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Dick Gephardt

Dick GephardtAKA Richard Andrew Gephardt

Born: 31-Jan-1941
Birthplace: St. Louis, MO

Gender: Male
Religion: Baptist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Politician
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Congressman from Missouri, 1977-2005

Military service: Missouri Air National Guard (1965-71, Capt.)

Dick Gephardt was an Eagle Scout, and always had an interest in politics. He was president of his college fraternity, his freshman class, and the student senate at Northwestern University. Being a law student got him a deferment from the Vietnam-era draft, and Gephardt went into the Air National Guard. He worked as a lawyer for Thompson & Mitchell, a St. Louis law firm, from 1965 to 1977, and was elected city alderman in 1971. He won his U.S. House seat in 1976, and was re-elected to Congress 13 times, where his principal accomplishment was getting re-elected 13 times. Gephardt was the Democrats' majority leader in the House from 1989-1994, then minority leader from 1995-2003.

In Congress, Gephardt brought plenty of pork to his Missouri district, including funding for the Metro light rail system. He also played a key role in bringing the Rams football team to St. Louis from Los Angeles. He was generally considered an ally of organized labor, worked against the NAFTA treaty, and supported Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cut.

Gephardt's son Matt had cancer as an infant, and Gephardt later supported national health insurance because, he said, he remembered meeting the un-insured parents of other kids with cancer. Though he was only an alderman at the time, Gephardt was able to arrange experimental medical treatment for his son's volleyball-sized tumor and have it covered under his insurance policy. Matt survived, and is now a software executive and a frequent anecdote in his father's speeches.

Gephardt ran for President in 1988, losing the Democratic nomination to Michael Dukakis, and again in 2004, losing the nomination to John Kerry. In his last run for President, he was apparently advised to speak more passionately, and the more animated Gephardt was often photographed making cartoonish, almost Rodney Dangerfield-esque facial contortions during speeches.

Father: Lou Gephardt (teamster, milk truck driver)
Mother: Loreen Gephardt (legal secretary)
Wife: Jane Ann Byrnes (m. 1966, one son, two daughters)
Son: Matt Gephardt (software executive)
Daughter: Chrissy Gephardt
Daughter: Katie Gephardt

    High School: South West High School, St. Louis, MO (1958)
    University: BS, Northwestern University (1962)
    Law School: JD, University of Michigan (1965)
    Administrator: Board of Directors, Scripps Research Institute (2009-, as Chairman, 2010-)

    DLA Piper Senior Counsel for Government Affairs (2005-)
    Gephardt Group Founder, President, CEO (2005-)
    US Congressman, Missouri 3rd (1977-2005)
    Board of Aldermen, St. Louis, MO (1971-76)
    Member of the Board of Aravo Solutions (2007-)
    Member of the Board of Centene (2006-)
    Member of the Board of CenturyLink (2005-)
    Member of the Board of Dana (2008-)
    Member of the Board of DLA Piper (2008-)
    Member of the Board of Embarq (2007-)
    Member of the Board of Ford Motors (2009-)
    Member of the Board of MyMedicalRecords.com (2007-)
    Member of the Board of Spirit Aerosystems (2005-)
    Member of the Board of US Steel (2005-)
    Boeing Special Consultant (2005-)
    Extend Health Advisory Board (2007-)
    FTI Consulting Senior Consultant (2005-)
    Goldman Sachs Consultant (2006-)
    New Cycle Capital Special Advisor (2005-)
    Onex Advisor (2005-)
    Afghanistan World Foundation National Committee
    Al Franken for Senate
    Council on Foreign Relations
    Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
    Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
    Kiwanis Club
    American Legion
    Friends for Harry Reid
    Friends of Hillary
    Gephardt for President Candidate
    Hillary Rodham Clinton for US Senate Committee
    Hillary Clinton for President
    International Conservation Caucus Foundation Advisory Board
    National Democratic Institute for International Affairs Senior Advisory Committee
    National Endowment for Democracy Chairman
    Progressive Policy Institute Past Chairman
    St. Jude Children's Hospital Board of Directors
    Beta Theta Pi Fraternity
    Eagle Scout 1955
    Draft Deferment: Vietnam
    Cholecystectomy Bethesda Naval Hospital (1-Dec-1994)
    Funeral: Richard Nixon (1994)
    New Democrat Movement Former Chair of Democratic Leadership Council
    House Banking Scandal 28 overdrawn checks
    German Ancestry

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    For the Bible Tells Me So (21-Jan-2007) · Himself
    Tanner on Tanner (5-Oct-2004) · Himself


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