Tom Foley

For the Connecticut gubernatorial candidate, see Thomas C. Foley. For other uses, see Thomas Foley.

The Honorable Tom Foley KBE
File:Tom Foley Official Portrait.jpg
49th 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
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
House Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1987 – June 6, 1989
Speaker	Jim Wright
Whip	Tony Coelho
Preceded by	Jim Wright
Succeeded by	Dick Gephardt
House Majority Whip
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987
Speaker	Tip O'Neill
Leader	Jim Wright
Preceded by	John Brademas
Succeeded by	Tony Coelho
Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1981
Speaker	Carl Albert Tip O'Neill
Preceded by	William Poage
Succeeded by	Kika de la Garza
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
Personal details
Born	Thomas Stephen Foley (1929-03-06)March 6, 1929 Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Died	October 18, 2013(2013-10-18) (aged 84) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Heather Strachan
Alma mater	University of Washington B.A. 1951, J.D. 1957

Speaker of the House
Tom Foley,
official congressional portrait

Official portrait as chairman
of the Agriculture Committee

Thomas Stephen "Tom" Foley (March 6, 1929 – October 18, 2013) was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Washington. He was the 49th 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. He served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Early life and legal practice

Foley was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Helen Marie (née Higgins), a school teacher, and Ralph E. Foley, a Superior Court Judge. He was of Irish Catholic descent. In 1946, he graduated from the Jesuit-run Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane. He went on to attend 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, and later taught at Gonzaga University Law School (in Spokane) from 1958 to 1959. In 1961, he joined the Washington Attorney General's office as an assistant attorney general.

In 1961, Foley moved to Washington, D.C., and joined the staff of Senator Henry Jackson, the then-Democratic Senator From Washington. He left Jackson's employ in 1964 at his urging 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 United States 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, properly 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. While Foley had usually relied on large margins in Spokane to carry him to victory, in 1994 he won Spokane by only 9,000 votes, while Nethercutt did well enough in the rest of the district to win overall by just under 4,000 votes.

Foley became the first sitting Speaker of the House to lose his bid for re-election since Galusha A. 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 Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.

Electoral history

Here is a chart of the voting results in Foley's election race. 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
	Jack Hebner	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 Medal of Merit, the state's highest honor, to Foley. He was North American Chairman of the Trilateral Commission.

Death

Foley died at his home in Washington, D.C. on October 18, 2013, following months of hospice care after suffering a series of strokes and a bout with pneumonia. He was 84 and is survived by his wife, Heather. He had been experiencing aspiration pneumonia. Services were held at St. Aloysius Church at Gonzaga University, as well as Washington, D.C. Speaker John Boehner, and Nancy Pelosi, who also served as Speaker, issued statements honoring Foley. In a White House statement, U.S. President Barack Obama called Speaker Foley a "legend of the United States Congress" who "represented the people of Washington's 5th district with skill, dedication, and a deep commitment to improving the lives of those he was elected to serve.", going on to praise him for his bipartisanship and subsequent ambassadorial service under former President Clinton. Vice President Joseph Biden also released an official statement, saying "Tom was a good friend and a dedicated public servant.", citing his work in Congress with Foley in the 1980s on budgetary issues. Washington Governor Jay Inslee also released a statement, acknowledging his efforts to reach consensus and emphasize mutual common ground, and his work in the legal system and in Congress, in these capacities serving the state and the Spokane, Washington area. Former President George H. W. Bush, whose presidential term overlapped Foley's service as Speaker, stated he "represented the very best in public service- and our political system" and "never got personal or burned bridges."

Honors

• Honorary Knight Commander of the 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.
• Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, Pullman. Established in 1995.

References

Notes

External links

• United States Congress. "Tom Foley (id: F000239)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Tom Foley at Find a Grave