Jim Leach was a respected Republican congressman from Iowa who served 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Died: December 11, 2024 (Who else died on December 11?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 82.
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Jim Leach’s legacy
Leach spent most of his life living in, working in, and serving Iowa, his native state. Born in Davenport, he studied at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, and the London School of Economics. In the 1960s, he was a staffer for then-Illinois Rep. Donald Rumsfeld and served as a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly before resigning his commission in 1973 in protest of President Richard Nixon’s infamous Saturday Night Massacre.
Three years later, Leach made the jump to Congress, elected in 1976 and beginning what would become three decades of service. A Republican, he considered himself fiscally conservative but socially moderate, views that were reflected in his voting record. Leach voted for conservative fiscal policies, but was also pro-choice on issues like abortion, and was one of just six Republicans to vote against military action in Iraq in 2002.
The congressman pushed for a more progressive approach to the U.S.’ role in Central American politics and opposed Newt Gingrich for speaker of the House, but was also one of the top critics of President Bill Clinton and helped push the Whitewater investigation. Leach served 15 terms in Congress before finally being defeated in a 2006 upset, bested by Democratic candidate Dave Loebsack.
After leaving Congress, Leach taught at Princeton and was selected chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Barack Obama. He served on the boards of the Century Foundation, Kettering Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 2022, in protest of the Republican Party’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Leach changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat.
During his time in public service, Leach earned the Wayne Morse Integrity in Politics Award, the Woodrow Wilson Award from Johns Hopkins, and the Adlai Stevenson Award from the United Nations Association, among other honors.
On what it means to be a progressive Republican:
“When I entered politics, there was a well-understood cleavage between Goldwater conservatism and Rockefeller urbanism. Today, the conservative dynamic is more social issue-related than attuned to individual rights. If Goldwater were alive today, he would be perceived as a radically liberal Republican. He was an economic and individual rights conservative, pro-choice and pro-gay rights … The conservative wing has always been the larger wing within the party, but there has generally been a substantial moderate wing as well. Today in Congress the moderate base has been eroded almost to extinction.” — interview with the National Endowment of the Humanities, 2009
Tributes to Jim Leach
Full obituary: Des Moines Register
