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John Patrick "Jack" Murtha, Jr. (pronounced /ˈmɜrθə/; June 17, 1932 – February 8, 2010) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010.[2][3][4][5]
A former Marine Corps officer, Murtha was the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. A member of the Pennsylvania House from 1969 to 1974, he narrowly won a special election to Congress in 1974 and was successively reelected every two years until his death. In the first decade of the 21st century, Murtha has been best known for his calls for a withdrawal of American forces in Iraq, as well as questions about his ethics.[6]
In 2006, after the Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections he made a failed bid to be elected House Majority Leader during the 110th Congress (2007–2009) with the open support of the new House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.[7][8] He lost to Steny Hoyer of Maryland.[9] After this defeat, Murtha became chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. He had previously chaired this subcommittee from 1989 to 1995 and served as its ranking Democrat from 1995 to 2007.
Murtha was born into an Irish-American family in New Martinsville, West Virginia, near the border with Ohio and Pennsylvania, and grew up in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, a largely suburban county east of Pittsburgh.
As a youth, he became an Eagle Scout. He also worked delivering newspapers, picking papinkis, and at a gas station before graduating from The Kiski School, an all-male boarding school in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania.
Murtha left Washington and Jefferson College in 1952 to join the Marine Corps and was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal for displaying outstanding leadership qualities during training. He became a drill instructor at Parris Island and was selected for Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. He was then assigned to the Second Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. As an undergraduate, Murtha was initiated into the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
Murtha remained in the Marine Forces Reserve and ran a small business, Johnstown Minute Car Wash (which still operates in the West End section of Johnstown). He also attended the University of Pittsburgh on the G.I. Bill, and received a degree in economics. Murtha later took graduate courses from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He married his wife Joyce on June 10, 1955. They had three children: daughter Donna and twin sons Patrick and John M., who live in Johnstown.
Murtha left the Marines in 1955. He remained in the Reserves after his discharge from active duty until he volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, serving from 1966 to 1967, serving as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), receiving the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
In December 2009, Murtha was admitted to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland after suffering from abdominal pains.[10] He had surgery to remove his gallbladder in late January 2010; a week later, he was admitted to the intensive care unit due to complications from the surgery.[11] He died on February 8, 2010.[12]
Soon after returning from Vietnam, Murtha won the Democratic nomination for what was then the 22nd District, which was based in Johnstown. He lost fairly handily to longtime Republican incumbent John P. Saylor.
Murtha was elected to represent the 72nd legislative district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a special election on May 20, 1969. The election was triggered by the death of incumbent Representative Edward McNally.[13] He was elected to a full term in 1970.
Congressman Saylor died in October 1973, nine months into his 13th term. Murtha immediately jumped into the special election contest in what was now the 12th District. In the February 1974 special election, Murtha defeated one of Saylor's former aides, Harry Fox, by only 242 votes. He defeated Fox by a significantly wider margin that November and was reelected 17 times.