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Friends, Former Foes Praise Hyde
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[December 08, 2007]
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (AP) -- Friends and one-time opponents at Henry Hyde's funeral Friday praised the former congressman as a political giant and a "man of great principle."
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 The silver-haired Republican died Nov. 29 at age 83, just weeks after he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He retired from Congress at the end of the last session.
"Henry's laughter, his stories, even the smell of his cigars will be missed," said Democratic Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. one of dozens of current and former House members who attended Hyde's funeral Mass.
More than 1,000 friends, family members and admirers attended the service. Hyde's coffin, covered with a white cloth, lay at the center of St. John Neumann Catholic Church.
Hyde, once one of the nation's leading Catholic lawmakers, was "a man of great principle" and "good instincts," said Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago.
House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio described Hyde as a personal hero of his.
"From the streets of his home town here in Illinois to the halls of Congress, his words and deeds will echo for decades to come," Boehner said.
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, a GOP presidential hopeful, called Hyde "the North Star of the U.S. Congress."
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 Democratic Rep. Melvin Watt of North Carolina said he may be considered a surprise as a speaker at the funeral since he had been "a persistent and ardent opponent of just about everything that Henry Hyde did."
"And yet Henry understood that that was exactly what our founding fathers set up as a mechanism for bringing us together to resolve our differences," Watt said.
Before his election to the House, Hyde gained statewide attention as a veteran member of the Illinois House of Representatives. Before entering politics, he practiced law in Chicago.
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, in 1998 he led House efforts to impeach President Clinton for allegedly lying about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and then in 1999 was the chief House manager in the unsuccessful bid to win a Senate conviction.
[Associated
Press; By MIKE ROBINSON]
Copyright 2007 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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