One of the leading footsoldiers of the conservative movement during the Reagan era passed away last month. Jack Kemp, former NFL star, congressman, and Vice Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket in 1996, passed away May 2nd after a battle with cancer at the age of 73.Kemp contributed in a number of areas. He was a notable football player at Occidental College in Los Angeles, his native town, where he played at several positions. He took his football skills to the pros, where he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1957, then cut, and picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He would play for a number of teams, both in the NFL and the then-operating AFL as a strong quarterback. His most successful play came under the Buffalo Bills, where he led the team to two-consecutive AFL titles, before the organization's merger with the NFL.
Kemp settled in Buffalo, and already had an active hand in politics through the 1960s. During his days in California, he was a volunteer for Barry Goldwater's 1964 bid for President, and Ronald Reagan's 1966 victorious campaign for governor there. He also worked on Governor Reagan's staff in 1967, and a special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman Ray C. Bliss in 1969.
In 1970, Kemp was elected to a Democratic-leading district in Buffalo to be seated in the U.S. Congress, where he served until 1989. He became a leading conservative spokesman, particularly on economic issues. He was a "supply-sider", believing that economic growth is caused by providing incentives. He was also generally conservative on most issues, and quickly became a Republican leader. In 1974, Time Magazine nominated Kemp as one of their "Faces For The Future". He was mentioned as a possible challenger to beat Jimmy Carter for the Presidency in 1980, and was a Vice-Presidential front-runner that year, in which George H.W. Bush got the nomination. In 1981, he was chosen by the Republicans in Congress to be chairman of the House Republican Conference, and served in that position for seven years. Kemp was an author of the 1981 Kemp-Roth tax cut, also known as the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. This was a keystone to the economic legacy of the Reagan years that lifted America out of the stagflation of the 1970s and paved the way for the roaring prosperity of the 1990s.
In 1988, Kemp decided not to return to the Congress, but to run for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Here he joined Kansas Senator Bob Dole, Teleevangelist Pat Robertson, Former Delaware Governor Pierre du Pont, Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, and Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to challenge Vice President George H.W. Bush for the nomination. He struggled to gain traction, and withdrew after the Super Tuesday primaries. However, his knowledge and experience on matters of poverty led Bush to nominate Kemp to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in which he served through most of the Bush Administration.
Kemp was highly respected in the party for his role in the 1992 GOP convention. Just after the election that year, he was considered again a front-runner for the Presidency, this time for the 1996 campaign. However, he decided not to run, as he believed some of his views would not go over well with the Republican electorate. The other candidates sought after his endorsement highly. Steve Forbes got it just as eventual nominee Bob Dole was nearing the nomination. Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett was asked by Dole to be his running-mate. Bennett said no, but reportedly suggested the name of Kemp. He was chosen by the GOP convention over other names that were discussed, including Ohio Governor George Voinovich, Michigan Governor John Engler, Florida Senator Connie Mack, Arizona Senator (and future GOP Presidential nominee) John McCain, and Texas Governor (and future President) George W. Bush. The Dole-Kemp ticket, however, went down to a solid defeat in the election that year.
One of his greatest legacies was the Roth-Kemp tax cut in 1981. This was the foundation for the supply-side economic theory now widely known as "Reaganomics". His loss is also a loss of one of the leading conservatives to reach out to minorities, people from urban areas, and those in poverty. These are issues that the Republican Party absolutely need to get a grasp on.
Wikipedia - Jack Kemp
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