Call Me Pete

‘Pierre” is just the French for “Peter,” but to American ears, it has a worldly, exotic ring, so Pierre du Pont IV, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, prefers plain “Pete.” As du Pont family names go, Pierre isn’t so bad. He might have been christened Eleuthère Irénée. E. I. du Pont de Nemours came to this country in 1800, started a gunpowder factory in Wilmington, Delaware, and made his first packet in the War of 1812. His descendants have got by ever since. Pete was born in 1935; went to Phillips Exeter and Princeton; did three years at a naval air station in Maine; graduated from Harvard Law; worked in the family business. Then began his public career: a year in the Delaware legislature; six in the House of Representatives. In 1976, he ran for governor of Delaware, and beat the incumbent with 57 per cent of the vote. Four years later, he ran again, and took 71 per cent. Not a bad resume— though that, he will tell you, is not why he is running for President.

“Every other Republican candidate is running for a different reason than I am.” Du Pont was beginning his 65th day in Iowa—he has spent a comparable portion of his life in New Hampshire—in a student lounge at Drake University in Des Moines. He has a lined, square-cut face; beginning-to-grey hair; horn-rimmed glasses; rigid body language. He wore a generic WASP suit and tie, and took off the jacket before speaking. He looks a bit like Charles Schwab, the discount broker.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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‘Pierre” is just the French for “Peter,” but to American ears, it has a worldly, exotic ring, so Pierre du Pont IV, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, prefers plain “Pete.” As du Pont family names go, Pierre isn’t so bad. He might have been christened Eleuthère Irénée. E. I. du Pont de Nemours came to this country in 1800, started a gunpowder factory in Wilmington, Delaware, and made his first packet in the War of 1812. His descendants have got by ever since. Pete was born in 1935; went to Phillips Exeter and Princeton; did three years at a naval air station in Maine; graduated from Harvard Law; worked in the family business. Then began his public career: a year in the Delaware legislature; six in the House of Representatives. In 1976, he ran for governor of Delaware, and beat the incumbent with 57 per cent of the vote. Four years later, he ran again, and took 71 per cent. Not a bad resume— though that, he will tell you, is not why he is running for President.

“Every other Republican candidate is running for a different reason than I am.” Du Pont was beginning his 65th day in Iowa—he has spent a comparable portion of his life in New Hampshire—in a student lounge at Drake University in Des Moines. He has a lined, square-cut face; beginning-to-grey hair; horn-rimmed glasses; rigid body language. He wore a generic WASP suit and tie, and took off the jacket before speaking. He looks a bit like Charles Schwab, the discount broker.