Daniel French Slaughter Jr. (May 20, 1925 – October 2, 1998) was an American politician and member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from January 3, 1985, until his resignation on November 5, 1991.

Early life and education

Daniel Slaughter Jr. was born in

Culpeper, Virginia Culpeper (formerly Culpeper Courthouse, earlier Fairfax) is an incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and part of the Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA Combined Statistical ...

, and attended public schools in

Culpeper County Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is C ...

. He attended

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

and graduated in 1953 with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

and

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, where he was a member of the

Raven Society The Raven Society is an honor society at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1904 by William McCully James who named it in honor of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, who attended the University of Virginia in 182 ...

and of

St. Anthony Hall St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectar ...

Early career

Slaughter served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in combat infantry from 1943 to 1947 and was awarded the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Culpeper. He served in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1958 to 1978, serving as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

until 1974, when he became an independent. In the early 1960s, he supported " massive resistance" to court-ordered school integration. He was a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia from 1978 to 1982, where he also served as rector from 1980 to 1982. From 1981 to 1984 he served as aide to John Otho Marsh Jr., the

Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

Congressional career

Slaughter was elected from the 7th congressional district of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in 1984 as a Republican. He was reelected three more times. However, he resigned on November 5, 1991, due to a series of strokes. He died in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, on October 2, 1998.

Electoral history

*1984; Slaughter was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 56.5% of the vote, defeating Democrat Lewis M. Costello and Independent R.E. Frazier. *1986; Slaughter was re-elected unopposed. *1988; Slaughter was re-elected unopposed. *1990; Slaughter was re-elected with 58.19% of the vote, defeating Democrat David M. Smith.

External links

Virginia House of Delegates bio for D. Slaughter
* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter, D. French Jr. 1925 births 1998 deaths People from Culpeper, Virginia Politicians from Culpeper County, Virginia University of Virginia School of Law alumni Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Military personnel from Virginia United States Army personnel of World War II Virginia lawyers Virginia Democrats Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly