11 Facts About Mike Synar

Michael Lynn Synar was an American Democratic politician who represented Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district in Congress for eight terms.

Mike Synar was born in Vinita, Oklahoma, His father, Ed Mike Synar, was a World War II B-24 tailgunner in Europe.

Mike Synar was graduated from Muskogee High School in 1968.

Mike Synar was first elected to Congress in 1978 at the age of 28, by defeating incumbent Ted Risenhoover.

Mike Synar's campaign pulled off an upset victory as they circulated copies of a Washington DC media report that said Risenhoover slept on a "heart-shaped waterbed," which did not play well with the voters back home in Oklahoma.

The Synar Report led to the passage of the Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, and helped to pave the way for the class action lawsuit, Cobell v Babbitt, initiated in 1996.

In 1994, Mike Synar was narrowly defeated in a Democratic primary runoff election by Virgil Cooper, a retired high school principal.

Mike Synar was awarded the 1995 John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Mike Synar died of a brain tumor on January 9,1996, at the age of 45.

Mike Synar's name is attached to the 40,000-square-foot Mike Synar Center at Northeastern State University in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Mike Synar to distinguished graduate students who are writing their dissertations on an aspect of American politics.