Henry Hyde Dead at 83
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James Joyner | Thursday, November 29, 2007 |
Henry Hyde died this morning at the age of 83.
Former Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and was a championed government restrictions on the funding of abortions, died Thursday. He was 83.
The death of the Illinois Republican was announced by House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office on Capitol Hill.
Mary Ann Schultz, a spokeswoman for Rush University Medical Center, said Hyde died Thursday at 3 a.m. CST at that hospital. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death, although Hyde underwent open-heart surgery in July.
Hyde retired from Congress at the end of the last session. Earlier this month, President Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House praised Hyde, a leading foe of abortion, as a “powerful defender of life” and an advocate for a strong national defense. “He was a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten, and a fearless defender of life in all its seasons,” Bush said of Hyde that day.
Rest in peace.
Story via OTB News and TPM. Photo credit: Charles Bennett/AP.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Illinois will sorely miss Henry Hyde. He was a decent and principled man worthy of our trust.
This is a rare and marvelous thing in a state dominated by corruption.
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