Phil Crane

Phil Crane (2006)

Philip Miller "Phil" Crane (born November 3, 1930 in Chicago , Illinois , † November 8, 2014 in Jefferson , Maryland ) was an American politician and member of the US House of Representatives for the state of Illinois. The member of the Republican Party held the mandate from 1969 to 2004. In the 1970s he was one of the leading members of the conservative Republican wing.

Life

Crane studied at Hillsdale College , the University of Vienna and Indiana University . He received his PhD in history in 1961 and served in the US Army . He then worked as a research fellow at Indiana University and Bradley University ; he was also an employee of the Republican National Committee and, in the year, Scientific Director of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign .

His brother Dan Crane sat with him at times in Congress , his other brother David Crane ran several times for the office. At times they were referred to as " Kennedys of the Right". However, David never won a mandate, Dan did not succeed in winning his re-election after a sex scandal. Phil Crane struggled with his alcoholism for a long time ; he publicly admitted this after his successful re-election in 2000.

He won his first election in 1969 when his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld received a government post under Richard Nixon and a by-election was therefore necessary. His constituency is in the suburbs of Chicago. Until the 1990s, he won his district, which is considered the Republican stronghold of Illinois, usually with 70% of the vote or more. Soon after taking office, he made a name for himself as an extremely conservative MP. Together with other conservatives like Paul Weyrich , he founded the Republican Study Committee , which saw its primary task in ensuring that the party leadership did not act too liberally. He was the first chairman of the committee.

In the 1980 presidential election he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in the primary elections - much to the irritation of many conservative party colleagues who said that he would primarily reduce Ronald Reagan's chances without having any chance of success himself. After the election, his influence fell dramatically. Newt Gingrich took his position as the leading conservative. When the Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 1994 election , he was just a backbencher without much political influence. He lost his seat in the 2004 election to the Democrat Melissa Bean .

Crane died in Jefferson, Maryland, in November 2014, at the age of 84, of complications from lung cancer .

Web links

• Phil Crane in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Phil Crane in the nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adam Clymer: Philip M. Crane, Former Illinois Congressman and Conservative Leader, Dies at 84. In: The New York Times, November 9, 2014 (accessed November 10, 2014).