H. John Heinz III
Encyclopedia
Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, a Republican 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...
(1971–1977) and the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
(1977–1991).
Early life
Born in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Heinz was the son of H. J. Heinz II
H. J. Heinz II
Henry John Heinz II , best known as Jack Heinz, was an American business executive and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
(heir to the H. J. Heinz Company
H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company , commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J...
) and Joan Diehl. His parents divorced, and Heinz moved to San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with his mother and his stepfather, U.S. Navy Captain Clayton C. McCauley. He graduated from the Town School, Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
, in 1956, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he was a member of Manuscript Society
Manuscript Society
Manuscript Society is a senior secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each junior year, 16 undergraduates are "tapped" to be inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion...
, in 1960. He then earned an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
in 1963. In 1963, Heinz enlisted in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and served on active duty from June to December of that year at Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located west-southwest of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....
. He then served with the 911th Troop Carrier Group, based at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Greater Pittsburgh International Airport and commonly referred to as Pittsburgh International, is a joint civil–military international airport located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Findlay Township, approximately west of...
, as a member of the United States Air Force Reserve. In 1969 his rank was staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
.
Academic and business activities
From 1970 to 1971, Heinz was a member of the faculty at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. His career as a businessman included positions as an analyst in the controller
Comptroller
A comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization.In British government, the Comptroller General or Comptroller and Auditor General is in most countries the external auditor of the budget execution of the...
's division, and numerous positions in the marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
division of the H. J. Heinz Company.
House of Representatives
In 1971, he was elected by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert J. CorbettRobert J. Corbett
Robert James Corbett was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
during the 92nd Congress
92nd United States Congress
The Ninety-second 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...
. He defeated Gateway Clipper Fleet
Gateway Clipper Fleet
The Gateway Clipper Fleet founded by John E. Connelly is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based fleet of riverboats. The fleet cruises the three rivers of Pittsburgh- the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio. The fleet is named after the city of Pittsburgh, which in earlier times was known as the...
creator John E. Connelly
John E. Connelly
John Edward Connelly founded the Gateway Clipper Fleet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pioneered riverboat casino gambling along the Mississippi River via his President Casinos empire, and founded a fleet of ships operating out of Chelsea Piers in New York City.-Early life:Connelly was born in...
. He was reelected to the 93rd
93rd United States Congress
The Ninety-third 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, 1973 to January 3, 1975, during the end of Richard...
and 94th Congresses
94th United States Congress
The Ninety-fourth 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, 1975 to January 3, 1977, during the administration...
.
Senate
Heinz was elected to the SenateUnited States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976
The 1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican Senator Hugh Scott, then Minority Leader of the Senate, did not seek re-election. Then-U.S. Rep. H. John Heinz III of Pittsburgh won election to the seat, defeating Democratic opponent William...
in 1976, aided by the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
's decision, Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law...
, issued mid-campaign, which invalidated statutory restrictions on the spending of one's own personal funds in a political campaign
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
. Heinz spent millions of dollars attacking Democratic nominee Bill Green, a seven-term congressman from Philadelphia and future mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of that city, as being "soft" on military issues because he had voted against various Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
appropriation bill
Appropriation bill
An appropriation bill or running bill is a legislative motion which authorizes the government to spend money. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending...
s in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
era.
In the early 1990s, Heinz was one of the leaders within the Senate on the issue of US economic competitiveness. Heinz's position was in direct contradiction to the much-publicized platform of the Republican Party and in direct opposition to the Bush White House. Heinz maintained that the US economic health and competitiveness was in a state of rapid decline and that the Bush administration, in contrast to the Reagan administration, both denied the problem and continued to execute policies that were not just neutral to the problem but rather accelerated the decline.
As the US decline accelerated, Heinz quietly assembled a "lunch meeting" group of Republican senators who were like-minded in their concern for US competitiveness but knew that their concern was in direct opposition to the White House and Republican Party. One of the group's initiatives was to back the reinstatement or refocusing of several of the Reagan administration’s key programs for rebuild US competitiveness (e.g., the Defense Manufacturing Board, the US intelligence community's Project Socrates
Project Socrates
Project Socrates was a US Defense Intelligence Agency program established in 1983 within the Reagan administration. This classified program, founded and directed by physicist Michael Sekora, was designed for the purpose of identifying the root cause of the United States' declining ability to...
) With the untimely death of Heinz, the group ceased to meet.
Death
Heinz and six other people were killed on April 4, 1991, when a Bell 412Bell 412
The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212 model, the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor.-Design and development:...
helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
collided with the Senator's Piper
The New Piper Aircraft
Piper Aircraft, Inc., is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Municipal Airport in Vero Beach, Florida. Along with Beechcraft and Cessna, it is considered one of the "Big Three" in the field of general aviation construction....
Aerostar plane over Merion Elementary School in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and part of the Pennsylvania Main Line. As of the 2010 census, the township had a total population of 57,825...
. All aboard the two aircraft and two first-grade girls playing outside the school were killed. The helicopter had been dispatched to check out a problem with the landing gear of Heinz's plane. While moving in for a closer look, the helicopter's rotor
Helicopter rotor
A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is a type of fan that is used to generate both the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and thrust which counteracts aerodynamic drag in forward flight...
blades struck the bottom of the plane, causing both aircraft to lose control and crash.
Senator Heinz was interred in the Heinz family mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in Homewood Cemetery
Homewood Cemetery
Homewood Cemetery is a historic, nonsectarian burial ground in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in Squirrel Hill and is bordered by both Frick Park and the neighborhood of Point Breeze....
, located in the Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.
Honors
The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at TinicumJohn Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum
The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum is a 1000 acre National Wildlife Refuge spanning Philadelphia and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. Located in Tinicum Township, the refuge is adjacent to the Philadelphia International Airport. Established in 1972 as the Tinicum National...
was renamed following his death. The 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) refuge includes the largest remaining freshwater tidal marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
in Pennsylvania as well as other habitats that are home to a variety of plants and animals native to Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Several institutions bear his name, including:
- Senator H. John Heinz III Archives at the Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
Libraries - H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University
- H. John Heinz III Center For Science, Economics and The Environment
- Senator John Heinz History CenterHeinz History CenterThe Senator John Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest history museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Named after the late U.S. Senator H...
Further reading
- Heinz, H. John, III. "Foreign Takeover of U.S. Banking – a Real Danger?" Journal of the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies 4 (Autumn 1979): 1–9
- Heinz, John. U.S. Strategic Trade: An Export Control System for the 1990s. Boulder: Westview press, 1991.