Stewart McKinney

Stewart McKinney, 1985

Stewart Brett McKinney (born January 30, 1931 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † May 7, 1987 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1971 and 1987 he represented the state of Connecticut in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Stewart McKinney attended the Kent School in Kent (Connecticut) until 1949 . He then studied until 1951 at Princeton University and then until 1958 at Yale University . In between he served as a sergeant in the US Air Force from 1951 to 1955 . Politically, McKinney was a member of the Republican Party . Between 1966 and 1970 he was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives ; from 1969 he led the republican faction there. He was also the director of two hospitals in Bridgeport and a rehabilitation center in Fairfield County . McKinney was also a member of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce. From 1968 to 1970 he took part as a delegate at the Republican congresses in Connecticut. In 1972 he was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach , where President Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term.

In the 1970 congressional election, McKinney was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington in the fourth constituency of Connecticut, where he succeeded Lowell P. Weicker on January 3, 1971 . After eight re-elections, he was able to exercise his mandate in Congress until his death on May 7, 1987. During this time, among other things, the Watergate affair and the end of the Vietnam War fell . McKinney became known in Congress through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act . He was also a member of the Select Committee on Assassinations .

McKinney was married to Lucie Cunningham, daughter of racing driver Briggs Cunningham . Son John is now Connecticut State Senator . Stewart McKinney became the first congressman to die of AIDS . A nature reserve in Connecticut has been named Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in his honor since 1987 .

Web links

• Stewart McKinney in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Stewart McKinney in the database of Find a Grave (English)