Ted Stevens 1923 - 2010

In this 1973 photo, President Gerald Ford stands beside Ted Stevens at Stevens' 50th birthday in Anchorage, Alaska. Stevens, an uncompromising advocate for Alaska for four decades who delivered scores of expensive projects to one of the nation's most sparsely populated states, died in a plane crash on Monday, Aug. 9, at the age of 86. Family spokesman Mitch Rose says Stevens was among the victims of a crash outside Dillingham, Alaska about 325 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Authorities examine the wreckage of a plane crash at Anchorage International Airport that killed Sen. Ted Stevens' first wife, Ann in December of 1978.

Members of the Senate Republican leadership depart a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, held in light of an all night session to pass a bill at midnight on Dec. 17, 1982. From left are Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Sen. Paul Laxalt, R- Nev. and Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah.

In this undated photo, Sen. Ted Stevens, left, and President Jimmy Carter discuss the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

President Ronald Reagan is flanked by Congressional leaders during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 25, 1984. From left are, House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill; Chief of Staff James Baker, partly obscured; Attorney General Nominee Edwin Meese; President Reagan; Majority Leader Howard Baker; and Majority Whip Ted Stevens of Alaska.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, thanks the Alaska Native people after giving his congressional report to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage, Alaska on . Oct. 28, 2004.

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska speaks to reporters in the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18, 2008. Former US Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest-ever serving Republican in the chamber, was confirmed to have died in the crash of a small plane in Alaska according to a friend of the family. Five of the nine people on board died as the plane went down on August 9.

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens greets supporters during a welcome home rally in Anchorage, Alaska on Oct. 29, 2008.

Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens stands with his daughters, from left, Beth Stevens, Lily Stevens and Susan Covich as he leaves federal court in Washington on April 7, 2009.