- See Hamilton Fish (disambiguation) for others with the same name.
Hamilton Fish, Jr. (or Hamilton Fish IV) (June 3, 1926 â€" July 23, 1996) was a Republican politician best known as a member of the U.S. Congressional Delegation from New York.
Fish was the son of Grace Chapin and Hamilton Fish III (1888â€"1991), grandson of Hamilton Fish II (1849â€"1936) and Alfred C. Chapin, great-grandson of Hamilton Fish (1808â€"1893), a descendant of Lewis Morris, and a cousin of the Kean family of New Jersey politicians. His son, Hamilton Fish V, ran for Congress in 1988 and 1994 as a Democrat without success.
Early life
Fish was born in Washington, D.C. and attended the prestigious private Kent School. He graduated from Harvard University in 1949 and received an LL.B. from New York University School of Law in 1957. He also attended Harvard's Graduate School of Public Administration. While in college, Fish was a member of the United States Naval Reserve.
From 1951 to 1953, Fish served in Ireland as the vice consul to the nation from the United States Foreign Service. He practiced law privately before his election to the House, and in 1961, Fish served as a lawyer for the New York State Assembly's Judiciary Committee.
Career
Fish was a candidate for the 90th Congress in 1966. While he won the Republican primary, he was defeated in the general election by Democrat Joseph Y. Resnick. Fish was elected as a Republican to the 91st United States Congress and was re-elected to the 12 succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1969 to January 3, 1995. He narrowly defeated G. Gordon Liddy in the 1968 Republican primary to win the nomination. In contrast to his deeply conservative father, he was a leader of the liberal wing of the Republican party. As a member of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in 1974, he voted in favor of the first two of the three Articles of Impeachment (for obstruction of justice and abuse of power) of President Richard Nixon. Fish is one of several senior Congressmen who served as managers during the impeachment trials of two federal judges, Harry E. Claiborne and Alcee Hastings, in 1986 and 1988, respectively.
References
External links
- United States Congress. "Hamilton Fish IV (id: F000141)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.Â
- Biography and index to papers
- Hamilton Fish IV at Find a Grave
- Desmond-Fish Library Public Library co-founded by Hamilton Fish IV. Library has many Fish family artifacts, papers and portraits on display.
- LiSA (Livingston-Svirsky Archive) Contains many online documents on the Fish Family.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
