H. John Heinz III

H. John Heinz III
United States Senator
from Pennsylvania
In office
January 3, 1977 – April 4, 1991
Preceded by Hugh Scott
Succeeded by Harris Wofford
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 18th district
In office
November 2, 1971 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by Robert Corbett
Succeeded by Doug Walgren
Personal details
Born October 23, 1938(1938-10-23)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died April 4, 1991(1991-04-04) (aged 52)
Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Teresa Heinz

Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American politician from Pennsylvania, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives (1971–1977) and the United States Senate (1977–1991).

Contents

Early life

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Heinz was the son of H. J. Heinz II (heir to the H. J. Heinz Company) and Joan Diehl. His parents divorced, and Heinz moved to San Francisco, California with his mother and his stepfather, U.S. Navy Captain Clayton C. McCauley. He graduated from the Town School, Phillips Exeter Academy, in 1956, and Yale University, where he was a member of Manuscript Society, in 1960. He then earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1963.[1] In 1963, Heinz enlisted in the United States Air Force and served on active duty from June to December of that year at Lackland Air Force Base. He then served with the 911th Troop Carrier Group, based at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport, as a member of the United States Air Force Reserve. In 1969 his rank was staff sergeant.

Academic and business activities

From 1970 to 1971, Heinz was a member of the faculty at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. His career as a businessman included positions as an analyst in the controller's division, and numerous positions in the marketing division of the H. J. Heinz Company.

Public service

House of Representatives

In 1971, he was elected by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert J. Corbett during the 92nd Congress.[2] He defeated Gateway Clipper Fleet creator John E. Connelly. He was reelected to the 93rd and 94th Congresses.

Senate

Heinz was elected to the Senate in 1976,[1] aided by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, Buckley v. Valeo, issued mid-campaign, which invalidated statutory restrictions on the spending of one's own personal funds in a political campaign. Heinz spent millions of dollars attacking Democratic nominee Bill Green, a seven-term congressman from Philadelphia and future mayor of that city, as being "soft" on military issues because he had voted against various Defense appropriation bills in the Vietnam War era.

In the early 1990s, Heinz was one of the leaders within the Senate on the issue of US economic competitiveness. Heinz's position was in direct contradiction to the much-publicized platform of the Republican Party and in direct opposition to the Bush White House. Heinz maintained that the US economic health and competitiveness was in a state of rapid decline and that the Bush administration, in contrast to the Reagan administration, both denied the problem and continued to execute policies that were not just neutral to the problem but rather accelerated the decline.

As the US decline accelerated, Heinz quietly assembled a "lunch meeting" group of Republican senators who were like-minded in their concern for US competitiveness but knew that their concern was in direct opposition to the White House and Republican Party. One of the group's initiatives was to back the reinstatement or refocusing of several of the Reagan administration’s key programs for rebuild US competitiveness (e.g., the Defense Manufacturing Board, the US intelligence community's Project Socrates) With the untimely death of Heinz, the group ceased to meet.

Death

Heinz and six other people were killed on April 4, 1991,[3] when a Bell 412 helicopter collided with the Senator's Piper Aerostar plane over Merion Elementary School in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. All aboard the two aircraft and two first-grade girls playing outside the school were killed. The helicopter had been dispatched to check out a problem with the landing gear of Heinz's plane. While moving in for a closer look, the helicopter's rotor blades struck the bottom of the plane, causing both aircraft to lose control and crash.

Senator Heinz was interred in the Heinz family mausoleum in Homewood Cemetery, located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.

Honors

The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum was renamed following his death. The 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) refuge includes the largest remaining freshwater tidal marsh in Pennsylvania as well as other habitats that are home to a variety of plants and animals native to Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Several institutions bear his name, including:

References

  1. ^ a b Ingham, John N. (1983). Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, Vol. 2, p. 567. Greenwood Press.
  2. ^ Beers, Paul B. (1980). Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday: The Tolerable Accommodation, p. 439. The Pennsylvania State University.
  3. ^ Dodge, Andrew R. (2005). Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, p. 1232. U.S. Government Printing Office.

Further reading

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Robert Corbett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district

1971–1977
Succeeded by
Doug Walgren
United States Senate
Preceded by
Hugh Scott
United States Senator (Class 1) from Pennsylvania
1977–1991
Served alongside: Richard S. Schweiker and Arlen Specter
Succeeded by
Harris Wofford
Party political offices
Preceded by
Robert Packwood
Oregon
Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
1979–1981
Succeeded by
Robert Packwood
Oregon
Preceded by
Richard Lugar
Indiana
Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
1985–1987
Succeeded by
Rudy Boschwitz
Minnesota
Preceded by
Hugh Scott
Republican nominee for United States Senator (Class 1) from Pennsylvania
1976, 1982, 1988
Succeeded by
Dick Thornburgh
Political offices
Preceded by
Lawton Chiles
Florida
Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee
1981–1987
Succeeded by
John Melcher
Montana