Bill Frenzel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMinnesota's3rd district | |
| In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Clark MacGregor |
| Succeeded by | Jim Ramstad |
| Member of theMinnesota House of Representatives from the 30A district | |
| In office January 3, 1967 – January 4, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Himself (30) |
| Succeeded by | Julian Hook |
| Member of theMinnesota House of Representatives from the 30th district | |
| In office January 8, 1963 – January 3, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | Douglas Head Sally Luther |
| Succeeded by | Himself (30A) Robert J. McFarlin (30B) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Eldridge Frenzel (1928-07-31)July 31, 1928 St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | November 17, 2014(2014-11-17) (aged 86) McLean, Virginia, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College (BA,MBA) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Naval Reserve |
| Years of service | 1951–54 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
| [1][2] | |
William Eldridge Frenzel (July 31, 1928 – November 17, 2014) was an American politician and businessman who representedMinnesota's 3rd congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1991. A member of theRepublican Party, Frenzel previously served in theMinnesota House of Representatives from 1963 to 1971.
Frenzel was educated at theSaint Paul Academy in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and earned both aB.A. (1950) andM.B.A (1951) fromDartmouth College. He served as alieutenant in theUnited States Naval Reserve during theKorean War from 1951 to 1954.
Frenzel served eight years in theMinnesota House of Representatives from 1962 to 1970, prior to serving in theU.S. Congress.[3] He was president of the No. Waterway Terminals Corp. (1965–70) and of Minneapolis Terminal Warehouse Company (1966–1970). He was a member of the executive committee[clarification needed] forHennepin County, Minnesota (1966–1967).[1]
Frenzel was elected as a Republican to the92nd,93rd,94th,95th,96th,97th,98th,99th,100th, and101st congresses, serving from January 3, 1971, to January 3, 1991, and was theranking Republican on theHouse Budget Committee and a member of the influentialWays and Means Committee. He was a Congressional Representative to theGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) inGeneva for 15 years. Frenzel became known as an expert in budget and fiscal policy, election law, trade, taxes and congressional procedures, and was a negotiator in the 1990 budget summit. During theIran–Iraq War of the 1980s, Frenzel was a proponent of economic ties to the regime ofSaddam Hussein, and opposed congressional efforts to condemn Iraqi war crimes such as the infamousHalabja chemical attack, the deadliest chemical-weapons attack in history, on the grounds that they would disrupt future trade with Iraq.[4] He also served as vice chairman of theCommittee on House Administration, and vice chairman of the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards. He did not run for re-election to the House in 1990.
Frenzel was chairman of theRipon Society, a Republicanthink-tank, from the 1990s until March 2004.[5] He was a Guest Scholar at theBrookings Institution in Washington, D.C., starting January 1991, and was named director of the Brookings Governmental Affairs Institute on July 18, 1997.
PresidentBill Clinton appointed Frenzel (1993) to help sell theNorth American Free Trade Agreement.[6][7]
In 2001, PresidentGeorge W. Bush appointed him to a commission to study theSocial Security system, and, in 2002, to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN), which he chairs. He was interviewed onNPR'sAll Things Considered, on December 20, 2004, as an advocate of President Bush's plan forSocial Security privatization.
At the time of his death, he was chairman of thePew Commission onChildren in Foster Care, the vice chairman of the Eurasia Foundation, chairman of theJapan-America Society of Washington, chairman of the U.S. Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Policy Network, co-chairman of the Center for Strategic Tax Reform, co-chairman of the Bretton Woods Committee, co-chairman of the Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget, a member of the executive committee of the Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and chairman of the executive committee of the International Tax and Investment Center.
He was an alternate board member of theOffice of Congressional Ethics (as of 2011.)
Frenzel wrote in 1995:
There are some of us who think gridlock is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Gridlock is the natural gift the Framers of the Constitution gave us so that the country would not be subjected to policy swings resulting from the whimsy of the public. And the competition – whether multi-branch, multi-level, or multi-house – is important to those checks and balances and to our ongoing kind of centrist government. Thank heaven we do not have a government that nationalizes one year and privatizes next year, and so on ad infinitum.
(Checks and Balances, 8)
The historian of the Republican party,Geoffrey Kabaservice has identified Frenzel as a key moderate Republican within the post-war GOP.[8]
Frenzel and his wife Ruth had three daughters. In 2000, he was awarded theOrder of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, by theEmperor of Japan. In 2002, he received an HonoraryDoctor of Laws Degree fromHamline University.
In 1984, the National Coalition for Science and Technology named him a "friend of science."[9]
Frenzel died of cancer on November 17, 2014, inMcLean, Virginia.[10][11]
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help)...Bill Frenzel, the former Republican Congressman ... is now helping lead the Nafta lobbying effort for the Administration.
{{cite journal}}:Check|url= value (help)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMinnesota's 3rd congressional district 1971–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Administration Committee 1981–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Budget Committee 1989–1991 | Succeeded by |
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