- William L. Hungate
Infobox_Congressman
name= William Leonard Hungate
image_caption= William L. Hungate
image_size= 250px
date of birth= birth date|1922|12|14|mf=y
place of birth= Benton,Illinois
date of death= death date and age|2007|6|22|1922|12|14
place of death=Chesterfield, Missouri
state=Missouri
district= 9th
term_start=November 3 ,1964
term_end=January 3 ,1977
preceded =Clarence Cannon
succeeded =Harold Volkmer
party = Democrat
religion = Methodist
spouse = Dorothy HungateWilliam Leonard Hungate (
December 14 ,1922 -June 22 ,2007 ) was aUnited States Representative fromMissouri fromNovember 3 ,1964 (special election upon the death of CongressmanClarence Cannon ) toJanuary 3 ,1977 , representing the Ninth Congressional District. Following his retirement from theU.S. House of Representatives , Hungate was appointed to theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in 1979 by PresidentJimmy Carter , where he served until his retirement in 1992.Early years and education
Hungate was born in Benton,
Franklin County, Illinois onDecember 14 ,1922 , and graduated from Bowling Green High School,Bowling Green, Missouri in 1940. He attended theUniversity of Missouri ,Columbia, Missouri in 1943 (B.A.) and received his law degree fromHarvard Law School in 1948 (LL.B.). [cite web |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000965 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007] In 1969, he was awarded aDoctor of Jurisprudence degree fromHarvard Law School .World War II military service
Hungate served in the
United States Army from 1943 to 1946, where he received theCombat Infantryman Badge , 3Battle star s, and Bronze Star. He served inEngland ,France andGermany throughoutWorld War II . [cite web |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000965 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]Legal career and politics
Hungate was admitted to the
Missouri bar in 1948,Illinois Bar in 1949, and immediately entered private law practice in Lincoln County (Troy), Missouri. He was then elected prosecuting attorney ofLincoln County, Missouri , serving from 1951 to 1956. From 1958 to 1964, he served as a Missouri Special Assistant Attorney General. on November 3, 1964, he was elected simultaneously as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth and to the Eighty-ninth Congress by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States RepresentativeClarence Cannon . He was reelected to the five succeeding Congresses, serving until January 3, 1977. [cite web |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000965 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]Hungate was a member of the
House Judiciary Committee , and was the principal author of one of the three articles ofimpeachment of PresidentRichard M. Nixon . He was the Chair of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice. This "Hungate Subcommittee", as it became known, investigated the presidential pardon of Nixon by Nixon's successor,Gerald R. Ford in 1974. OnSeptember 24 , 1974 Ford appeared before the subcommittee, the only occasion on which a sitting President has given sworn testimony before Congress. [cite web |title="Long Beach Press-Telegram, Hungate pursued Nixon, June 22, 2007" |url=http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_6206866 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]Hungate was not a candidate for reelection to the
Ninety-fifth Congress in 1976, and he was succeeded by fellow DemocratHarold L. Volkmer . [cite web |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress" |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000965 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]Appointment as Federal District Judge
Hungate was appointed as Judge to the
United States District Court by PresidentJimmy Carter in 1979. As District Judge, Hungate presided over theSt. Louis public schooldesegregation case, and was instrumental in designing a voluntary desegregation plan for the St. Louis City and County School Districts. [cite web |title="Time Magazine, March 7, 1983" |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,953766,00.html |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]One of the most significant findings by Hungate in the St. Louis desegregation case was, with respect to school
segregation in St. Louis City and County, the "State of Missouri, which prior to 1954 mandated school segregation, never took any effective steps to dismantle the dual system it had compelled by constitution, statutory law, practice and policy." "Liddell et al. v. Bd. of Ed. of City of St. Louis, et al"., 491 F.Supp. 351, 357, (E.D. Mo. 1980) "aff'd," 667 F.2d 643 (8th Cir.), "cert. denied", 454 U.S. 1081 (1981). He concluded that "the State defendants stand before the Court as primary constitutional wrongdoers who have abdicated their remedial duty. Their efforts to pass the buck among themselves and other state instrumentalities must be rejected." "Id." at 359. [cite web |title="Senator Patrick Leahy Floor Statement on theNomination of John Ashcroft to the Office of Attorney General" |url=http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200101/010129ex.html |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007] [cite web |title="People for the American Way New Release, January 17, 2001" |url=http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0117-06.htm |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]Retirement and death
Hungate retired from the Court in 1992. During his retirement, he was the author of "It Wasn't Funny at the Time", , a collection of photographs and anecdotes from his college years, World War II, life in congress and during his judgeship, published in 1994; and "Glimpses of Politics (Red, White & Blue Jokes)", published in 1996. [cite web |title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress-Extended Bibliography" |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/bibdisplay.pl?index=H000965 |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]
Hungate was hospitalized on
June 6 ,2007 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield for ahematoma that was likely caused by a fall at his home.Hungate died on June 22, 2007 while in
intensive care at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy; a son, William; a daughter, Katie; and four grandchildren. [cite web |title="St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituary, June 22, 2007" |url=http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C4688C2E4200006286257302005DB3A1?OpenDocument |accessdate= July 2|accessyear=2007]External links
*CongBio|H000965
* [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C4688C2E4200006286257302005DB3A1?OpenDocument Obituary] from "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
* [http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/news-politicalfix/2007/06/former-law-clerk-remembers-hungate] "Former Law Clerk Remembers William Hungate - The St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Notes
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