Hyde seeks his own kind of conservatism - Illinois Representative Henry Hyde

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Jan 31, 1994 | by Evan Gahr

Armchair conservatism left Hyde restless, however. "I decided I should do more than send occasional letters to the editor as my contribution to civic advancement"' he recalls. "So, always having an attraction for the underdog and living in Chicago, I decided I'd find my local Republican organization and try to pitch in. They were minuscule, but I found them. I said, |I don't want anything. I don't even want a low license plate. But I want to help.'" He became a precinct captain and spent years "ringing doorbells and showing up at meetings and applauding on signal."

By 1952, Hyde was making speeches for Dwight Eisenhower's presidential campaign. During the day, he worked for insurance companies, handled wills and took on an occasional trial. "Dull, dull, dull," he once remarked. But in politics, patience is a virtue. A decade later, the party chose Hyde to run against Roman Pucinski, a Democratic congressman representing northwest Chicago. Although a political rookie, Hyde quickly mastered the art of the dodge. Sullivan recalls that during the campaign, Hyde was asked what he thought of the Taft-Hartley Act's section 14b. Hyde replied, "The same thing I think of section 14a."

Hyde lost by 10,000 votes. Four years later, he ran for state office and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he quickly gained the respect of his colleagues. Hyde was named best freshman representative and earned a reputation as a witty, knowledgeable legislator.

Republicans were the majority party in Illinois, but Hyde sometimes voted with Democrats - a practice he continues in Congress. Still, Hyde toed the party line enough to become majority leader in 1971. He lost a bid for the speakership in 1973, and when his supporters were kept off key committees, Hyde exiled himself to a back seat in the legislative chamber without a view of the speaker.

He decided to leave the Illinois House in 1974 when U.S. Rep. Harold Collier, who represented Illinois's 6th District, a suburban area west of Chicago, announced his retirement. After scraping by in a primary contest, Hyde was elected to the seat by 8,000 votes. Since then, his name has been synonymous with the antiabortion cause. But in his own district, he's known for his loyalty and dedication to his constituents, whether their needs are large or small.

"He's at every parade and gathering, church and civic"' says Jerry Urbick, a Hinsdale, Ill., businessman (and contributor to Hyde's campaign war chest). In recent years, Hyde has helped his constituents oppose the extension of Chicago's O'Hare airport, which they fear would increase noise and pollution; he has stood by his district on many such issues over the years. "He has consistently remained that way without the corruption that seems to be part of the Belt-way process," says Urbick.

In the rest of the country, conservatives interested in foreign policy have also found Hyde to be a staunch ally. In the early 1980s, he helped beat back this country's nuclear freeze movement, and by the end of the decade he had emerged as one of the Reagan administration's leading defenders, urging supporters to consider the big picture during the Iran-Contra hearings. "This debate is not essentially about narrow questions of legality," Hyde said when the hearings began in 1987. "It's about some passionately held beliefs, the conviction that democracy and freedom shall survive and flourish in our hemisphere, and how best to achieve this." (Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright, in his new book, Worth It All, depicts Hyde as one of the militants who "had taken command of House Republican ranks," eager to lift congressional restrictions on covert operations in Central America.)