Stanley L. Greigg

Stanley Lloyd Greigg (May 7, 1931 – June 13, 2002) was an American politician who served one term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from northwestern Iowa. A Democrat, he was elected to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of longtime Republican representative Charles B. Hoeven in 1964, but lost to Republican Wiley Mayne two years later in 1966. Greigg later became a key player in the early stages of the notorious Watergate break-in in 1972.

Biography

Greigg was born in Ireton, Iowa, and spent his earliest years there and in nearby Hawarden, where his parents were involved in the restaurant business. Greigg's family moved to Sioux City, Iowa and operated a restaurant there. After his father died in 1942, Greigg needed to play a larger role in assisting his mother in running the restaurant. He continued to do so before and after his graduation from Sioux City East High School."Young Man Greigg Wins His Chance," Des Moines Register, 1964-11-29, at L-1.

Greigg received his B.A. at Morningside College in Sioux City in 1954, then spent two years at Syracuse University in graduate work in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He served in the United States Navy from 1957 to 1959 attaining the rank of Seaman (E-3).

He returned to Sioux City to serve as the Dean of Men of Morningside College, where he also taught speech and history courses. He was elected to the city council of Sioux City in 1961, becoming the city's youngest elected councilman and biggest council vote-getter in its history. In January 1964, at age 33, he was then elected as the mayor of Sioux City.

Career

In 1964, as part of a Democratic landslide, Greigg was elected to represent Iowa's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. defeating Republican Howard N. Sokol by over 10,000 votes. Longtime Republican Congressman Charles B. Hoeven had held the position 22 years, and his retirement had "created a political vacuum and a bitter Republican party fight," to Greigg's benefit. One of Greigg's top priorities in his campaign was to expand government assistance programs for very small businesses. Like many other freshman Democrats elected in 1964 in Republican-leaning districts, Greigg served only one term. In 1966, his re-election bid was thwarted by Sioux City attorney Wiley Mayne, who defeated Greigg by nearly 20,000 votes.

Greigg served as director of the United States Post Office Department's Office of Regional Administration from 1967 to 1969. While holding that position, Greigg's name again surfaced in Iowa in the summer of 1968, when the leading candidate in the Democratic primary race for his former seat withdrew without explanation on the eve of the district convention. Griegg was hesitant to jump into the race, however, and his party's support went to his former legislative aide, Jerry O'Sullivan, who won the nomination but lost to Mayne in a landslide.

Watergate break-in

Greigg served as the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1970 to July 1972. It was in that position that Greigg found himself at the genesis of the Watergate scandal in the early morning hours of June 17, 1972. In the office of Greigg's personal secretary, in DNC headquarters at the Watergate complex, D.C. police officers first confronted burglars carrying eavesdropping devices. Awakened early that morning by a call from a D.C. policeman and informed that his offices had been burglarized, Greigg asked, "did you catch the kids?" The officer responded, "no, sir, these men we arrested were in business suits."Martin Weil,
DNC's Stanley Greigg Dies; Signed Watergate Complaint
" Washington Post, 2002-06-16, at C8. Greigg called the DNC Director, Lawrence O'Brien, and told him that "all hell had broken loose." Later that morning Greigg signed the original criminal complaint. That complaint led to a series of investigations that culminated in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. Ironically, the Watergate scandal also ended the congressional career of the man who defeated Greigg in 1966, Wiley Mayne. While serving as a member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 during its consideration of articles of impeachment of Richard Nixon, Mayne voted against the articles, changing his position only later, after the most damning evidence emerged. That year Mayne lost his bid for re-election, in an outcome attributed to his votes against impeachment.

In July 1972, Greigg moved from his party position to a similar role in the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern. He also served as director of the Lawrence F. O'Brien Center at Dag Hammarskjold College in 1972.

Congressional Budget Office

Greigg returned to Capitol Hill in an appointed position, serving in the Congressional Budget Office and ultimately becoming the director of its Office of Intergovernmental Relations. Greigg served with the Congressional Budget Office from 1975 to 1998.

Death

Greigg died on June 13, 2002, in Salem, Virginia. At the time of his death, he was serving as vice president of the metropolitan Washington synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Greigg, Stanley Lloyd
1931 births
2002 deaths
People from Hawarden, Iowa
Morningside University alumni
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumni
American Lutherans
United States Navy sailors
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Politicians from Sioux City, Iowa
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
20th-century Lutherans
20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives