Richard Schweiker

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Richard Schweiker

Richard Schultz Schweiker (*  1. June 1926 in Norristown , Pennsylvania , † 31 July 2015 in Pomona , New Jersey ) was an American politician of the Republican Party . He was a member of the United States House and Senate for Pennsylvania and served as Secretary of Health under President Ronald Reagan .

Family, education and work

During the Second World War he served aboard an aircraft carrier of the US Navy . After his military service, he studied at Pennsylvania State University , earned a bachelor's degree there and joined the Phi-Beta-Kappa movement.

Schweiker was chairman of the American Olean Tile Company , one of the leading manufacturers of ceramic tiles.

Schweiker was married to Claire Coleman from 1955 until her death in 2013. The marriage had five children.

Political career

Schweiker was elected to the US House of Representatives in the 1960 election, to which he was a member from January 1961 to January 1969 for the 13th congressional electoral district of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the Senate in the 1968 election and confirmed in the 1974 election , an otherwise Democratic year. As a Senator for the State of Pennsylvania, he pushed ahead with a bill that was ultimately passed in 1974 that increased government spending on diabetes research. From 1975 to 1976 Schweiker chaired a subcommittee of the Church Committee that dealt with the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy .

When Ronald Reagan challenged the incumbent Gerald Ford for the Republican Party nomination before the 1976 presidential election, he promised Schweiker to nominate him as a vice-presidential candidate. This was an unusual act for Reagan as he had not yet won the nomination. Ultimately, Ford won the nomination by a wafer-thin majority and selected Bob Dole as the vice-presidential candidate .

Schweiker decided in 1980 not to run again that year . In January 1981 he became a member of the Reagan Cabinet as Secretary of Health . He held this post until February 1983, and was succeeded by Margaret Heckler .

After his political career, he was chairman of a lobbying and trading group for life insurance.

Web links

Commons : Richard Schweiker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the Church Committee Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy .
personal data
SURNAME Schweiker, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schweiker, Richard Schultz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Republican Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Norristown , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 2015
Place of death Pomona , New Jersey