Amo Houghton

Amo Houghton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 29th district
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by John J. LaFalce
Succeeded by Randy Kuhl
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 31st district
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by Bill Paxon
Succeeded by District Eliminated
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 34th district
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by Stan Lundine
Succeeded by District Eliminated
Personal details
Born (1926-08-07) August 7, 1926
Corning, New York
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Priscilla Dewey Houghton
Profession Business executive, politician
Religion Episcopalian

Amory "Amo" Houghton, Jr. (born August 7, 1926) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of New York, a retired member of the House of Representatives, and member of one of upstate New York's most prominent families in business, the Houghton family.

Early life

The son of Amory Houghton and grandson of Alanson B. Houghton, Amo 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 World War II 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, Procter & Gamble and Genentech.

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 Partnership, 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 Democratic 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 the resolution 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.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amo Houghton.
United States House of Representatives
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
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.