Conable, Barber Benjamin, Jr., 1922–2003, American politician, b. Warsaw, N.Y., grad. Cornell Law School, 1948. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War and was a lawyer in private practice before he won election as a Republican to the New York state senate (1963–64). As a representative in the U.S. Congress (1965–85), he was the ranking minority member on the Ways and Means Committee for many years and worked for the enactment of legislation that made defined-contribution retirement plans possible and was influential in legislation (1983) designed to protect the solvency of the Social Security system. From 1986 to 1991 he headed the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), where he focused on budgetary, environmental, and social issues.
See his congressional journal (2021, ed. by B. Kauffman); congressional biography by J. Fleming (2004).
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