Peter H. Dominick

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Dominick graduated from St. Mark's School in 1933, from Yale University in 1937 as a member of Scroll and Key, and Yale Law School in 1940. He practiced law in New York City from 1940 until 1942, when he entered the United States Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet at the outset of American fighting in World War II. He served until his separation from military service in 1945, as a captain. He briefly recommenced his legal practice in New York City in 1946, before moving that same year to Denver, Colorado, where he continued to practice.

Dominick entered politics when he was elected as a Republican to the Colorado House of Representatives, where he served from 1957 to 1961. In 1960, he made a successful run for the United States House of Representatives, defeating incumbent freshman Democrat Byron L. Johnson, and he abandoned his law career in 1961. After a single term in the House of Representatives, Dominick was elected to the United States Senate, defeating one-term incumbent Democrat John A. Carroll, 53.6% to 45.6%. He was reelected in 1968 over Stephen L. R. McNichols, a former Governor of Colorado, 58.6% to 41.5%. Dominick voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968,[1][2] as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.[3][4]

Senator Dominick served as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 92nd Congress from 1971 to 1973. In a good election year for Democrats, Dominick was defeated for a third term in 1974 by Gary Hart, 57.2% to 39.5%. After leaving the Senate at the end of his term in 1975, he was appointed Ambassador to Switzerland by President Gerald Ford, but served only briefly. He resided in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado until his death at Hobe Sound, Florida, on March 18, 1981. Senator Dominick's body was interred in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver.

Already a competent pilot, Peter Dominick solicited service with the US Air Corp. on Dec, 9th, 1941. Unbeknownst to even his family, Dominick had kept a meticulous journal of the entirety of his service during the war. Chronicling his flying over the Himalayas, or what pilots called "The Hump" or "The Aluminum Trail", the journal was discovered by his children and published by youngest Son, Alexander Dominick, in 2018.[5]

• United States Senate elections, 1962
• United States Senate elections, 1968
• United States Senate elections, 1974

• United States Congress. "Peter H. Dominick (id: D000409)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-01-25

• Peter H. Dominick at Find a Grave
• Guide to the Peter H. Dominick Papers at the University of Denver Retrieved 2014-09-26.