair with Ted Turner and Ernest J. Moniz.