Henry Hyde
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Henry John Hyde (b. April 18 1924), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1975, representing the 6th District of Illinois (map (http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/il06_109.gif)). He was born in Illinois, was educated at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Duke University, and at Loyola University. He also served in the United States Navy and was a lawyer before entering the House.
The US Vice-Chairman of the Atlantic Partnership, Hyde is one of the most senior Republican members of the House. Hyde was involved in some of the highest level debates concerning the response to the events of September 11, 2001. From 1985 until 1991, Hyde was the ranking Republican on the U.S. House Select Committee on Intelligence. He has also been one of the most vocal and persistent opponents of abortion law liberalization in American politics.
Hyde grew up as a Democrat in an Irish-Catholic family, but by 1952 had switched party affiliation and endorsed Dwight Eisenhower. He went on to become a state legislator and majority leader for the Illinois house of representatives. A member of the House Judiciary Committee since 1975, Hyde served as its chairman from 1995 until 2001, at which time he served as the lead House manager during the President Clinton impeachment trial. Hyde maintains that the House was constitutionally obligated to impeach Clinton for perjury.
As Hyde was publicly pursuing the impeachment of Clinton, the Internet magazine Salon.com published a story about Hyde. According to the story, "This Hypocrite Broke Up My Family," (http://www.salon.com/news/1998/09/cov_16newsb.html) from 1965 to 1969, Hyde conducted an extramarital sexual affair with Cherie Snodgrass. At the time, Cherie Snodgrass was married to another man with whom she had had three children. The Snodgrasses divorced in 1967. The affair ended when Snodgrass's husband confonted Mrs. Hyde. The Hydes reconciled and remained married until Mrs. Hyde's death in 1992. The Snodgrasses remarried in 1969 but re-divorced shortly thereafter.
Although Hyde was 41 years old and married when the affair occurred, he dismissed it as one of his "youthful indiscretions." This infamous quotation by Representative Hyde may have been made as a reference to a similar quote by former Vice President Dan Quayle. In 1988 while a candidate for vice president, Quayle defended his vote against establishing a cabinet-level position for the Veterans Administration by describing the vote as a "youthful indiscretion." The vote had actually been cast only one month earlier.
As the current chairman House International Relations Committee, of which he has been a member since 1982, Hyde was involved in debates concerning the War Powers Act, NATO expansion, the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, and, most recently, sponsorship of a bill (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.02745:) to reduce U.S. funding to the United Nations.
Over the years Hyde's DuPage County district began to shift in demographics, leading his 2004 Democratic challenge Christine Cegelis to garner over 44% of the vote, the highest total of any of Hyde's opponents. Due to Hyde's age and the fate of Phil Crane (who was defeated in 2004 by Melissa Bean after she had done surprisingly well in 2002), intense speculation ensued that Hyde would retire. On April 18, 2005 Hyde addressed the rumors by announcing his retirement (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4946413,00.html), after the current term expires.
External links
- House of Representatives page (http://www.house.gov/hyde/)
- Henry Hyde campaign page (http://henryhyde.org/)
- 2004 campaign finance data (http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00004702&cycle=2004)
- Christine Cegelis campaign page (http://www.partyhostcenter.com/cegelisforcongress/)
| Preceded by: Harold R. Collier | U.S. Representative of Illinois's 6th Congressional District 1975- | Succeeded by: Incumbent |