Dukakis graduated from Swarthmore College in 1955. He was Governor of Massachusetts from 1974 until 1978, then again from 1982 until 1990. Dukakis presided over a period of prosperity in Massachusetts. Residents of the city of Boston and its surrounding areas remember him for the improvements he made to Boston's mass transit system, especially major renovations to the city's underground trains. He was known as the only governor who rode the subway to the state capitol every day.
He was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in the 1988 elections, but lost to George H. W. Bush.
Dukakis was attacked by Bush before the election as "a card-carrying liberal" for his membership of the American Civil Liberties Union. Dukakis has been blamed for allowing "liberal" to be considered a bad word. He ran for office with Texan Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.
He later served on the board of directors for Amtrak, and became a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. He resides in his boyhood home in Brookline, Massachusetts.