Ed Derwinski
Encyclopedia
Edward Joseph Derwinski (born September 15, 1926) is an American politician
who served as the first Cabinet
-level United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
, serving under President
George H. W. Bush
from March 15, 1989 to September 26, 1992. He previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives
from 1959 to 1983, representing south and southwest suburbs of Chicago
.
in the Pacific Theater
during World War II
and in the postwar U.S. occupation of Japan
. He graduated from Loyola University Chicago
in 1951. He is a celebrated member of Alpha Delta Gamma
National Fraternity. In 1957 he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives
, where he served one term before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1958. He served 12 terms as a Republican
representative from the 4th District
of Illinois
, a suburban region south and west of Chicago, eventually becoming ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee. He also served as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly
1971-1972 and as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the Interparliamentary Union from 1970–1972 and 1978-1980.
redistricting
plan after the 1980 Census
carved up the 4th District, with only about 15% of its territory being retained and added to various territory from other districts; Derwinski and fellow Republican congressman George M. O'Brien
were placed in the same district, and O'Brien won the 1982
primary on the strength of having more of his previous district included in the new configuration. After Derwinski's loss, President Ronald Reagan
appointed him Counselor to the State Department
. In 1987, Reagan appointed him Under Secretary of State
for Security Assistance, Science and Technology, where he served until the end of Reagan's term, shortly after which he was selected to head the VA.
, Derwinski was noted for his efforts on behalf of Eastern Europe
throughout his career. Notably, he aided in the rehabilitation of the Serbia
n Royalist general Draža Mihailović
. Mihailović had received the Legion of Merit
for his resistance efforts against the Axis—but this information was marked "secret" at the behest of the State Department
so as not to harm relations with Marshal Tito, the current ruler of Yugoslavia
in 1967. Tito was Mihailović's rival in World War II, and after Tito's forces emerged triumphant, Mihailović was accused of collaboration with the Nazis and executed. At the urging of airmen involved in Operation Halyard
who had been saved by Mihailović's forces and had heard rumors of the award to him, Derwinski insisted that the State Department make the text of President Harry S. Truman
's citation public, confirming that Mihailović had not collaborated.
Derwinski served as head of "Ethnic Americans for Dole
/Kemp
" during the 1996 presidential election
.
with his wife, the former Bonita Hickey. He has two adult children from his first marriage to Patricia Derwinski, Maureen and Michael.
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...
who served as the first Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
-level United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
The United States Secretary of Veterans' Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits and related matters...
, serving under President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
from March 15, 1989 to September 26, 1992. He previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from 1959 to 1983, representing south and southwest suburbs of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Member of the House of Representatives
Derwinski served in the United States ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in the Pacific Theater
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and in the postwar U.S. occupation of Japan
Occupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
. He graduated from Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
in 1951. He is a celebrated member of Alpha Delta Gamma
Alpha Delta Gamma
Alpha Delta Gamma National Fraternity is an American Greek-letter social fraternity and one of 74 members of the North-American Interfraternity Conference...
National Fraternity. In 1957 he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
, where he served one term before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1958. He served 12 terms as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
representative from the 4th District
Illinois' 4th congressional district
The 4th Congressional District of Illinois includes part of Cook County, and has been represented by Democrat Luis Gutierrez since January 1993....
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, a suburban region south and west of Chicago, eventually becoming ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee. He also served as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
1971-1972 and as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the Interparliamentary Union from 1970–1972 and 1978-1980.
First Cabinet-level Secretary of Veterans Affairs
A DemocraticDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
plan after the 1980 Census
United States Census, 1980
The Twentieth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 Census.-Census questions:...
carved up the 4th District, with only about 15% of its territory being retained and added to various territory from other districts; Derwinski and fellow Republican congressman George M. O'Brien
George M. O'Brien
George Miller O'Brien is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He was a Republican who represented Illinois' 17th congressional district....
were placed in the same district, and O'Brien won the 1982
United States House elections, 1982
The U.S. House election, 1982 was an election for the United States House of Representatives held on November 2, 1982, in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's first term, whose popularity was sinking due to economic conditions under the 1982 recession. Therefore, the President's Republican...
primary on the strength of having more of his previous district included in the new configuration. After Derwinski's loss, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
appointed him Counselor to the State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
. In 1987, Reagan appointed him Under Secretary of State
Under Secretary of State
The Under Secretary of State, from 1919 to 1972, was the second-ranking official at the United States Department of State , serving as the Secretary's principal deputy, chief assistant, and Acting Secretary in the event of the Secretary's absence...
for Security Assistance, Science and Technology, where he served until the end of Reagan's term, shortly after which he was selected to head the VA.
Advocacy
A Polish AmericanPolish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
, Derwinski was noted for his efforts on behalf of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
throughout his career. Notably, he aided in the rehabilitation of the Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n Royalist general Draža Mihailović
Draža Mihailovic
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović was a Yugoslav Serbian general during World War II...
. Mihailović had received the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
for his resistance efforts against the Axis—but this information was marked "secret" at the behest of the State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
so as not to harm relations with Marshal Tito, the current ruler of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
in 1967. Tito was Mihailović's rival in World War II, and after Tito's forces emerged triumphant, Mihailović was accused of collaboration with the Nazis and executed. At the urging of airmen involved in Operation Halyard
Operation Halyard
Operation Halyard, also known as the Halyard Mission, was the largest Allied airlift operation behind enemy lines during World War II. A total of 512 allied airmen who had been downed over Nazi-occupied Serbia were rescued by Serbian Chetniks, led by General Draža Mihailović...
who had been saved by Mihailović's forces and had heard rumors of the award to him, Derwinski insisted that the State Department make the text of President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's citation public, confirming that Mihailović had not collaborated.
Derwinski served as head of "Ethnic Americans for Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
/Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
" during the 1996 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
.
Post-politics
Derwinski currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IllinoisGlen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...
with his wife, the former Bonita Hickey. He has two adult children from his first marriage to Patricia Derwinski, Maureen and Michael.