Allan O. Hunter

Infobox Congressman
name=Allan O. Hunter


width=
state=California
district=9th and 12th
party=Democrat
term=January 1951 - January 1955
preceded=Cecil F. White and Patrick J. Hillings
succeeded=J. Arthur Younger and Bernice F. Sisk
date of birth= birth date|1916|6|15|mf=y
place of birth= Los Angeles, California
date of death= death date and age|1995|5|2|1916|6|15|mf=y
place of death= Bethesda, Maryland
spouse= Dixie Lee Huntercite web
title = Allan Oakley Hunter Obituary
publisher = "The New York Times"
author = Kenneth N. Gilpin
date = May 5 1995
url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60616FE38590C768CDDAC0894DD494D81
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ]
current occupation=

Allan Oakley Hunter (June 15 1916 - May 2 1995) was an American lawyer and politician. Hunter, a Republican, served as the United States Representative for California's 9th congressional district from 1951 to 1953 and for California's 12th congressional district from 1953 to 1955.cite web
title = Allan Oakley Hunter Information
publisher = The Political Graveyard
author = Lawrence Kestenbaum
date =
url = http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/hunter.html#R9M0J1HRY
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] After his stint in politics, Hunter served as the president and chairman of the Federal National Mortgage Association (commonly known "as Fannie Mae") from 1970 to 1981.

Background

Hunter was born on June 15 1916 in Los Angeles, California. After attending public school in Fresno, California, he went on to Fresno State College.cite web
title = Allan Oakley Hunter Profile
publisher = United States Congress
author =
date =
url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000979
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] After graduating from the college in 1937, Hunter attended University of California, Hastings College of the Law and graduated from there with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1940. After being admitted to the bar the same year, he became a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation until 1944. He then served in the United States Naval Reserve Office of Strategic Services in England and Germany with a counter-intelligence unit under the Sixth Army Group from 1944 to 1946. After returning from World War II, Hunter started his law practice in Fresno, and continued until 1950 when he decided to run for the House of Representatives seat of the 9th congressional district.

Politics and Fannie Mae

In the 9th district, the Republican Hunter defeated Democratic incumbent Cecil F. White in a close race, capturing 76,015 votes to White's 70,201 votes, giving Hunter the 52%-48% margin. [cite book |editor=John L. Moore |others= |title=Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections|edition= 3rd |year= 1994 |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |location=Washington, D.C. |id=0-87187-996-4 |pages=1543 pg. 1214] In 1952, Hunter was the delegate from California in the Republican National Convention. In that year's House election, Hunter ran unopposed for the seat in the state's 12th congressional district and won the election after capturing 99.3% of the vote. [Moore (1994), pg. 1219]

In the 1954 House election, Hunter faced a tough re-election against political newcomer Democrat Bernice F. Sisk. Sisk defeated Hunter in the election with a 53.8%-46.2% majority. [Moore (1994), pg. 1224] After losing his re-election bid, he became the general counsel with Housing and Home Finance Agency in Washington, D.C. the following year. He served that position until July 1957 when he resigned in order to continue his law practice in Fresno. Three years later, he was again a delegate to the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. For the next ten years, he collaborated on the development and operation of the Rossmoor Leisure World Communities in California. From 1966 to 1969, Hunter served as chairman of California's state commission of housing and community development.

In January of 1970, Hunter was chosen by then-President Richard Nixon to become the chairman of the Federal National Mortgage Association, the nation's largest provider of housing finance.cite web
title = Feud over Fannie Mae
publisher = "Time"
author =
date = February 27 1978
url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919374,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] In 1978, tension started to rise between Hunter and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Patricia Roberts Harris. Harris specifically felt that the organization was too concerned about making money and "too unconcerned with stimulating mortgage lending for low-income housing in the cities." Hunter's resignation was being called for by the Carter White House and by the directors of the company's board. In November 1977, a vote for Hunter's resignation failed by an 8-6 margin.

Hunter was eventually replaced by David O. Maxwell as Fannie Mae's chairman and president in 1981.cite web
title = History Of Fannie Mae
publisher = AllieMae
author =
date =
url = http://www.alliemae.org/historyoffanniemae.html
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] After Maxwell left a $7.56 million yearly salary with Fannie Mae and retired with a $19.6 million dollar pension, Hunter said, "Executive compensation at Fannie Mae has run amok."cite web
title = David Maxwell, Fannie Mae
publisher = United for a Fair Economy
author = Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh and Ralph Estes
date = September 1 1999
url = http://www.faireconomy.org/press/archive/1999/Executive_Excess/decade_of_executive_excess.html
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] Hunter himself retired with a $80,000 pension in 1981, and said that he believed that the CEOs of government-backed corporations shouldn't make the million-dollar salaries found in the private sector. Hunter also said in an interview, "I don't think it's justified by any rational standard." [John Mintz, "Congress Puts a Crimp in Defense Executives' Paychecks," "The Washington Post", October 11, 1994, p. C1]

Hunter died on May 2 1995 in a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland after a heart attack.cite web
title = Allan Hunter, representative in 1950s, dies
publisher = "The Washington Post"
author =
date = May 3 1995
url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/8627321.html?dids=8627321&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&fmac=&date=May+3%2C+1995&author=&desc=Allan+Hunter%2C+representative+in+1950s%2C+dies
accessdate = 2006-12-30 ]

References

External links

*CongBio|H000979
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/hunter.html#R9M0J1HRY The Political Graveyard profile for Allan O. Hunter]

Persondata
NAME=Hunter, Allan O.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American lawyer, politician and president of Fannie Mae
DATE OF BIRTH=June 15 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH=Los Angeles, California
DATE OF DEATH=May 2 1995
PLACE OF DEATH=Bethesda, Maryland