Amo Houghton
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| Amo Houghton | |
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| In office 1987–2005 |
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| Preceded by | Stanley Lundine |
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| Succeeded by | Randy Kuhl |
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| Born | August 7, 1926 Corning, New York  United States |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Priscilla Dewey Houghton |
| Profession | Business executive, politician |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Amory "Amo" Houghton Jr. (b. August 7, 1926) is a politician from the state of New York and member of the Houghton family.
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[edit] Early life
Houghton was born in Corning, New York, and went to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He served in the Marine Corps during WWII and graduated from Harvard University in 1950. Houghton served from 1964 to 1983 as Chairman and CEO of Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated), a company founded by his great-great-grandfather, Amory Houghton, in 1851. He also served on the Board of Directors of IBM, Citigroup, Proctor and Gamble and Genentech.
[edit] Congressman
In 1986, Houghton was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. Houghton reportedly was among the richest members of the House, with a wealth of $475 million, however, most of that amount was related to trusts in which he had no beneficial interest. Houghton had a moderate voting record and was founder of the Republican Main Street Coalition, which he formed to encourage a more moderate stance to public issues. He served on the International Relations and Ways and Means Committees. He was frequently called upon to serve as a broker between Democrat and Republican members on critical issues since he was a champion for improving civility between political parties. He unsuccessfully sought out a Republican to challenge Tom DeLay for the spot of majority leader. He was one of only four Republicans to vote against all the impeachment articles against President Clinton, and in 2001, Houghton was one of only three Republicans to vote against permanently repealing the estate tax. While he voted with Republicans on most issues relating to the budget, he also voted with the Democratic Party on issues of environmental protection, civil rights and funding for the arts and education. On October 10, 2002, he was among the six House Republicans who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq. On April 7, 2004, Houghton announced his intentions not to seek a tenth term in Congress. On January 3, 2005, Houghton's term as a congressman expired.
Houghton throughout his career was one of Upstate New York's most well known and respected Republican members of Congress; he was usually re-elected with more than 70% of the vote. He clashed occasionally with the increasingly Southern, socially conservative orientation of the party. For example, Houghton was one of the most vocal pro-choice Republicans in Congress.
He was succeeded by John R. "Randy" Kuhl, a former State Senator and Bath lawyer.
[edit] External links
He Opened Corning Was in WW2
[edit] See also
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Stanley N. Lundine |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 34th congressional district 1987–1993 |
District 34 eliminated after the 1990 Census |
| Preceded by Bill Paxon |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 31st congressional district 1993–2003 |
District 31 eliminated after the 2000 Census |
| Preceded by John J. LaFalce |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 29th congressional district 2003–2005 |
Succeeded by Randy Kuhl |
