24 Facts About Ike Skelton

Isaac Newton Skelton IV was an American politician and lawyer who served as the US representative for from 1977 to 2011.

Ike Skelton was born in Lexington, Missouri, a rural town with extensive Civil War history.

Ike Skelton was the son of Carolyn Marie and Isaac Newton Skelton III.

Ike Skelton is a brother of Sigma Chi and Alpha Phi Omega at the University of Missouri.

Ike Skelton attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1953.

Ike Skelton became a lawyer and entered private practice in Lafayette County, Missouri.

Ike Skelton was a prosecuting attorney from 1957 until 1960 and a special assistant attorney general in the office of the Missouri Attorney General.

Ike Skelton served as a member of the Missouri Senate, representing Lafayette County, from 1971 until 1977.

Ike Skelton served as chair of the House Armed Services Committee, having previously served as ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee since 1998 but was promoted to chairman following the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats regained control of Congress.

Ike Skelton was one of the few Congressional Democrats to vote in favor of CAFTA and mostly supported free trade deals.

Ike Skelton helped craft the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, and voted against its repeal in 2010.

Ike Skelton was a long-time proponent of the Missouri National Guard, in recognition for which the National Guard Training Center in Jefferson City is named in his honor.

Ike Skelton warned that the loss of the wing would compromise security over a vast area of the Midwestern United States.

Ike Skelton ran with the endorsement of Truman's widow, Bess, which he attributes to his own father's support for Harry S Truman in the 1940 US Senate primary.

Ike Skelton was reelected 16 times, usually by well over 60 percent of the vote.

That year, Missouri lost a district, and Ike Skelton's district was merged with the neighboring 8th District, represented by freshman Republican Wendell Bailey.

Ike Skelton seemed to have a fairly secure hold on his district, even though it had been trending Republican for some time.

Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama all won less than 40 percent of the vote in the district even as Ike Skelton skated to reelection.

In 2010, Ike Skelton faced former Republican state Representative Vicky Hartzler of Harrisonville, who had been out of politics for more than a decade.

In 2010, Skelton was recognized by then, Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James F Amos, as an Honorary Marine, the first US congressman to be awarded the title.

Ike Skelton was a member of the Christian Church and an honorary chieftain in Scouting's Tribe of Mic-O-Say.

Ike Skelton was of distant relation to Daniel Boone as well as to US Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.

Ike Skelton died of pneumonia at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia on October 28,2013, at the age of 81.

Ike Skelton's memoir, Achieve the Honorable, had been published just two weeks before his death.