George V. Hansen

Infobox_Congressman


name=George V. Hansen
image name
state=Idaho
district=2nd
term_start = January 3, 1975
term_end = January 4, 1985
preceded=Orval H. Hansen
succeeded=Richard H. Stallings
state3=Idaho
district3=2nd
term_start3 = January 4, 1965
term_end3 = January 3, 1969
preceded3=Ralph R. Harding
succeeded3=Orval H. Hansen
date of birth=birth date and age|1930|9|14
place of birth=Tetonia, Idaho
dead = alive
date of death=
place of death=
residence=Pocatello
spouse=
profession=Insurance
religion=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
party=Republican|

George Vernon Hansen (born September 14, 1930) is a Republican politician from the state of Idaho. He served in the House of Representatives from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1975 to 1985.

Hansen was born in Tetonia, Idaho. He graduated from Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho) in 1956 and did graduate work at Idaho State University. Hansen served in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1954 and the United States Naval Reserve from 1964 to 1970.

Hansen moved to Alameda, Idaho, and was established as a life insurance salesman by 1958. He was elected mayor of Alameda in 1961 and supported its merger with Pocatello the following year. Following the merger Hansen served as a Pocatello city commissioner until 1965.

Hansen was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senate in 1962 but won a seat in the House two years later. He again ran for the Senate in 1968 but lost to Democratic incumbent Frank Church. Hansen ran a third unsuccessful Senate campaign in 1972.

In 1975 Hansen returned to the House. In Washington Hansen was known as one of the most conservative members of Congress. He was a particularly vocal critic of the Internal Revenue Service.

Hansen took it upon himself to go to Tehran 1979 in the middle of the Iran hostage crisis to try to negotiate with militants through the fence of the U.S. Embassy, and once called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 assassination "the chickens coming home to roost".Fact|date=February 2008

In 1984 Hansen was censured by the House for failing to include transactions on federal disclosure forms. He was defeated for reelection by less than 200 votes that year by Democrat Richard H. Stallings. ["Justice Dept. Rebuts Rep. Hansen of Idaho", New York Times, November 9, 1984. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE7DC1139F93AA35752C1A962948260] ] Hansen tried unsuccessfully to challenge the election result. He was convicted of failing to file full disclosure forms and spent 15 months in prison. His imprisonment allegedly included torture through medical neglect and subjection to " [http://www.uhuh.com/reports/hansen/hansen2.htm#DieselTherapy diesel therapy] ," a form of punishment in which prisoners are painfully shackled and then transported for days or weeks without respite. ["No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" http://www.constitution.org/ghansen/conghansen.htm] The conviction was overturned in 1995 as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Hubbard v. United States. [findlaw: HUBBARD v. UNITED STATES, May 15, 1995. [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=514&invol=695.] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=22130 "The Government Wrongfully Drove A 7-Term Veteran Lawmaker Out of Congress, Sent Him to Prison, And Destroyed Him and His Family Financially!"]
* [http://www.constitution.org/ghansen/hansen9-97.html "George Hansen, Diesel Therapy, and Susan McDougal"]