1970 House Election
Lent entered Congress by defeating an incumbent, the controversial Democratic representative Allard K. Lowenstein, by 9,300 votes in a hotly contested election in a newly drawn, largely Republican district. One of his campaign slogans was the play on words, "Let's vote out Lowenstein for Lent." Long Island's generally liberal Five Towns region had recently been removed from the district, and the far more conservative Massapequa added, during Congressional re-districting by the Republican controlled State legislature.
The election was viewed nationwide as a referendum on President Richard Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War. Lent supported Nixon's policy of gradually withdrawing American Forces from Vietnam while turning the fighting over to the South Vietnamese Army.
Read more about this topic: Norman F. Lent
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