- Bill Hendon
Infobox_Congressman
name = William Martin Hendon
date of birth = birth date and age|1944|11|09
place of birth =Asheville, North Carolina
death_date =
death_place =
state =North Carolina
district = 11th
term_start = 1981
term_end = 1983
preceded =V. Lamar Gudger
succeeded = James McClure Clarke
term_start3 = 1985
term_end3 = 1987
preceded3 = James McClure Clarke
succeeded3 = James McClure Clarke
party = Republican
spouse =William Martin Hendon (born
November 9 ,1944 inAsheville, North Carolina ) is anauthor ,POW /MIAactivist , and two-term Republican U.S.Congressman fromNorth Carolina 's 11th District. His 2007 New York Times bestseller, cite web | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/bestseller/0617besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1185163200&en=c9940911fa73a658&ei=5070l | title = New York Times Best Sellers: Hardcover nonfiction, June 17, 2007 | publisher = New York Times | date = 2007-06-17 ] [http://www.enormouscrime.com "An Enormous Crime"] , chronicles the history of American soldiers abandoned inIndochina following theVietnam War and the circumstances that left them there. A companion website allows readers to examine actual intelligence reports and decide if theDefense Intelligence Agency acted properly in dismissing each case.One day prior to the release of "An Enormous Crime", "
The Raleigh News & Observer " ran a story about a passage inDouglas Brinkley 's "The Reagan Diaries," wherein Reagan, following a briefing by then-Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush , wrote that Hendon was "off his rocker" with allegations about Americans held inVietnam . cite web | url = http://www.newsobserver.com/659/story/582501.html | title = Reagan dissed N.C. lawmaker in his diary | publisher = The Raleigh News & Observer | date = 2007-05-28 ]In the 1980s Hendon's congressional campaigns became nationally famous due to his rivalry with Democrat James McClure Clarke. In 1982, Clarke defeated Hendon's bid for re-election by less than 1,500 votes. In 1984 Hendon gained revenge by defeating Clarke's bid for re-election by just two percentage points. In their third consecutive meeting in 1986 Hendon lost to Clarke by one percentage point. Despite being encouraged to run against Clarke for a fourth time in 1988, Hendon declined and announced that he was leaving political life to concentrate on the POW/MIA issue. Hendon is an alumnus of the
University of Tennessee , where he also taught from 1968 to 1970.Tenure in the United States Congress
*
97th United States Congress (1981-1983)
*99th United States Congress (1985-1987)References
External links
* [http://www.enormouscrime.com "An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia"]
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000490 Biography] , The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
* [http://www.archives.gov/publications/ref-info-papers/90/appendix-m.html A Finding Aid to Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994] , The National Archives, compiled 1996
* [http://www.usvetdsp.com/story19.htm Hanoi and Washington Officials Reneging on Promises of Joint POW/MIA Cooperation] , "U.S. Veteran Dispatch", February/March 1995
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D8153DF936A35755C0A963958260 M.I.A. Hunter in Hanoi Chains Himself to Gate] , "The New York Times", June 5, 1995
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2D71E3CF93AA35755C0A963958260 Vietnam Ousts American Over the P.O.W. Issue] , "The New York Times", June 9, 1995
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