WISCONSIN
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
An Oral History Interview with
THOMAS VAN DERVOORT
Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services
Recording Date: March 19, 2009
Place: Alexandria, Virginia. Length: 2.75 hours
Thomas Lounsbury van der Voort was raised in Boston and graduated from Princeon in 1957 with a B.A.
in English. He then earned his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1960. After a brief stint in
publishing, in 1961 he received a management internship from the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare in Washington, DC, and was assigned to the Public Health Sendee.
In 1963, van der Voort worked as an American Political Science Association intern for Sen. William
Proxmire. In the following year, he was hired as Sen. Proxmire's legislative assistant. For the next 10
years, A'an der Voort worked closely with the Senator on numerous issues, including reapportionment, the
Genocide Convention, the Golden Fleece awards, agriculture issues affecting Wisconsin, civil rights
legislation, and appropriations oversight.
In 1975, he moved to the position of chief clerk on the Appropriations Subcommittee for U.S. Housing
and Urban Development-Independent Agencies, which was chaired by Sen. Proxmire. In 1980, van der
Voort became the minority staff director for the full Appropriations Committee and three years later he
became minority clerk for the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee. He returned to the HUD-
Independent Agency Subcommittee as chief clerk in 1987, and retired from the public sendee in 1989,
shortly after Sen. Proxmire.
Thomas van der Voort Interview Transcript 1 Proxmire Oral History Project
