Richard Schweiker

Schweiker was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1926, the son of Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker Sr. and his wife, the former Blanche R. Schultz. His father and his uncle worked in the tiling business for some decades. He was born into a family of Schwenckfelders and was a member of the church himself. Schweiker received his early education at public schools in Worcester, and graduated from Norristown Area High School as valedictorian in 1944. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier , being discharged with the rank of electronics technician (second class) in 1946. Following his military service, Schweiker attended Slippery Rock State College for two years before transferring to Pennsylvania State University. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Penn State in 1950, graduating as a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma. He then joined his family's business, American Olean Tile Company, rising from an assistant in the personnel department to the company's president within a few years. He also became active in local Republican politics, serving as a precinct committeeman, and founded the Montgomery County chapter of the Young Republicans, of which he was president from 1952 to 1954. He was selected as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1952 and in 1956. == Marriage and family ==

On September 10, 1955, Schweiker married Claire Joan Coleman, a former host of the children's television show Romper Room, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1954–1956). They had two sons and three daughters. == Political career ==

U.S. House of Representatives In 1960, Schweiker was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Warren Ballard, a law professor at Temple University, 62%–38%. He was elected to three more terms, never receiving less than 59% of the vote. and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He also supported the creation of Medicare, increases in Social Security, and federal rent subsidies. He was the only successful Republican statewide candidate in an election that saw Hubert Humphrey win Pennsylvania by over 170,000 votes. During his tenure in the Senate, Schweiker served as the ranking member on both the Labor and Human Resources Committee and the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. He was the first Republican senator ever endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL–CIO, and received 49% of the vote in heavily Democratic Philadelphia. Church Committee From 1975 to 1976, Schweiker was a member of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, headed by Idaho Senator Frank Church, investigating illegal domestic activities of the United States government's intelligence agencies. The "Church Committee" found that allegations of CIA plots to assassinate Cuban Premier Fidel Castro during John F. Kennedy's presidency went unreported to the Warren Commission even though CIA director Allen Dulles was a member of the Commission. In October 1975, Schweiker said at a press conference that the subcommittee had developed "significant leads" and was investigating three conspiracy theories, adding, "I think the Warren Commission is like a house of cards. It's going to collapse." On June 27, 1976, he appeared on CBS's Face the Nation and said that the Commission made a "fatal mistake" by relying on the CIA and FBI instead of its own investigators. Schweiker also said that he felt it was possible that the White House was involved in a cover-up, and in regards to Lee Harvey Oswald that "Everywhere you look with him, there are the fingerprints of intelligence". He contributed the introduction to a 1976 edition of Accesories After the Fact by Sylvia Meagher, a work critical of the Warren Commission. Vice Presidential consideration In 1976, Ronald Reagan made a serious challenge against President Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Party presidential primaries. Immediately before the opening of the 1976 Republican National Convention, Reagan attempted to attract moderate delegates by promising to name Schweiker, who had a moderate voting record in the Senate, as his running mate. This was unusual because the tradition was for a nominee to name a running mate only after winning the nomination. In response, conservative Republicans, including U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, encouraged a movement to draft Conservative Party U.S. Senator James L. Buckley of New York as the G.O.P. nominee. Ford won the nomination on the first ballot by a razor-thin margin and selected Bob Dole for vice president. Reagan's naming him as his running mate came as a surprise to Schweiker, as the two did not know each other. Schweiker subsequently adopted a much more conservative voting record; his rating from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action dropped to 15% in 1977. In 1980, Schweiker announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate. Reagan won the presidential nomination in 1980 but chose George H. W. Bush, not Schweiker, as his running mate, and won the election. ==Health secretary==

Dr. C. Everett Koop (far right), Elizabeth Koop (left), Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (far left), and HHS Secretary Richard Schweiker (right), (November 16, 1981). Schweiker accepted President Reagan's appointment as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in January 1981. He held the post until he resigned in February 1983. ==Political legacy==

During his tenure in public service, Schweiker was an ardent supporter of a volunteer army. He coauthored the book How to End the Draft, eventually used as the blueprint for shifting the country to a fully volunteer army. He also pushed for the Schweiker Act of 1965, which gave cash awards to military personnel who suggested money-saving ideas, ultimately resulting in savings of more than $1 billion to taxpayers. As ranking Republican on the Senate health subcommittee, Schweiker worked on legislation to combat diabetes, cancer, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, and lead paint poisoning. He focused heavily on diabetes and authored bills creating the National Commission on Diabetes Advisory Board, pushing for passage of the National Diabetes Act in 1972. Those efforts led to increased federal funding for diabetes programs and were a prototype for legislatively constructing a research effort across all National Institutes of Health operations and the Centers for Disease Control. Some who worked with Schweiker or benefited from his initiative called him the "Patron Saint of the Pancreas" for his devotion to the cause. ==Later life and death==

From 1983 to 1994, Schweiker served as president of the American Council of Life Insurance, now known as the American Council of Life Insurers. He also owned a home in Ocean City, New Jersey. ==See also==