Charles Goodell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1926)
Charles Ellsworth Goodell Jr. (March 16, 1926 – January 21, 1987) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and then a United States Senator from New York. In both cases he came into office following the deaths of his predecessors, first in a special election and second as a temporary appointee succeeding Robert F. Kennedy.
He was elected to four full terms in Congress after winning his first race in 1959. He resigned on September 9, 1968, to accept an appointment by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vacancy caused by the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. Having earned the support of both the Republican and Liberal parties in 1970, he lost in a three-way race to Conservative Party candidate James L. Buckley, having split the liberal vote with Democratic Party candidate Richard Ottinger.
Goodell was the father of National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell.