William Reynolds Archer Junior

William Reynolds Archer

William Reynolds "Bill" Archer Jr. (born March 22, 1928 in Houston , Texas ) is a former American politician of the Republican Party . Archer was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971 , initially for the Democratic Party until 1969 . He then represented the Seventh Congressional Constituency of Texas from January 1971 to January 2001 in the United States House of Representatives .

Life

Archer attended St. Thomas High School , then Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin , where he earned a bachelor's degree ( BBA ) and 1951 law ( LL.B. ) degrees . He was admitted to the Texas bar and opened a practice in Houston . With the beginning of the Korean War he was drafted into the United States Air Force and served until 1953, most recently in the rank of captain. Until 1963 he was President of Uncle Johnny Mills, Inc.

At the beginning of his political career Archer was from 1955 to 1962 first a member of the city council and then deputy mayor (Mayor pro tempore ) of Hunters Creek Village in Harris County . Five years later he became a director of Heights State Bank and was elected a member of the Texas House of Representatives that same year. He held this mandate up to the time when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as the successor to George Bush for the 7th Texas US Congressional constituency. In his first election to Congress , he received 65% of the vote and was then re-elected 14 times in this Republican stronghold without ever having to run against a serious opponent. In 1970 he achieved his worst election result, in the following years he always achieved at least 79% of the votes. In 1976, 1990, 1992 and 1994 he ran unopposed; the opposing candidate in 1998 did not belong to a large party.

Archer was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1996 until the end of his political career in 2001 . As chairman, he was considered a proven conservative financial expert ("tough fiscal conservative"). He believed that the government had reached too deep into the pockets of the citizens of the United States and, as chairman, sought to reduce the financial burden on citizens of the federal state.

He did not run for the elections to the 107th Congress and withdrew from politics on January 2, 2001. His successor for the Congressional constituency was John Culberson .

Archer took a politically and socially conservative position on various issues, including advocating the death penalty , opposed the right to adopt homosexuals and advocating restrictions on welfare payments.

In 1999, in support of then-President Bill Clinton , he advocated the temporary application of the most-favored nation clause in trade with China, despite serious concerns about human rights violations and the foreign trade deficit .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quotation according to www.network-democracy.org (English) ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2000 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 22, 2008 
2. ↑ Bill Archer on ontheissues.org (Engl.) Accessed 22 May 2008

Web links

• William Reynolds Archer in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Voting results (voting record) , provided on the part of Washington Post (English)
• Political Graveyard profile for William Reynolds Archer, Jr.