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Federal Election Commission | United States of America

Joan D. Aikens

Headshot of
Republican
April 1975 to September 1998
(Reappointed May 1976, December 1981, August 1983 and October 1989)

One of the original members of the Commission, Commissioner Aikens was first appointed in 1975.Following the reconstitution of the FEC that resulted from the Supreme Court’s Buckley v. Valeo decision, President Ford reappointed her to a five-year term. In1981, President Reagan named Commissioner Aikens to complete a term left open because of a resignation and, in 1983, once again reappointed her to a full six-year term. Commissioner Aikens was again reappointed by President Bush in 1989.She served as FEC Chairman in 1978, 1986 and1992.Before her 1975 appointment, Commissioner Aikens was an executive with Lew Hodges Communications, a public relations firm in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She was also a member of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee, president of the Pennsylvania Council of Republican Women and on the board of directors of the National Federation of Republican Women. A native of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Commissioner Aikens was active in a variety of volunteer organizations and was a member of the Commonwealth Board of the Medical College of Pennsylvania and a past president of Executive Women in Government. She was also a member of the board of directors of Ursinus College, where she received her B.A. degree and an honorary Doctor of Law degree.