Dan Rostenkowski

Dan Rostenkowski (Official Portrait, 1983)

Daniel David Rostenkowski (* 2. January 1928 in Chicago , Illinois ; † 11. August 2010 in Powers Lake , Wisconsin ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party , the 36-year member of the US House of Representatives for Illinois and 1981-1995 Was chairman of the influential Committee on Ways and Means .

biography

The son of a long-standing member of the Council of the Cook County closed in 1946, the St. John's Military Academy , and then strip until 1948 his military service in the Infantry of the US Army in Korea . After returning to the USA, he began studying at Loyola University Chicago .

While still a student he began his political career in the Democratic Party and was not only a delegate to the Illinois Democratic Convention in 1952 , but was also elected as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. In the next state elections in 1954 he was elected a member of the State Senate, to which he belonged for an electoral term until 1956.

In 1958 he was elected to the US House of Representatives for the first time and, after 17 subsequent re-elections from January 3, 1959 to January 3, 1995, he represented the interests of the 8th and most recently from 1993 to 1995 of the 5th congressional electoral  district of Illinois. In addition, he was in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 each delegate of the Democratic National Convention for the nomination of the presidential candidate of the Democrats.

On January 3, 1981, he became chairman of the influential US House Committee on Ways and Means and held that position until he left the House of Representatives on January 3, 1995. Danny Rostenkowski was named “Mr. Chairman “played a key role in numerous legislative processes in budgetary, financial and tax policy, but also in social security systems and some family policy issues. One of the most important legislative processes of his tenure was the Tax Reform Act 1986 , one of the most radical and complex tax reforms in the United States. In addition, from 1981 to 1991 he was chairman of the Joint Taxation Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate ( Congress Joint Committee on Taxation ).

His political career ended suddenly and unexpectedly when allegations of bribery and taking advantage of the so-called "Congressional Post Office Scandal" were raised in 1994 , which he initially denied. However, after his defeat in the 1994 congressional election, he admitted these charges, pleaded guilty in the ensuing trial and was sentenced to 17 months in prison in Wisconsin Federal Prison , serving the last two months as a prison term.

After he was completely pardoned by US President Bill Clinton in 2000 , he dealt with politics as an outsider and was most recently a commentator for the television station WFLD.

literature

• James L. Merriner: Mr. Chairman: Power in Dan Rostenkowski's America , Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.

Web links

• Dan Rostenkowski in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• NBC CHICAGO: Former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski Dies. Rostenkowski was 82 (August 11, 2010)