Malcolm Wallop

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Malcolm Wallop
Malcolm Wallop

In office
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by Gale McGee (D)
Succeeded by Craig Thomas (R)

Born February 27, 1933 (1933-02-27) (age 75)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse Isabel Thomason Wallop
Religion Episcopalian

Malcolm Wallop (born February 27, 1933) is a Republican politician and former three-term United States Senator from Wyoming. Wallop is noted as the first non-lawyer to serve as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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[edit] Early years

Although Wallop was born in New York City and graduated from Yale University, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall, in 1954, his roots in Wyoming stem back to pioneer ancestors in Big Horn, WY.[citation needed] After his graduation from Yale, Wallop served in the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant from 1955 to 1957. He worked for a decade as a cattle rancher and small businessman, having entered politics in 1969 as a successful candidate for the Wyoming House of Representatives. He served two terms, followed by a stint in the Wyoming State Senate from 1973 to 1976.

In 1976, Wallop defeated three-term Democratic U.S. Senator Gale McGee by a margin of nearly 10 percent in a rare bright spot for Republicans that year.

[edit] Senate service

In his first term, Wallop authored the legislation that established the Congressional Award program to recognize outstanding volunteerism among America's youth.

The 1977 Wallop Amendment to the Surface Mining Control Act was hailed by property rights advocates for forcing the federal government to compensate property owners whose ability to mine was undercut by regulation. Three years later, Wallop successfully amended the Clean Water Act to protect states' interests.

His bill to cut inheritance and gift taxes in 1981 was a key component of President Ronald Reagan's tax reform package and is remembered as one of the most substantive changes to tax policy that decade. Four years earlier, Wallop was partially responsible for phasing out President Jimmy Carter's Windfall Profits Tax.

In 1982, he was re-elected by a 14-point margin over Democrat Rodger McDaniel, a Wyoming state legislator. Six years later, Wallop won his final term by earning just 1,322 more votes than another state senator, Democrat John Vinich.

Wallop's latter career was characterized largely by his participation in the foreign policy and trade debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a member of the Helsinki Commission and travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as an arms control negotiator. Wallop was also a strong advocate of the GATT trade agreement and U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization.

From 1990 to 1994, he was the top Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. In 1992, Wallop was a key force behind passage of the far-reaching Energy Policy Act.

Wallop's Senate service was characterized by a consistently conservative record, with a traditional Republican view of defense spending and Cold War politics and an aggressively libertarian bent on other issues.

In 1994, Wallop opted out of a race for a fourth term. He was succeeded by Republican Craig Thomas.

[edit] Post-senate career

Immediately upon his retirement from the Senate in January 1995, Wallop founded the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, a Virginia-based non-profit group that lobbies for constitutionally limited government and a strong national defense.[1] George Landrith is the current president of the Institute, a position he has held since 1998. One of the Institute's early staffers was Myron Ebell.[2] Other notable staffers have included: Jeffrey Taylor, Robert Schadler, Lynn Bouchey, Jason Wright, Kimberly Martin, Kerri Houston, Bob Ferguson, Paul Georgia, and Aaron Lee.

In 1996, Wallop served as General Chairman of the Steve Forbes presidential campaign.[1] Currently, he divides his time between business interests in Wyoming and his duties as chairman of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute.

[edit] Aristocratic connections

Malcolm Wallop is the second son of the Hon. Oliver Malcolm Wallop, son of Rt. Hon. Oliver Henry Wallop, 8th Earl of Portsmouth, making him a first cousin, once removed, to the current 10th Earl of Portsmouth [1] As a result he is in distant remainder to the titles. His sister Jean is the current Countess dowager of Carnarvon having married Sir Henry Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon in 1956. He was Queen Elizabeth II's horse racing manager.[3]. Senator Wallop is therefore an uncle of the current Earl of Carnarvon. Among his cousins are the present 8th Earl Cadogan and the 6th Marquess of Abergavenny [2].

[edit] Works by Malcolm Wallop

Wallop, Malcolm. "The Environment: Air, Water & Public Lands," In A Changing America: Conservatives View the 80s from the United States Senate, edited by Paul Laxalt and Richard S. Williamson, pp. 133–56. South Bend, Ind.: Regnery/Gateway, 1980.

Wallop, Malcolm, and Angelo Codevilla. The Arms Control Delusion. San Francisco: ICS Press, 1987.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Senator Malcolm Wallop: Biography.. Frontiers of Freedom. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  2. ^ Scoop issue 139. The National Center for Public Policy Research (10 August 1996). Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  3. ^ "Time Magazine Oct. 22, 1984

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Gale McGee
United States Senator (Class 1) from Wyoming
1977–1995
Served alongside: Clifford P. Hansen, Alan K. Simpson
Succeeded by
Craig Thomas
Preceded by
Howell Heflin
Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee
1981 – 1983
Succeeded by
Ted Stevens
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