Gene Snyder
| Marion Eugene "Gene" Snyder | |
| [[file:Gene Snyder of KY.jpg
[ office=U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district|225px|alt=|Gene Snyder]] | |
| In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Chelf |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Jim Bunning |
U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 3rd congressional district
| |
| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Preceded by | Frank W. Burke |
| Succeeded by | Charles R. Farnsley |
| Born | January 26, 1928 Louisville, Kentucky |
| Died | February 16, 2007 (aged 79) Naples, Florida |
| Resting place | Floydsburg Cemetery in Crestwood in Oldham County, Kentucky |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Creighton Snyder (born 1930) |
| Residence | Oldham County, Kentucky |
| Alma mater | University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law |
| Occupation | Attorney |
Marion Eugene Snyder (January 26, 1928 – February 16, 2007[1] an attorney, farmer, and construction businessman who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from adjoining districts in his native Kentucky.
Born in Louisville, he graduated from duPont Manual High School, studied at the University of Louisville, and graduated from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. He launched his law practice in Louisville in 1950. Four years later, he became the city attorney in Jeffersontown in populous Jefferson County. In 1957, he was elected to the first of two terms as the magistrate for the First District of the Jefferson County government.
In 1962, he was elected to fill the Louisville-based 3rd congressional district. In his first term, he was one of the few House Republicans who voted against passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[2] Later that year, Snyder, a Barry Goldwater supporter, was unseated by former Louisville Mayor Charles R. "Charlie" Farnsley in the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential landslide.
He then moved to suburban Oldham County and in 1966 mounted a successful campaign for the 4th congressional district by unseating 11-term Democratic Representative Frank Chelf. Back in Congress, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which forbids racial discrimination in housing.[3]
By that time, the 4th district was rapidly trending Republican because of an influx of new residents from Cincinnati, Ohio. The district absorbed most of the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati metro area in the 1960s round of redistricting. He took full advantage of this trend and defeated Chelf by almost eight points. Until 1984, he was re-elected. However, he faced a strong Democratic opponent to the seat from Pat Mulloy, who almost won despite the Ronald Reagan presidential landslide. Rather than face Mulloy again in 1986, Snyder chose not to seek his own eleventh term in the House. The seat then went to the Republican Jim Bunning, a former Major League Baseball player, who in 1983 had been the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee against Democrat Martha Layne Collins.
An expressway and the federal courthouse in Louisville are named in Snyder's honor/[4]- ↑ "Former Congressman Gene Snyder die," The Louisville CouriJourna, February 16, 2007.
- ↑ [1]] Frank Chelf./congress/votes/88-1964/h128 H.R. 7152. PASSAGE.].
- ↑ TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES..
- ↑ Marion Eugene “Gene” Snyder (1928-2007) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed July 9, 2021.
