Robert Kean

Robert Winthrop Kean (September 28, 1893 – September 21, 1980) was an American Republican Party politician from the state of New Jersey. Kean represented parts of Essex County, New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1959. He retired from the House to run for United States Senate in 1958, but was defeated by Harrison A. Williams. Kean was known for his expertise in the areas of taxation and Social Security. A member of the prestigious Kean family, Kean was the son of a U.S. senator (Hamilton Fish Kean) and the father of a governor of New Jersey (Thomas Kean). Early life, education, and military service Kean was born September 28, 1893, in Elberon, New Jersey. His father, Hamilton Fish Kean (1862–1941), was a United States Senator from New Jersey. Kean was a member of the Kean family, one of the nation's oldest political families. Kean became involved in politics at a young age. In 1905, his uncle assisted in having him appointed as a U.S. Senate page so he could observe the Inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt. Kean attended the 1912 Republican National Convention, where he was escorted by his uncle's secretary, Donald H. McLean, with whom he would late serve in Congress. Young Kean was a Roosevelt supporter, although his uncle and father had publicly endorsed the incumbent President, William Howard Taft.