Gene Snyder

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Marion Gene Snyder

U.S. Representative for Kentucky's
4th Congressional District
In office
January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by Frank Chelf
Succeeded by Jim Bunning
U.S. Representative for Kentucky's
3rd Congressional District
In office
January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965
Preceded by Frank W. Burke
Succeeded by Charles R. Farnsley
Born January 26, 1928
Louisville, Kentucky
Died February 16, 2007 (aged 79)
Naples, Florida
Resting place Floydsburg Cemetery in Crestwood in Oldham County, Kentucky
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Patricia Creighton Snyder (born 1930)
Residence Oldham County, Kentucky
Alma mater University of Louisville
Louis Dembitz Brandeis
School of Law
Occupation Attorney
Religion Lutheran[1]

Marion Gene Snyder (January 26, 1928 – February 16, 2007[2]), known as Gene Snyder, was an attorney, farmer, and construction businessman who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from adjoining districts in his native Kentucky.

Early life and career

Born in Louisville, he graduated from duPont Manual High School, studied at the University of Louisville, and obtained his legal credentials from the Louis Dembitz Brandeis School of Law in Louisville. He launched his law practice in Louisville in 1950. Four years later, he became the city attorney in Jeffersontown in populous Jefferson County. In 1957, he was elected to the first of two terms as the magistrate for the First District of the Jefferson County government.

U.S. House of Representatives

Gene Snyder of KY.jpg

In 1962, Snyder was elected to fill the Louisville-based 3rd congressional district.[3] In his first term, he was one of the few House Republicans who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, voting "nay" on both initial passage[4] and final passage.[5] He also voted against the Food Stamp Act[6] and Economic Opportunity Act[7] that year, both of which were key components of the Great Society. Later that year, Snyder, a Barry Goldwater supporter,[Citation Needed] was unseated by former Louisville Mayor Charles R. P. "Charlie" Farnsley in the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential landslide.[8]

He then moved to suburban Oldham County and in 1966 mounted a successful campaign for the 4th congressional district by unseating 11-term Democrat representative Frank Leslie Chelf (1907–1982). Back in Congress, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which forbids racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.[9]

By that time, the 4th district was rapidly trending Republican because of an influx of new residents from Cincinnati, Ohio. The district absorbed most of the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati metro area in the 1960s round of redistricting. He took full advantage of this trend and defeated Chelf by eight points.[10]

Snyder, a supporter of certain federal programs which benefited constituents, once strongly rebuked Democrat colleague Bob Edgar for attempting to limit a spending bill with appropriations for dams, claiming that Edgar lacked "an ounce of the milk of human kindness in his soul."[11] He also voted in the affirmative of a highway measure in 1985, which some other Republicans criticized as being a "pork-barrel project."[12]

Dubbed as being part of the "Doomsday Dozen" by the Council for a Livable World due to what the group described as having a voting record "so poor that they have been singled out for defeat in 1984," Snyder was unsuccessfully targeted for ousting that year.[13]

Until 1986, Snyder was re-elected. However, he faced a strong Democratic opponent to the seat from attorney W. Patrick "Pat" Mulloy, Jr., who almost won despite the Ronald Reagan presidential landslide.[14] Rather than face Mulloy again as he did the previous election cycle, Snyder chose not to seek an eleventh term in the House.[15]

The seat then went to the Republican Jim Bunning, a former Major League Baseball player, who in 1983 had been the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee against Democrat Martha Layne Collins (born 1936). Bunning was later elected to the state's Class III Senate seat, a post currently held by Rand Paul.

Legacy

Snyder died in mid-February 2007 at the age of seventy-nine; a family friend said of him:[16]

“ Kentucky lost a good friend. He brought a lot of improvements. He loved Kentucky. He was a great statesman. ”

—Joe Whittle

Mitch McConnell, who Snyder was a mentor to, said of the U.S. representative:[16]

“ I will always remember Gene as the man who gave me my first real opportunity in politics. In the summer of 1963 I served as an intern in his Capitol Hill office and I learned a lot from watching him work. ”

—Mitch McConnell

An expressway, the federal courthouse in Louisville, and a general aviation airport near Falmouth, Kentucky, are named in Snyder's honor.[17]

See also

  • Eugene Siler, Republican representative from Kentucky's 8th and 6th districts
  • James S. Golden, Republican representative from Kentucky's 9th and 8th districts

References

  1. ↑ Snyder. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Former Congressman Gene Snyder dies," The Louisville Courier-Journal, February 16, 2007.
  3. ↑ KY District 3 Race - Nov 06, 1962. Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  4. ↑ H.R. 7152. PASSAGE.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ H.R. 7152. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION (H. RES. 789) PROVIDING FOR HOUSE APPROVAL OF THE BILL AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  6. ↑ H.R. 10222. PASSAGE.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  7. ↑ S. 2642. PASSAGE OF THE ANTI-POVERTY BILL WHICH INCORPORATED THE TEXT OF H.R. 11377.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  8. ↑ KY District 3 Race - Nov 03, 1964. Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  9. ↑ TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES..
  10. ↑ KY District 4 Race - Nov 08, 1966. Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  11. ↑ Martin, Douglas (August 24, 2013). Bob Edgar, Lawmaker and Liberal Leader, Dies at 69. The New York Times. Archived version available here. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  12. ↑ September 12, 1985. HOUSE VOTES BY BIG MARGIN TO BAR FUNDS FOR WESTWAY. The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  13. ↑ June 28, 1984. CAMPAIGN NOTES; Antinuclear Group Asks Defeat of 12 Republicans. UPI via The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  14. ↑ Candidate - M. Gene Snyder. Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  15. ↑ November 28, 1986. OHIO RIVER BRIDGE CAUSES A DISPUTE. The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 February 18, 2007. Gene Snyder, Ky. congressman. Associated Press via Press-Telegram. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  17. ↑ Marion Eugene “Gene” Snyder (1928-2007) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed July 9, 2021.

External links

  • Profile at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
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