William Floyd Clinger Jr. (April 4, 1929 – May 28, 2021) was an American attorney and Republican politician who represented northwest and north-central

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the 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 Article One of th ...

from 1979 to 1997.

Early life and education

Clinger was born in

Warren, Pennsylvania Warren is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Allegheny River. The population was 9,404 at the 2020 census. It is home to the headquarters of the Allegheny National Forest and the Cornp ...

, the son of Lella May (Hunter) and William F. Clinger. He attended the public schools there and graduated from

The Hill School The Hill School is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admission Organization. The school is accredited by the Mi ...

in 1947. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1951 and a

Bachelor of Laws 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 ...

in 1965.

Career

Clinger served as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1951 to 1955. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention, 1967 to 1968, and the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

in 1972. Clinger was associated with the New Process Company of Warren, Pennsylvania from 1955 to 1962, was admitted to the Pennsylvania

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 1965, and was a lawyer in private practice.

U.S. House of Representatives

Defeating incumbent Representative Joseph S. Ammerman, Clinger was elected as a Republican to the 96th and to the eight succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997). While in the House of Representatives, he was chairman of the

United States House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful pan ...

in the

104th Congress The 104th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 19 ...

, which was quite active in investigating the

Travelgate The White House travel office controversy, sometimes referred to as Travelgate,
''

and

Filegate The White House FBI files controversy of the Clinton Administration, often referred to as Filegate,

matters. In addition, he served as vice chairman of the

United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. History The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works ...

and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Aviation. Along with then-Senator

William Cohen William Sebastian Cohen (born August 28, 1940) is an American lawyer, author, and politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979� ...

, Clinger co-authored the

Information Technology Management Reform Act The Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 is a United States federal law, designed to improve the way the federal government acquires, uses and disposes information technology (IT). It was passed as Division E of the National Defen ...

, also known as the Clinger-Cohen Act. He was not a candidate for re-election to the

105th Congress The 105th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1997, ...

in 1996.

Later life

After his retirement from Congress, Clinger served as the chairman for the Chautauqua Institution's board of trustees. He was a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Advanced Governmental Studies and co-chairman of the board of directors for the Institute for Representative Government. He was also a member of the ReFormers Caucus of

Issue One Issue One is an American nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influence of money ...

. In October 2016, Clinger was one of thirty Republican ex-lawmakers to sign a public letter condemning GOP presidential nominee (and future president)

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

as "manifestly unqualified to be president." Clinger died at the age of 92 on May 28, 2021.

References

External links

* * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Clinger, William 1929 births 2021 deaths Johns Hopkins University alumni Pennsylvania lawyers People from Warren, Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania The Hill School alumni United States Navy officers Whitewater controversy 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives