Schweiker was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1926. He was the son of Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker, Sr. (February 27, 1895 – June 12, 1982) and his wife, the former Blanche R. Schultz (December 17, 1894 – September 1974).[1] His father and his uncle worked in the tiling business for several decades.[2] He was born into a family of Schwenckfelders and was a member of the church himself.[3]
On September 10, 1955, Schweiker married Claire Joan Coleman,[6] a former host of the children's television show Romper Room, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1954–1956).[7] They had two sons and three daughters.[1]
Political career
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1960, Schweiker was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district.[5] At the time, the Montgomery County-based district included Schweiker's home town of Norristown and several affluent suburban communities in the Philadelphia Main Line. A moderate to liberal Republican, he defeated conservative incumbent John A. Lafore, Jr., in the Republican primary.[8] In the general election, he defeated Democrat Warren Ballard, a law professor at Temple University, 62%–38%.[9] He was elected to three more terms, never receiving less than 59% of the vote.[5]
In 1968, Schweiker was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating two-term Democratic incumbent Joseph S. Clark, Jr., by more than 280,000 votes.[13] He was the only successful Republican statewide candidate in an election that saw Hubert Humphrey win Pennsylvania by over 170,000 votes.[8] Continuing his progressive reputation in the Senate, Schweiker opposed the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon's nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court, and had an 89% rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.[8] He also supported school prayer and opposed stronger widespread gun control.[8] In 1975, alongside fellow Republicans Clifford Case and Jacob Javits, Schweiker was a co-sponsor of Ted Kennedy's Health Security Act, a bill proposing universal health coverage in America through a government-run program.[14]
Schweiker was reelected in 1974, defeating his Democratic opponent, Pittsburgh mayor Peter F. Flaherty, in a year when many Republican incumbents lost due to political fallout from the Watergate scandal. He won 53% of the vote, the highest of any senator from Pennsylvania since 1946 at the time.[15] He was the first Republican senator ever endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL–CIO, and received 49% of the vote in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.[citation needed]
On May 14, 1976, Schweiker told CBS Morning News that he believed the CIA and FBI had lied to the Warren Commission.[19] On June 27, 1976, he appeared on CBS's Face the Nation and said that the Commission made a "fatal mistake" by relying on the CIA and FBI instead of its own investigators.[20] Schweiker also said that he felt it was possible that the White House was involved in a cover-up.[21]
Vice Presidential consideration
In 1976, Ronald Reagan made a serious challenge against President Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Party presidential primaries. Immediately before the opening of the 1976 Republican National Convention, Reagan attempted to attract moderate delegates by promising to name Schweiker, who had a moderate voting record in the Senate, as his running mate. This was unusual because the tradition was for a nominee to name a running mate only after winning the nomination. In response, conservative Republicans, including U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, encouraged a movement to draft Conservative Party U.S. Senator James L. Buckley of New York as the G.O.P. nominee.[22] Ford won the nomination on the first ballot by a razor-thin margin and selected Bob Dole for vice president.[23]
Reagan's naming him as his running mate came as a surprise to Schweiker, as the two did not know each other. Schweiker subsequently adopted a much more conservative voting record; his rating from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action dropped to 15% in 1977.[8]
In 1980, Schweiker announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate.[5] Reagan won the presidential nomination in 1980 but chose George H. W. Bush, not Schweiker, as his running mate, and won the election.
Health secretary
Surgeon General of the United States Dr. C. Everett Koop (far right), Elizabeth Koop (left), Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (far left), and HHS Secretary Richard Schweiker (right), (November 16, 1981).
During his tenure in public service, Schweiker was an ardent supporter of a volunteer army. He coauthored the book How to End the Draft, eventually used as the blueprint for shifting the country to a fully volunteer army.[25] He also pushed for the Schweiker Act of 1965, which gave cash awards to military personnel who suggested money-saving ideas, ultimately resulting in savings of more than $1 billion to taxpayers.[25]
As ranking Republican on the Senate health subcommittee, Schweiker worked on legislation to combat diabetes, cancer, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, and lead paint poisoning. He focused heavily on diabetes and authored bills creating the National Commission on Diabetes Advisory Board, pushing for passage of the National Diabetes Act in 1972.[25] Those efforts led to increased federal funding for diabetes programs and were a prototype for legislatively constructing a research effort across all National Institutes of Health operations and the Centers for Disease Control. Some who worked with Schweiker or benefited from his initiative called him the "Patron Saint of the Pancreas" for his devotion to the cause.[25]
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