Richard Schweiker

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Richard Schultz Schweiker (June 1, 1926 – July 31, 2015) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of health and human services under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative from 1961 to 1969 and a U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1981 from Pennsylvania. In 1976, Schweiker was Reagan's running mate during his unsuccessful presidential campaign.

Early life

Schweiker was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1926, the son of Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker Sr. and his wife, the former Blanche R. Schultz.<ref name=sobel>Template:Cite book</ref> His father and his uncle worked in the tiling business for several decades.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was born into a family of Schwenckfelders and was a member of the church himself.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Schweiker received his early education at public schools in Worcester, and graduated from Norristown Area High School as valedictorian in 1944.<ref name=yearbook>Template:Cite book</ref> During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier Template:USS, being discharged with the rank of electronics technician (second class) in 1946.<ref name=congress>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following his military service, Schweiker attended Slippery Rock State College for two years before transferring to Pennsylvania State University.<ref name=sobel/> He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Penn State in 1950, graduating as a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma. He then joined his family's business, American Olean Tile Company, rising from an assistant in the personnel department to the company's president within a few years.<ref name=yearbook/> He also became active in local Republican politics, serving as a precinct committeeman, and founded the Montgomery County chapter of the Young Republicans, of which he was president from 1952 to 1954.<ref name=yearbook/> He was selected as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1952 and in 1956.<ref name=sobel/>

Marriage and family

On September 10, 1955, Schweiker married Claire Joan Coleman,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a former host of the children's television show Romper Room, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1954–1956).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had two sons and three daughters.<ref name=sobel/>

Political career

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1960, Schweiker was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district.<ref name=congress/> At the time, the Montgomery County-based district included Schweiker's home town of Norristown and several affluent suburban communities in the Philadelphia Main Line. A moderate to liberal Republican, he defeated conservative incumbent John A. Lafore, Jr., in the Republican primary.<ref name=nytimes>Template:Cite news</ref> In the general election, he defeated Democrat Warren Ballard, a law professor at Temple University, 62%–38%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was elected to three more terms, never receiving less than 59% of the vote.<ref name=congress/>

During his tenure in the House, Schweiker served on the Armed Services Committee and the Government Operations Committee.<ref name=sobel/> He sponsored legislation, signed into law in 1965, that provided cash awards to United States Armed Forces personnel for cost-cutting ideas. Schweiker voted for the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also supported the creation of Medicare, increases in Social Security, and federal rent subsidies.<ref name=yearbook/> He considered running for governor of Pennsylvania in 1966, but state Republican leaders persuaded him not to in favor of then-Lieutenant Governor Raymond P. Shafer.<ref name=yearbook/>

U.S. Senate

In 1968, Schweiker was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating two-term Democratic incumbent Joseph S. Clark Jr., by more than 280,000 votes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the only successful Republican statewide candidate in an election that saw Hubert Humphrey win Pennsylvania by over 170,000 votes.<ref name=nytimes/> Continuing his progressive reputation in the Senate, Schweiker opposed the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon's nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court, and had an 89% rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.<ref name=nytimes/> He also supported school prayer and opposed stronger widespread gun control.<ref name=nytimes/> In 1975, alongside fellow Republicans Clifford Case and Jacob Javits, Schweiker was a co-sponsor of Ted Kennedy's Health Security Act, a bill proposing universal health coverage in America through a government-run program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During his tenure in the Senate, Schweiker served as the ranking member on both the Labor and Human Resources Committee and the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.<ref name=sobel/> He was a pioneer in increasing government spending on diabetes mellitus research, authoring and sponsoring of the National Diabetes Mellitus Research and Education Act. This legislation, passed by Congress in 1974, established the National Commission on Diabetes to create a long-term plan to fight the disease.

Schweiker was reelected in 1974, defeating Democratic Pittsburgh mayor Peter F. Flaherty in a year when many Republican incumbents lost due to political fallout from the Watergate scandal. He won 53% of the vote, the highest of any senator from Pennsylvania since 1946 at the time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the first Republican senator ever endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL–CIO, and received 49% of the vote in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.Template:Citation needed

Church Committee

From 1975 to 1976, Schweiker was a member of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, headed by Idaho Senator Frank Church, investigating illegal domestic activities of the United States government's intelligence agencies.<ref name="ARRB">Template:Cite book</ref> The "Church Committee" found that allegations of CIA plots to assassinate Cuban Premier Fidel Castro during John F. Kennedy's presidency went unreported to the Warren Commission even though CIA director Allen Dulles was a member of the Commission.<ref name="ARRB"/> These findings led Schweiker to call for a reinvestigation of Kennedy's assassination.<ref name="ARRB"/> Church appointed Schweiker and Colorado Senator Gary Hart to be a two-person subcommittee to look into the "performance or non-performance" of intelligence agencies during the initial investigation of the assassination.<ref name="Bugliosi">Template:Cite book</ref> In October 1975, Schweiker said at a press conference that the subcommittee had developed "significant leads" and was investigating three conspiracy theories,<ref name="Observer–Reporter; October 16, 1975">Template:Cite news</ref> adding, "I think the Warren Commission is like a house of cards. It's going to collapse."<ref name="Observer–Reporter; October 16, 1975"/> In its final report, the Church Committee called the initial investigation deficient and criticized the response of CIA and FBI, but stated that it had "not uncovered any evidence sufficient to justify a conclusion that there was a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy."<ref name="Bugliosi"/>

On May 14, 1976, Schweiker told CBS Morning News that he believed the CIA and FBI had lied to the Warren Commission.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On June 27, 1976, he appeared on CBS's Face the Nation and said that the Commission made a "fatal mistake" by relying on the CIA and FBI instead of its own investigators.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Schweiker also said that he felt it was possible that the White House was involved in a cover-up.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Vice Presidential consideration

In 1976, Ronald Reagan made a serious challenge against President Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Party presidential primaries. Immediately before the opening of the 1976 Republican National Convention, Reagan attempted to attract moderate delegates by promising to name Schweiker, who had a moderate voting record in the Senate, as his running mate. This was unusual because the tradition was for a nominee to name a running mate only after winning the nomination. In response, conservative Republicans, including U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, encouraged a movement to draft Conservative Party U.S. Senator James L. Buckley of New York as the G.O.P. nominee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ford won the nomination on the first ballot by a razor-thin margin and selected Bob Dole for vice president.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Reagan's naming him as his running mate came as a surprise to Schweiker, as the two did not know each other. Schweiker subsequently adopted a much more conservative voting record; his rating from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action dropped to 15% in 1977.<ref name=nytimes/>

In 1980, Schweiker announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate.<ref name=congress/>

Reagan won the presidential nomination in 1980 but chose George H. W. Bush, not Schweiker, as his running mate, and won the election.

Health secretary

File:C. Everett Koop on the day of his confirmation as Surgeon General (QQBBQB) noframe.jpg

Surgeon General of the United States Dr. C. Everett Koop (far right), Elizabeth Koop (left), Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (far left), and HHS Secretary Richard Schweiker (right), (November 16, 1981).

Schweiker accepted President Reagan's appointment as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in January 1981. He held the post until he resigned in February 1983.<ref name=congress/> During his tenure, he worked with Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill to reform Social Security, put greater emphasis on preventive medicine, reduce Medicare and food stamp grants to the states, and restrict welfare eligibility.<ref name=sobel/> He proposed reducing Social Security benefits to recipients who retired before age 65, but both Democrats and Republicans in Congress rejected the idea.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Political legacy

During his tenure in public service, Schweiker was an ardent supporter of a volunteer army. He coauthored the book How to End the Draft, eventually used as the blueprint for shifting the country to a fully volunteer army.<ref name="Philly.com; August 3, 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> He also pushed for the Schweiker Act of 1965, which gave cash awards to military personnel who suggested money-saving ideas, ultimately resulting in savings of more than $1 billion to taxpayers.<ref name="Philly.com; August 3, 2015"/>

As ranking Republican on the Senate health subcommittee, Schweiker worked on legislation to combat diabetes, cancer, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, and lead paint poisoning. He focused heavily on diabetes and authored bills creating the National Commission on Diabetes Advisory Board, pushing for passage of the National Diabetes Act in 1972.<ref name="Philly.com; August 3, 2015"/> Those efforts led to increased federal funding for diabetes programs and were a prototype for legislatively constructing a research effort across all National Institutes of Health operations and the Centers for Disease Control. Some who worked with Schweiker or benefited from his initiative called him the "Patron Saint of the Pancreas" for his devotion to the cause.<ref name="Philly.com; August 3, 2015"/>

Later life and death

From 1983 to 1994, Schweiker served as president of the American Council of Life Insurance, now known as the American Council of Life Insurers.<ref name=congress/> He lived in McLean, Virginia, for many years. At the time of his death, he lived with one of his daughters in Herndon, Virginia.<ref name=McFadden>Template:Cite news</ref> He also owned a home in Ocean City, New Jersey.<ref name=McFadden/>

On July 31, 2015, Schweiker died of complications from an infection at the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, New Jersey.<ref name="Philly.com; August 3, 2015"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Rockefeller Republican
• List of Pennsylvania State University people
• Chaney v. Schweiker

External links

Template:Commons category Template:Biographical Directory of Congress Retrieved on 2008-03-31

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