Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989. He was the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in the 1996 election, as the running mate of Bob Dole; they lost to incumbent president Bill Clinton and vice president Al Gore. Kemp had previously contended for the presidential nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries.
Jack Kemp
39th district (1971–1973)
38th district (1973–1983)
31st district (1983–1989)
May 2, 2009 (aged 73)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S
1958–1962
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
201 lb (91 kg)
1957 / Round: 17 / Pick: 203
3,073
3,073
1,436
46.7%
114–183
21,218
57.3
Before entering politics, Kemp was a professional quarterback for 13 years. He played briefly in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL), but became a star in the American Football League (AFL). He served as captain of both the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills and earned the AFL Most Valuable Player award in 1965 after leading the Bills to a second consecutive championship. He played in the AFL for all 10 years of its existence, appeared in its All-Star game seven times, played in its championship game five times, and set many of the league's career passing records. Kemp also co-founded the AFL Players Association, for which he served five terms as president. During the early part of his football career, he served in the United States Army Reserve.
As an economic conservative, Kemp advocated low taxes and supply-side policies during his political career. His positions spanned the social spectrum, ranging from his conservative opposition to abortion to his more libertarian stances advocating immigration reform. As a proponent of both Chicago school and supply-side economics, he is notable as an influence upon the Reagan agenda and the architect of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which is known as the Kemp–Roth tax cut.
After his days in political office, Kemp remained active as a political advocate and commentator; he served on corporate and nonprofit organization boards. He also authored, co-authored, and edited several books. He promoted American football and advocated for retired professional football players. Kemp was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 by President Barack Obama.[1]
Early life
Youth
Born,[2] raised, and educated in Los Angeles,[3] Kemp was the third of four sons of Frances Elizabeth (née Pope) and Paul Robert Kemp Sr.[4][5][6] Paul turned his motorcycle messenger service into a trucking company that grew from one to 14 trucks.[7][8] Frances was a well-educated social worker and Spanish teacher.[4][8] Kemp grew up in the heavily Jewish Wilshire district of West Los Angeles,[5][9] but his tight-knit middle-class family attended the Church of Christ, Scientist.[4][5] In his youth, sports consumed Kemp, who once chose the forward pass as the subject of a school essay on important inventions, although his mother attempted to broaden his horizons with piano lessons and trips to the Hollywood Bowl.[4]
Kemp attended Melrose Avenue's Fairfax High School,[3] which was, at the time, known for its high concentration of both Jewish students and children of celebrities. Over 95% of Kemp's classmates were Jewish, and he later became a supporter of Jewish causes.[3] His classmates included musician Herb Alpert, baseball pitcher Larry Sherry, and academic Judith A. Reisman.[10][11] During his years in high school, Kemp worked with his brothers at his father's trucking company in downtown Los Angeles. In his spare time, he was a rigorous reader, preferring history and philosophy books.[3]
College
After graduating from high school in 1953,[12] he attended Occidental College, a founding member of the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.[13] Kemp selected Occidental because its football team used professional formations and plays, which he hoped would help him to become a professional quarterback.[5] At 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) and 175 pounds (79 kg), he considered himself too small to play for the USC Trojans or UCLA Bruins, the major Southern California college football programs.[14]
At Occidental, Kemp was a record-setting javelin hurler and played several positions on the football team: quarterback, defensive back, place kicker, and punter.[14] Although he was near-sighted, Kemp was tenacious on the field.[14] During his years as starting quarterback, the 1955 and 1956 Occidental teams posted 6–2 and 3–6 records. Kemp was named a Little All-America player one year in which he threw for over 1,100 yards.[14] That year, he led the nation's small colleges in passing.[15] He and close friend Jim Mora, who later became an NFL head coach, were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.[14] Another teammate in college was Ron Botchan,[16] who was an NFL referee for years (record five Super Bowls).[17] Kemp declined to become involved in student government.[14] After graduating from Occidental with a degree in physical education, he pursued postgraduate studies in economics at Long Beach State University and California Western University in San Diego, and served in the military from 1958 to 1962.[5][14]
Marriage, family, and faith
Kemp graduated from Occidental in 1957 and married Joanne Main, his college sweetheart,[8] after she graduated from Occidental in 1958.[5] Main had grown up in Fillmore, California, and attended Fillmore High School in Ventura County.[18] Kemp's Biblical Literature professor, Keith Beebe, presided over the wedding.[14] The Kemps had two sons. Both were professional football quarterbacks: Jeff Kemp (born in 1959) played in the NFL from 1981 to 1991,[19] and Jimmy Kemp (born in 1971) played in the CFL from 1994 to 2002. Significantly for a man with his demanding schedule, Jack never missed one of their games as children or in college.[20] They also had two daughters: Jennifer Kemp Andrews (born in 1961) and Judith Kemp (born in 1963).[21]
In 1976, C. Everett Koop wrote The Right to Live, The Right to Die, setting down his own concerns about abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.[22] Koop also took some time off from his surgical practice to make a series of films with Christian apologists Frank Schaeffer and his father Francis Schaeffer in 1978, entitled Whatever Happened to the Human Race? based on the book of the same title that had been previously written by the elder Schaeffer.[22] Frank Schaeffer and his associate, Jim Buchfuehrer provided a private, five-hour screening of Whatever Happened to the Human Race? to Jack Kemp and wife Joanne in their home that, according to Frank Schaeffer's account of the late evening and early morning event in his book Crazy for God, led to both the Schaeffers and Koop obtaining "...access to everyone in the Republican Party".[23]
Joanne Kemp once suffered a miscarriage, which Kemp later said made him re-evaluate the sanctity of human life and affirmed his opposition to abortion.[24]
Following his wedding, Kemp converted to his wife's Presbyterian faith.[5][25] He identified as a born-again Christian.[26][27]
Kemp was a 33rd degree Freemason in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.[28][29]
In addition to authoring significant legislation as a congressman, Kemp wrote or co-authored several books:
Kemp also wrote the foreword to several books:
