Tom Foley

For the former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and Republican candidate in the 2010 gubernatorial election in Connecticut, see Thomas C. Foley. For other uses, see Thomas Foley (disambiguation).

Tom Foley
57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office June 6, 1989 – January 3, 1995
President	George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Jim Wright
Succeeded by	Newt Gingrich
House Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1987 – June 6, 1989
Deputy	Tony Coelho
Preceded by	Jim Wright
Succeeded by	Dick Gephardt
House Majority Whip
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987
Leader	Jim Wright
Preceded by	John Brademas
Succeeded by	Tony Coelho
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 5th district
In office January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Walt Horan
Succeeded by	George Nethercutt
25th United States Ambassador to Japan
In office November 19, 1997 – April 1, 2001
President	Bill Clinton George W. Bush
Preceded by	Walter Mondale
Succeeded by	Howard Baker
Personal details
Born	Thomas Stephen Foley (1929-03-06) March 6, 1929 Spokane, Washington
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Heather Strachan Foley
Alma mater	Gonzaga University University of Washington
Profession	Law

Speaker of the House Tom Foley, official congressional portrait

Thomas Stephen "Tom" Foley (born March 6, 1929) was the 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1989 to 1995. He represented Washington's 5th congressional district for 30 years as a Democratic member from 1965 to 1995.

Foley was the first Speaker of the House since 1862 to be defeated in a re-election campaign for Congress. He served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2001 under Bill Clinton.

Early life and legal practice

Foley was born in Spokane, Washington. In 1946, he graduated from the Jesuit-run Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane. He went on to attend the Gonzaga University in Spokane and the University of Washington in Seattle, the latter awarding him a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. In 1957, he earned a law degree from the same university.

Following law school, Foley entered private practice. In 1958, he began working in the Spokane County prosecutor's office as a deputy prosecuting attorney. Foley taught at Gonzaga University Law School (in Spokane, Washington) from 1958 to 1959. In 1960, he joined the office of the State of Washington Attorney General.

In 1961, Foley moved to Washington, D.C., and joined the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs as assistant chief clerk and special counsel, in which capacity he served until mid 1964 when he quit to run for Congress.

Congressional service

In 1964, Foley was unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Washington's 5th congressional seat, which included Spokane. He faced 11-term Republican incumbent Walt Horan in the general election and won by seven points, one of many swept into office in the Democratic landslide. He was re-elected without significant difficulty until 1978, when he narrowly defeated conservative activist Duane Alton. The next race in 1980 was also close, when physician John Sonneland finished just 4 points back. Though the fifth district became increasingly conservative, Foley didn't face serious opposition again until his defeat in 1994.

In 1981, Foley was chosen majority whip by the House Democratic caucus and served in that capacity until 1987, when he moved up to the position of majority leader. In 1989, Jim Wright of Texas stepped down as Speaker of the House amid an ethics scandal, and Foley was elected to succeed him. He became the first Speaker from a state west of the Rocky Mountains.

Term limits

During his time in the House, Foley repeatedly opposed efforts to impose term limits on Washington state's elected officials, winning the support of the state's voters to reject term limits in a 1991 referendum. However, in 1992, a term limit ballot initiative was approved by the state's voters.

Foley brought suit, challenging the constitutionality of a state law setting eligibility requirements on federal offices. Foley won his suit, with federal courts declaring that states did not have the authority under the U.S. Constitution to limit the terms of federal officeholders.

However, in Foley's bid for a 16th term in the House, his Republican opponent, George Nethercutt, used the issue against him, repeatedly citing the caption of the federal case brought by Foley, "Foley against the People of the State of Washington." Nethercutt vowed that if elected, he would not serve more than three terms in the House (but ultimately served for five terms). Foley lost in a narrow race that coincided with the Republican electoral triumph of 1994. While Foley had usually relied on large margins in Spokane itself to carry him to victory, in 1994 he only won Spokane by 9,000 votes while Nethercutt did well enough in the rest of the district to win overall by just under 4,000 votes. At the time, it was reported that some voters believed mistakenly that if he beat Foley, Nethercutt would become the new speaker of the House.

