Charles Ellsworth Goodell Jr. (March 16, 1926January 21, 1987) was an American politician who represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968 and the United States Senate from 1968 to 1971. In both cases he came into office following the deaths of his predecessors, first in a special election and second as a temporary appointee succeeding Robert F. Kennedy. He was elected to four full terms in Congress after winning his first race in 1959. He resigned on September 9, 1968, to accept an appointment by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vacancy caused by the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. Having earned the support of both the Republican and Liberal parties in 1970, he lost in a three-way race to Conservative Party candidate James L. Buckley, having split the liberal vote with Democratic Party candidate Richard Ottinger. Goodell was the father of National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. Early life and education Goodell was born in Jamestown, New York, the son of Francesca (née Bartlett) and Charles Ellsworth Goodell. He attended the public schools of Jamestown and graduated from Williams College as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1948. He served in the United States Navy during the World War II era as a seaman second class (1944–46) and in the United States Air Force as a first lieutenant (1952–53) during the Korean War. Goodell received an LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1951 and an M.A. in government from Yale in 1952. He briefly taught at Quinnipiac College in 1952. Following his admission to the Connecticut bar (1951) and the New York bar (1954), he began his law practice in Jamestown. He was a great-grandson of William Goodell, an abolitionist. Congressional career Goodell was a congressional liaison assistant for the Department of Justice in 1954–1955. He won a special election on May 26, 1959, as a Republican to the 86th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel A. Reed. In NY District 43, Goodell polled 27,454 votes (65 percent) to the Democrat Robert E. McCaffery's 14,250 ballots (33.8 percent). Goodell was re-elected in November 1960 to the 87th Congress, and re-elected three times thereafter. During his tenure in the House, Goodell voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960, 1964, and 1968, and the Voting Rights