John Jacob Rhodes
John Jacob Rhodes Jr. (September 18, 1916 – August 24, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Rhodes served as a U.S. Representative from Arizona for thirty years. He was the minority leader in the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1981 and pressed a conservative agenda.
For his son, see John Jacob Rhodes III.
John Jacob Rhodes
September 18, 1916
Council Grove, Kansas, U.S.
August 24, 2003 (aged 86)
Mesa, Arizona, U.S.
Betty Harvey
5, including John III
1941–1952
Early life[edit]
Rhodes was born in Council Grove, Kansas. He met Calvin Coolidge when Rhodes was eleven years old and, after shaking hands with the president, reportedly refused to wash his hand for a week. He attended public schools and in 1938 graduated from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi[1] fraternity and also earned his U.S. Army Reserve commission via the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).[2] In 1941, he graduated from Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was called to active duty with the United States Army Air Corps, later redesignated the United States Army Air Forces.[3]
Later life[edit]
After leaving Congress, Rhodes maintained an apartment in Bethesda, Maryland, to which he commuted from his home in Mesa. He practiced law in the Washington office of the Richmond, Virginia-based firm of Hunton & Williams. He also traveled extensively, worldwide; was a board member of the Taft Institute for Government and the Hoover Institution for War, Revolution, and Peace; and served on the board of and was elected president of the United States Association of Former Members of Congress.[20]
On August 14, 2003, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert awarded Rhodes one of the first Congressional Distinguished Service Medals. Rhodes, one of only a handful to obtain the award, remarked to Hastert that the speaker was the only job that Rhodes had ever really wanted.
Personal life[edit]
In 1942, Rhodes was married to Elizabeth ("Betty") Harvey.[21]
He died at his home, surrounded by family, on August 24, 2003, from complications related to cancer. He was survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Betty; the children John Jacob ("Jay") III, Thomas, Elizabeth, and James Scott ("Scott"); twelve grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren. Over 100 newspapers carried his obituary, and President George W. Bush delivered a statement via the White House's website.
Rhodes Junior High School, in Mesa, Arizona, is named in his honor. The CAP Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct was also named after him due to his part in its creation.[22]