Foley became the first sitting Speaker of the House to lose his bid for re-election since Galusha Grow in 1862. He is sometimes viewed as a political casualty of the term limits controversy of the early 1990s. President Bill Clinton attributed his defeat to his support for the Assault Weapon ban of 1994.

Electoral history

Here is a chart of the vote in his elections. There are subtotals for the city of Spokane, rural Spokane County, and a Spokane total, as this is the main part of the 5th Congressional District.

Year	Candidate	Party	Spokane	Outside	County	District
1964	Tom Foley*	D	41,377	17,587	58,964	84,830
	Walt Horan (Inc)	R	32,262	16,757	49,019	73,884
1966	Tom Foley*	D	35,533	15,334	50,867	74,571
	Dorothy Powers	R	25,357	13,232	38,589	57,310
1968	Tom Foley*	D	41,203	19,227	60,430	88,446
	Richard Bond	R	29,659	16,988	46,647	67,304
1970	Tom Foley*	D	40,791	20,532	61,323	88,189
	George Gamble	R	19,926	11,928	31,854	43,376
1972	Tom Foley*	D	58,282	35,060	93,342	150,580
	Clarice Privette	R	12,468	8,637	21,105	34,742
1974	Tom Foley*	D	30,717	18,726	49,443	87,959
	Gary Gage	R	16,925	12,020	28,945	48,739
1976	Tom Foley*	D	41,720	27,905	69,625	120,415
	Duane Alton	R	30,318	25,519	55,837	84,262
	Bear Sandahl	L	834	407	1,241	1,959
	Ira Liebowitz	USL	403	181	584	935
1978	Tom Foley*	D	28,346	18,858	47,204	77,201
	Duane Alton	R	20,923	18,942	39,865	68,761
	Mel Tonasket	I	5,574	4,580	10,154	14,887
1980	Tom Foley*	D	41,256	31,604	72,860	120,530
	John Sonneland	R	32,857	33,662	66,519	111,705
1982	Tom Foley*	D	39,810	32,362	72,172	109,549
	John Sonneland	R	18,482	20,420	38,902	60,816
1984	Tom Foley*	D	56,820	49,360	106,180	154,988
	John Sonneland	R	20,517	23,729	44,246	67,438
1986	Tom Foley*	D	43,011	37,939	80,950	121,732
	Floyd Wakefield	R	12,510	14,281	26,791	41,179
1988	Tom Foley*	D	56,249	53,791	110,040	160,654
	Marlyn Derby	R	14,438	17,772	32,210	49,657
1990	Tom Foley*	D	38,553	37,121	75,674	110,234
	Marlyn Derby	R	15,082	18,363	33,445	49,965
1992	Tom Foley*	D	49,675	45,919	95,594	135,965
	John Sonneland	R	32,508	40,108	72,616	110,443
1994	Tom Foley	D	39,331	35,323	74,654	106,074
	George Nethercutt*	R	30,265	41,065	71,330	110,057

Later career

In 1997, Foley was appointed as the 25th U.S. Ambassador to Japan by President Bill Clinton. He served as ambassador until 2001.

Foley was a Washington delegate to the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

On July 9, 2003, Washington Governor Gary Locke awarded the Washington State Medal of Merit, the state's highest honor, to Foley.

He was North American Chairman of the Trilateral Commission.

Honors

• Order of the British Empire (UK).
• Order of Merit (Germany).
• Légion d'honneur (France).
• Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon (Japan), 1995.

References

Notes

External links

• Tom Foley at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Political offices
Preceded by William R. Poage	Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee 1975–1981	Succeeded by Kika de la Garza
Party political offices
Preceded by John Brademas	House Majority Whip House Democratic Whip 1981–1987	Succeeded by Tony Coelho
Preceded by Jim Wright	House Majority Leader House Democratic Leader 1987–1989	Succeeded by Dick Gephardt
	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives June 6, 1989 – January 3, 1995	Succeeded by Newt Gingrich
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Walt Horan	Member from Washington's 5th congressional district 1965–1995	Succeeded by George Nethercutt
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Walter Mondale	U.S. Ambassador to Japan 1997–2001	Succeeded by Howard H. Baker, Jr.