Dick Gephardt

Richard Andrew Gephardt (born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who represented MO's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 2005.

He graduated from the former Southwest High School in 1958.

Gephardt is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

He earned his B.S. at Northwestern University in 1962 where he was president of Beta Theta Pi, the student senate, and his freshman class.

He earned his J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School in 1965.

In 1965, he was admitted to the Missouri Bar.

Gephardt was Democratic committeeman for the 14th ward in St. Louis from 1968 to 1971, moving up to become 14th ward alderman from 1971 to 1976, as part of a group of young aldermen known informally as "The Young Turks."

He then entered the Missouri Air National Guard, where he served until 1971.

He and his wife Jane have three grown children, Matt, Katie, and Chrissy.

His brother, Donald L. Gephardt, was the Dean of The College of Fine and Performing Arts at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.

In 1976, Gephardt was elected to Congress from the St. Louis–based 3rd District, succeeding 24-year incumbent Leonor Sullivan.

Gephardt voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday in August 1983 but did not vote on the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (or the vote to override President Reagan's veto in March 1988).

Gephardt formally announced his candidacy in February 1987—one of the first to do so—and campaigned hard in Iowa, ultimately spending over 100 days in the state.

He was stuck in low double digits in polls, but began moving ahead in Iowa in late December 1987 after running an ad that criticized trade barriers by Korea and Japan as unfair- known as the "Hyundai Ad." Gephardt won the Iowa caucuses and South Dakota primary in February while finishing a strong second in New Hampshire, making him a serious contender for the nomination.

Gephardt's early victories did not translate into support in other states, though, and he was not able to raise adequate funds to compete in the Southern primaries.

His campaign ran out of money after losing badly in the March "Super Tuesday" primaries, when he won only the Missouri primary.

An ad aired by Governor Michael Dukakis's campaign focused on Gephardt's "flip-flopping" voting record and showed a Gephardt look-alike doing forward and backward flips for the camera.

Many felt the ad killed any chance Gephardt had of winning the nomination.

Gephardt dropped out after winning only 13% in Michigan, despite support from the United Auto Workers.

Dukakis considered selecting Gephardt as his vice presidential running mate but instead chose Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.

He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1988 and 2004.

Gephardt was mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee in 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2008.

Since his retirement from politics, Gephardt has become a significant lobbyist.

He founded a Washington-based public affairs firm, Gephardt Government Affairs; an Atlanta-based labor consultancy, the Gephardt Group; and a direct primary care group, SolidaritUS Health.

He also consults for DLA Piper, FTI Consulting and Goldman Sachs and is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One and co-chair of Issue One's Council for Responsible Social Media with former Massachusetts lieutenant governor Kerry Healey.

Gephardt was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Loreen Estelle (née Cassell) and Louis Andrew Gephardt, a Teamster milkman; part of his ancestry is German.

Gephardt was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1988 presidential election.

In part due to the visibility gained from his 1988 presidential bid, Gephardt was elected majority leader by his House colleagues in June 1989, making him the second-ranking Democrat in the House, behind then-Speaker Tom Foley.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was House majority leader from 1989 to 1995 and minority leader from 1995 to 2003.

Gephardt became a prolific financial supporter of Democrats around the country in the early 1990s, assembling a team of top fundraising staff who helped him support hundreds of candidates for local and federal office.

Although Gephardt worked hard for many of President Bill Clinton's programs, he and his union supporters strongly opposed NAFTA and other "free trade" programs, so Clinton relied on Republican support to pass those initiatives.

During the impeachment proceedings of President Clinton, Gephardt led a walkout in the House after a censure motion was ruled irrelevant to the impeachment debate.

After Foley was unseated in the Republican landslide of 1994 that gave the Republicans a 52-seat majority, Gephardt became the leader of the House Democrats, as minority leader, initially opposite Newt Gingrich and then, from 1999 onward, Dennis Hastert.

Gephardt served in that position until January 1995.

In the 1996, 1998, and 2000 elections, Gephardt led the Democrats to gains in the House, although they did not retake the majority until 2006, after Gephardt had left Congress.

When Gingrich faced a coup within his own party in 1997, Gephardt could have become Speaker if there had been a floor vote and he gained the support of Republican members dissatisfied with Gingrich, but Gingrich refused to resign and no vote occurred.

In 2000, Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore named Gephardt to his short list of possible vice presidential candidates.

The other names on the short list were Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, North Carolina Senator John Edwards, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, and New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen.

He was elected 13 more times, opting not to run for reelection in 2004.

For most of his Congressional career, Gephardt's National Political Director was St. Louis–based political consultant Joyce Aboussie.