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'Henry John Hyde' (born April 18 1924), American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2006, representing the 6th District of Illinois. He chaired the the Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001, the House International Relations Committee from 2001 to 2007.

Contents

Early life

Political career

Retirement

References

External links

Early life

Hyde was born in Illinois, attended Duke University, graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and obtained his law degree from Loyola University. Hyde played basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas. He served in the Navy during World War II where he served in combat in the Philippines. He served in the Naval Reserve from 1946 to 1968, where he retired at the rank of Commander, after serving as officer in charge of the U.S. Naval Intelligence Reserve Unit in Chicago. He was married to Jeanne Simpson Hyde from 1947 until her death in 1992; he has four children and four grandchildren.

Political career

Hyde grew up as a Democrat in an Irish Catholic family, but by 1952 had switched party affiliation and supported 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 bound to impeach Clinton for perjury.
As Hyde was publicly pursuing the impeachment of Clinton, the Internet magazine ''Salon.com'' published a story about Hyde entitled "This Hypocrite Broke Up My Family." According to the story, from 1965 to 1969, Hyde conducted an extramarital sexual affair with Cherie Snodgrass. At the time, Snodgrass was married to another man with whom she had had three children. The Snodgrasses divorced in 1967. The affair ended when Snodgrass' husband confronted 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 four-year affair began, he dismissed it as one of his "youthful indiscretions."
From 1985 until 1991, Hyde was the ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. He was also one of the most vocal and persistent opponents of abortion law liberalization in American politics, and was involved in some of the highest level debates concerning the response to the events of September 11, 2001.
Hyde and the Committee's senior Democrat, U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), authored America's worldwide response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in 2003 and landmark foreign assistance legislation creating the Millennium Challenge Corporation and expanding U.S. funding for successful microenterprise initiatives. During his long career, he was also involved in crucial debates over U.S.-Soviet relations, Central America policy, the War Powers Act, NATO expansion, the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, and, sponsored a bill^[1] that ties payment of U.S. dues for United Nations operations to efforts mandating reform of the institution's management. An original sponsor of the Brady Bill requiring background checks for gun buyers, Hyde broke with his party in 1994 when he supported a ban on the sale of semi-automatic firearms. An original sponsor of family leave legislation, Hyde said the law promoted "capitalism with a human face."
He was in disagreement with his party on the Iraq War:
Fellow Republican House member Ron Paul introduced legislation to declare war on Iraq as outlined in the Constitution. He said he would not vote for his own bill, but if his fellow members of Congress wished to go to war in Iraq, they should properly declare war. In a hearing on the resolution, Hyde responded:

Retirement

Over the years the demographics of Hyde's DuPage County have shifted, leading his 2004 Democratic challenger Christine Cegelis to garner over 44% of the vote, the highest total of any of Hyde's opponents. Hyde had announced he would retire after his current term expired in 2006. In 2005, Hyde endorsed State Senator Peter Roskam as his successor. Roskam defeated the Democratic challenger, Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth.
On October 3 2006, the ''Washington Times'' suggested that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert immediately resign his speakership for the final months of the 109th Congress due to his possible involvement in the Mark Foley scandal. The ''Washington Times'' then suggested and supported that Rep. Hyde be elected his replacement.^[2]

References

1. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.02745:
2. Resign Mr. Speaker Washington Times editorial October 3, 2006. Retrieved April 27, 2007

External links

★

★ USC Center on Public Diplomacy Profile

★ 2004 campaign finance data

★ "This hypocrite broke up my family", David Talbot, Salon.com, 1998

★ Letter to the FDIC concerning Hyde and the failed Clyde Federal Savings and Loan

★ Voting record maintained by the Washington Post