An oral history interview with Ted Proxmire

              WISCONSIN
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
An Oral History Interview with
TED PROXMIRE
Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services
Recording Date: April 2, 2010
Place: Bethesda, Maryland. Length: 3.0 hours
Theodore Stanley Proxmire is the eldest of two children born to William Proxmire and Elsie
Rockefeller Proxmire. The couple divorced in 1954, and within a few years each had remarried,
William to Ellen Hodges Sawall and Elsie to Miles McMillin, then editor of Wisconsin's Capital
Times newspaper. As children, Ted Proxmire and his sister Cici lived primarily with their mother
in Madison and spent every other weekend and summers with their father.
Ted Proxmire graduated from Harker High School in Washington, DC, and then attended
Northwestern University in Chicago and the University of Wisconsin, where in 1972, he earned
his BA in journalism. He spent most of his professional career in investment businesses and said
that he was never drawn to politics.
His interview focuses largely on Sen. Proxmire's personality and family life, but also includes
his recollections of his father as a public figure.
Theodore Proxmire Interview Transcript
Proxmire Oral History Project