Ike Skelton

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Ike Skelton

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 1977 –
Preceded by	William Randall
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	December 20, 1931 (age 75) Lexington, Missouri, USA
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Susan Anding Skelton (1961 – 2005) Widowed
Religion	Disciples of Christ

Isaac Newton "Ike" Skelton IV (born December 20, 1931) has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1977. A Democrat, he represents Missouri's 4th congressional district (map). The district takes in most of the west-central part of the state, including the state capital, Jefferson City. Skelton is currently the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, being selected at the start of the 110th Congress. He had previously served as has the ranking Democrat on the Committee since 1998.

1 Early life, career, and education
2 Congressional career
3 Personal information
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early life, career, and education

Skelton was born in Lexington, Missouri, where he still lives today. As a boy, he met Harry Truman, whom he still admires today. He is an Eagle Scout.^[1] He received an A.A. from Wentworth Military and Junior College in 1951. He received an A.B. from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 1953 and became a brother of Sigma Chi and Alpha Phi Omega while there. He attended the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1953. He received an LL.B. from University of Missouri–Columbia in 1956. He became a lawyer, working in private practice in Lafayette County, Missouri.

He was a prosecuting attorney from 1957 until 1960, a special assistant attorney general, and Missouri Attorney General from 1961 until 1963. Skelton was a member of the Missouri State Senate from Lafayette County from 1971 until 1977. When William J. Randall retired after 17 years as Congressman, Skelton won the Democratic nomination to succeed him by winning 40% of the vote in a nine candidate Democratic primary.^[2]

[edit] Congressional career

Skelton is rated as a moderate Democrat. He opposes abortion and gun control, but is strongly supportive of labor.^[3] He is also somewhat more hawkish than most other Democrats.

Before the election, Skelton told Newsweek's George Will that his main priority as chairman of the Armed Services Committee will be "oversight, oversight, oversight!" While he voted for the war in Iraq, he has expressed serious misgivings about troop readiness. He favors reducing the number of troops in Iraq, and even favors redeploying a brigade from Iraq to Kuwait. Will suggested that under Skelton, the Armed Services Committee would resemble a United States Senate committee created to examine defense spending during World War II. This committee was chaired by Skelton's hero, Truman. [1]

[edit] Personal information

His wife of 44 years, Susan Anding Skelton, died on August 23, 2005. Later that year, on November 26, Skelton was injured when a van carrying him and fellow Congressmen Tim Murphy and Jim Marshall overturned near Baghdad Airport while on an official visit to Iraq. Skelton and Murphy were airlifted to a US Military hospital in Germany after complaining of neck pain. Both made a full recovery. ^[4]