 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Eldon Rudd" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Eldon Rudd | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1977 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona's4th district | |
| In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1987 | |
| Preceded by | John Bertrand Conlan |
| Succeeded by | Jon Kyl |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-07-15)July 15, 1920 |
| Died | February 8, 2002(2002-02-08) (aged 81) |
| Resting place | National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Arizona State College (BA) University of Arizona (JD) |
| Profession | lawyer,politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1942–1946 |
Eldon Dean Rudd (July 15, 1920 – February 8, 2002) was aU.S.Republicanpolitician.
Rudd was born inCamp Verde, Arizona. A 1939 graduate of Clarkdale High School inClarkdale, Arizona, he enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps in 1942 and served as afighter pilot duringWorld War II. After his discharge in 1946, he attendedArizona State College, from which he graduated in 1947, and theUniversity of Arizona Law School in Tucson.
After a brief period in private practice, Rudd became aspecial agent for theFBI in 1950. As the only FBI field agent inWashington, D.C., fluent inSpanish in 1954, Rudd participated in the interrogation of thePuerto Rican nationalists involved inthe attack on the US House of Representatives that year. His report impressed DirectorJ. Edgar Hoover, who offered Rudd his next choice of assignment, which he received as U.S. legalattaché at theU.S. Embassy inMexico City, where he served from 1960 to 1970.
WhenassassinLee Harvey Oswald shot and killed PresidentJohn F. Kennedy inDallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, Rudd was ordered by Hoover to collect from theMexican government their law enforcement and intelligence files on Lee Harvey Oswald, including files relating to Oswald's connections to the pro-Fidel CastroFair Play for Cuba Committee, Oswald's several trips to and from Cuba, and his arrest in Mexico City. Rudd obtained Oswald's file from the Mexican government and flew aCessna aircraft from Mexico City to Dallas, Texas, to provide the documents to FBI officials in Dallas as Kennedy's body was on its way to Washington, D.C., with Vice PresidentLyndon B. Johnson and widowJacqueline Kennedy.
After leaving the FBI in 1970, Rudd moved toArizona, where he became involved in politics. He was elected to the board of supervisors forMaricopa County in 1972. Four years later, he won election to the House of Representatives forArizona's 4th congressional district, which then comprised the entire northeastern portion of the state. However, the bulk of its population was in the northern portion of theValley of the Sun.
He defeatedDemocrat Tony Mason by only 707 votes. While Mason carried four of the district's five counties, he could not overcome a 17,100-vote deficit in the district's share ofMaricopa County, which had more people than the rest of the district combined. He was easily re-elected four times, each time with more than 60 percent of the vote, and in 1984, he was completely unopposed.
Rudd was afiscal conservative, and a member of the importantAppropriations Committee for five years; he opposed the expenditure of federal taxpayer dollars forabortions.
A staunch anticommunist, Rudd was a tireless supporter of US anticommunist efforts in Central and South America, and he was the last American to visit withNicaraguan PresidentAnastasio Somoza Debayle, who was killed bySandinista forces.
During the1980 presidential election, Rudd, with help from FBI colleagues with access to security officials at theWhite House, allegedly obtained debate preparation documents prepared for PresidentJimmy Carter for his election debates against Republican nomineeRonald Reagan and provided the so-called "Carter debate papers" to the Reagan presidential campaign in theDebategate scandal.
Rudd retired from Congress in 1987 and took a position with theSalt River Project. Remaining active in Republican politics, he served as campaign manager forDoug Wead during Wead's unsuccessful 1992 run forArizona's 6th congressional district.[1] Rudd died inScottsdale, Arizona; his remains were cremated, with the ashes interred in theNational Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromArizona's 4th congressional district 1977–1987 | Succeeded by |