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John J. Rhodes
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st district
In office January 3, 1953-January 3, 1983
Preceded by	John R. Murdock
Succeeded by	John McCain
Born	September 18, 1916 Council Grove, Kansas
Died	August 24, 2003 Mesa, Arizona
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Harvey Rhodes

John Jacob Rhodes, Jr. (September 18, 1916 – August 24, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party , Rhodes was elected as a Representative from the state of Arizona. He was succeeded by fellow Republican John McCain III in January 1983. In turn, Rhodes' son, John Jacob Rhodes III, succeeded John McCain III in January 1987 as a congressional representative from Arizona.

Rhodes was born in Council Grove, Kansas. He met Calvin Coolidge when he was eleven years old, and after shaking hands with the President, he reportedly refused to wash his hand for a week. He attended public schools, and in 1938 graduated from Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas. In 1941, he graduated from Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and became a lawyer with a private practice. From 1941 to 1946 he was in the United States Army Air Corps and United States Army Air Forces, serving at Williams Field, Arizona, he chose to relocate there with his new wife, Elizabeth Harvey Rhodes in 1946. From 1947 to 1952 he was the staff judge advocate of the Arizona National Guard, and from 1951 to 1952 he was the vice chairman of the Arizona Board of Public Welfare.

Rhodes ran for Attorney General of Arizona in the 1950 election as a Republican. Barry Goldwater, his mentor, correctly predicted an election loss. At that time, Arizona was over 75% Democratic. In 1952, 1954, and 1968 he served as one of Arizona's delegates in each of those years' Republican National Convention. In 1952 Rhodes ran again, this time for the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite limited campaign funds, Rhodes prevailed by 8% of the vote, and was elected to the Eighty-third United States Congress, and was the first Republican ever elected to represent Arizona in the House.

Rhodes would stay in office for the next 30 years, from January 3, 1953 to January 3, 1983, serving in the 83rd to 96th Congresses. He spent seven years as House Minority Leader, from the 93rd to 96th Congresses, a role he assumed when Gerald Ford became Vice President in December 1973.

Rhodes will most likely be remembered for two things while in office: the Central Arizona Project: first, a project which provided water to Arizona municipalities and, second, his presence at the meeting in August 1974 with President Richard Nixon to inform the President that the Republican Party would not support him through impeachment hearings (the President tendered his resignation soon thereafter).

After his time on Capitol Hill, Rhodes spent his retirement from the national political scene in Mesa, Arizona. On August 14, 2003, Speaker Dennis Hastert awarded Rhodes with the Congressional Distinguished Service Medal, one of only a handful awarded. Rhodes remarked to Hastert that he had the only job Rhodes had ever really wanted. He died among family only days later from complications related to cancer. He was survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Following his death, over 100 different newspapers carried his obituary and President George W. Bush delivered a statement via the White House's website.

In 1976 Rhodes wrote a book entitled The Futile System: How to Unchain Congress and Make the System Work Again, which articulated that effective Congressional reforms "cannot be accomplished by the majority party.... The ins have little incentive to change. It is the outs -- the powerless minority -- who have the only real motivation to take a critical look at the system and determine a better way to run things."

Rhodes retired from Congress at age 66. Though still popular in his home district Rhodes reasoned that "if I was ever going to do something else, I should get started doing it." His retirement opened the door to hotly contested primary and general elections that resulted in the victory of John S. McCain III.

After leaving Congress, Rhodes maintained an apartment in Bethesda, Maryland, commuting from his home in Mesa, Arizona while he practiced law in the Washington office of the Richmond, Virginia-based firm of Hunton & Williams. He also traveled extensively during this period.

Rhodes was married to Elizabeth Harvey Rhodes for 61 years. The had four children: a daughter, Elizabeth; three sons, Tom, Scott and John J. Rhodes III, who served as a Republican in his father's old House seat from 1986 to 1992; and at the time of his death 12 grandchildren. Rhodes died of cancer in his home at Mesa, Arizona on August 24, 2003.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. [1]

"John J. Rhodes Dies; Led GOP In House During Watergate," http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/08/26/AR2005111001244_pf.html

External links

• An Online Exhibit of the John J. Rhodes Papers from the Arizona State University Libraries
• A memorial from family members, friends, and colleagues; including Gerald Ford and Dennis Hastert (no longer available in preparation for publishing)
• John Jacob Rhodes at Find a Grave

Minority leaders of the United States House of Representatives Richardson • Williams • Clark • Mann • Clark • Kitchin • Garrett • Garner • Snell • Martin • Rayburn • Martin • Rayburn • Martin • Halleck • Ford • Rhodes • Michel • Gephardt • Pelosi • Boehner