Dick Gephardt

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Richard Gephardt

Richard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt (born January 31, 1941 in St. Louis , Missouri ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . He represented the state of Missouri from 1977 to 2005 in the US House of Representatives ; from 1989 to 1995 he was there majority leader (Majority Leader) . In 1988 and 2004, he tried unsuccessfully to nominate the Democrats for the presidential election.

Dick Gephardt graduated from South West High School in 1958 . He then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in Evanston in 1962 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965 . He then practiced as a lawyer. From 1965 to 1971 he served in the Missouri Air National Guard .

His political career began at the local level in his hometown of St. Louis, where he was a member of the party executive from 1968 to 1971 and a city councilor (Alderman) from 1971 to 1976 . In 1976 Gephardt was elected to Congress for the first time , where he represented Missouri's third congressional constituency from January 3, 1977. In January 1989, he replaced Tom Foley as Democratic Majority Leader . After losing the majority in the 1994 congressional election , he moved to the post of minority leader , which he held until 2003; his successor in this capacity was Nancy Pelosi .

In the 2004 congressional election, Gephardt did not run again and left Congress on January 3, 2005. He ended his political career and founded the consulting firm Gephardt Group , of which he is President and CEO .

Web links

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