RICHARD F. VANDER VEEN - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 71523

RICHARD F. VANDER VEEN

The U.S. Congressman from the state of Michigan pens his autograph on this 3½x2 card, in blue ink

Signature: “Dick Vander Veen, M.C./Michigan” in blue ink. 3½x2. Richard Franklin Vander Veen (1922-2006) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II; he also served in the Korean War with the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Richard also became chair of the Michigan Fifth District Democratic Party in 1959 and was chairman of the Michigan State Democratic Convention in 1960, and was a delegate to the state conventions in 1962 and 1964. He served on the Michigan State Mental Health Commission from 1958 to 1963 and the Michigan State Highway Commission from 1964 to 1969, when he was elected to the East Grand Rapids Board of Education. Following Gerald Ford's resignation of his House seat in 1973 to become Vice President of the United States, Vander Veen was elected in a special election on February 18, 1974, to fill Ford's seat in the 93rd Congress; such election from the heavily Republican district was seen as a stunning upset defeat for the Republican Party. Richard Vander Veen remains the only Democrat to be elected to Congress from the Grand Rapids area since 1912; he was reelected in November 1974 to a full term in the 94th Congress. After his retirement, he formed two environmental companies: Resource Energy and Enigered. After his service in Congress, he served as a member of the Michigan State Waterways Commission. In 1990 Vander Veen founded the Ryerson Library Foundation and served as its president. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.