29 Facts About Phil Crane

Phil Crane was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005, representing the 8th District of Illinois in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago.

At the time of his defeat in the 2004 election, Crane was the longest-serving Republican member of the House.

Phil Crane was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Cora Ellen and George Washington Phil Crane III, a physician and college professor.

Phil Crane was educated at Hillsdale College, the University of Vienna, and Indiana University, where he received a PhD in history in 1961.

Phil Crane attended DePauw University and the University of Michigan.

Phil Crane was a faculty member at Indiana University and at Bradley University in Peoria, a staff member for the Republican National Committee and a director of research for the 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.

Phil Crane began to battle alcoholism, which he publicly acknowledged after winning reelection in 2000.

Phil Crane was first elected to the United States Congress in what was then the 13th District in a 1969 special election, succeeding Donald Rumsfeld, who was appointed to a position in the Nixon administration.

Phil Crane was a dark horse candidate in a field of seven aspirants for the Republican nomination, and was by far the most conservative candidate in the field.

Phil Crane then won the special election with 58 percent of the vote.

Phil Crane soon established himself as one of the House's most conservative members, leading a small but growing cluster of right-wing congressmen who had cut their teeth in the fledgling conservative intellectual movement of the early 1960s and drew their inspiration from Goldwater's presidential campaign.

Phil Crane was handily elected to a full term in 1970, and was reelected 16 times.

Phil Crane's district was long considered the most Republican district in the Chicago area, if not in all of Illinois.

Phil Crane remained a member of the group for the remainder of his time in Congress.

In 1974 Phil Crane helped initiate the first, and probably last, public and filmed audit of the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

From 1977 to 1979, Phil Crane was the chairman of the American Conservative Union, a Washington, DC based conservative citizens' lobby and political action group.

In 1978, shortly before the midterm election, Phil Crane announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1980.

At the time of his announcement, Phil Crane expressed doubts that Reagan would run again, and intimated that, should Reagan run, he would likely drop out.

However, Phil Crane did stay in the race after Reagan's entry.

Ultimately Phil Crane was one of the early candidates to drop out of the race during the Republican primaries.

Newt Gingrich, who had been elected to Congress soon after Phil Crane announced his candidacy for president, soon surpassed him as the leading conservative firebrand in the House.

Phil Crane did have some influence as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax issues.

Phil Crane was the committee's most senior member, having been on the panel since 1975.

Some believe that Phil Crane was not chosen because prior to the vote he had admitted to being an alcoholic and sought a leave from the House to get treatment.

Phil Crane is noted for the role he played in ending the chewing gum ban in Singapore, as part of negotiations during the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

Phil Crane was one of the few congressmen whose Washington office lacked a public email address.

In contrast, Phil Crane received most of his donations from political action committees.

Phil Crane died of lung cancer at the home of his daughter, Rebekah, in Jefferson, Maryland, on November 8,2014, five days after his 84th birthday.

Phil Crane is portrayed by actor James Marsden in the 2020 television miniseries Mrs America, which aired on the Hulu Network.