Henry John Hyde (born April 18 1924), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1975, representing the 6th District of Illinois. He was born in Illinois, was educated at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Duke University, and at Loyola University, served in the United States Navy, and was a lawyer before entering the House.

The US Vice-Chairman of the Atlantic Partnership , Hyde is one of the most senior Republican members of the House. Hyde was involved in some of the highest level debates concerning the response to the events of September 11, 2001. From 1985 until 1991, Hyde was the ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Intelligence . He has also been one of the most vocal and persistent opponents of abortion law liberalisation in American politics.

A member the House Judiciary Committee, since 1975, Hyde served as its chairman from 1995 until 2001, at which time he served as the lead House manager during the Clinton impeachment trial. Hyde maintains that the House was constitutionally obligated to impeach Clinton for perjury.

As Hyde was publicly pursuing the impeachment of President Clinton, the Internet magazine Salon.com published a story about Hyde. According to the story, "This Hypocrite Broke Up My Family," http://www.salon.com/news/1998/09/cov_16newsb.html from 1965 to 1969, Hyde conducted an extramarital sexual affair with Cherie Snodgrass. At the time, Cherie Snodgrass was married to another man with whom she had had three children.

Although Hyde was 41 years old and married when the affair occurred, he dismissed it as one of his "youthful indiscretions." The Snodgrasses divorced in 1967. The affair ended when Snodgrass's husband confonted Mrs. Hyde. The Hydes reconciled and remained married until Mrs. Hyde's death in 1992. The Snodgrasses remarried in 1969 but re-divorced shortly thereafter.

As the current chairman House International Relations Committee, of which he has been a member since 1982, Hyde was involved in debates concerning the War Powers Act, NATO expansion, and the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair.

External links

• House of Representatives page http://www.house.gov/hyde/
• Henry Hyde campaign page http://henryhyde.org/