Arthur Ravenel, Jr.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. (March 29, 1927 – January 16, 2023) was an American businessman and a Republican politician from Charleston, South Carolina. From 1987 to 1995, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early life Ravenel was born on March 29, 1927, to Arthur Ravenel Sr. and Mary Allen Boykin.

During the waning days of World War II, the Charleston-born Ravenel enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1945 to 1946. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Charleston in 1950, then became realtor and general contractor.

Political career First elected at age 25, he was a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1953 to 1959.

Ravenel became a Republican in 1960 and ran many times for office. He lost elections for the South Carolina State Senate three times (1962, 1974, and 1976), for the United States House of Representatives (in a 1971 special election), and for mayor of Charleston (also 1971).

Congress Ravenel was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina Senate in 1980. He served until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Charleston-based 1st District that became open when incumbent Tommy Hartnett ran for Lt. Governor.

During his four terms in Congress, he focused his attention on constituent services, rarely sponsoring legislation. In the same election, his son Thomas Ravenel, also a Republican, was elected state treasurer. The younger Ravenel resigned from the office after only six months following serious legal allegations. Ravenel himself made light of the controversy, joking after diagnosis of his illness that he might die, to the satisfaction of "those people who say you shouldn't name things after people before they're dead." He provoked controversy in response to a reporter's question in 2000 when called the NAACP the "National Association for Retarded People". Asked for an apology, Ravenel, who had a son with Down syndrome, offered one to those who suffered from mental disabilities.

In August 2020, several episodes of the reality television series Southern Charm, including one that featured Ravenel, were removed from streaming and VOD services over "racially charged moments within them". In the episode featuring Ravenel, he leaves a $5 tip at a restaurant and tells his son, Thomas, that he "[likes] to get rid" of $5 bills because Abraham Lincoln is on the front; he then looks at the camera and smiles "wryly".

Death Ravenel died in Charleston on January 16, 2023, at the age of 95. He was buried at the cemetery of Huguenot Church in Charleston.