See also Gehry, Frank; Las Vegas megaresorts;
McMansions; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum;
Sustainable design movement.
Armey, Dick
Identification American politician
Born July 7, 1940; Cando, North Dakota
Armey served as a Republican congressman from the
Twenty-sixth Congressional District of Texas from 1985 to
2003 and the majority leader of the House of Representa-
tives from 1995 to 2003. He was one of the key architects of
the Republican congressional leadership’s Contract with
America.
Richard Keith Armey graduated from Jamestown
College in Jamestown, North Dakota, and received
the Ph.D. in economics from the University of Okla-
homa in 1968. He taught economics at colleges and
universities in Montana and Texas until 1985.
While teaching and serving as an administrator at
the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas,
Armey ran for Congress in 1984 in the Twenty-sixth
Congressional District of Texas, which includes the
northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropoli-
tan area. He was elected and served in Congress
from 1985 to 2003. Armey firmly supported many
of President Ronald Reagan’s conservative social
and economic policies. He served on the bipartisan
Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which
investigated military bases in the United States and
proposed the closing of several that were deter-
mined to be unneeded. Armey also worked with
conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats to
press for cuts in federal farm subsidies. These ef-
forts eventually led to the agricultural program
known as the Freedom to Farm Act, formally the
Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act,
adopted in 1996.
In 1990, after President George H. W. Bush broke
his “no new taxes” pledge, the Republican Congres-
sional Conference passed a resolution introduced
by Armey opposing any new taxes. In 1991, Armey
became the ranking Republican on the Joint Eco-
nomic Committee. The following year, he was
elected chair of the Republican Congressional Con-
ference. Working with Newt Gingrich and other
conservative leaders, Armey helped fashion the
Contract with America, a series of reforms that con-
gressional Republicans promised to pass if they
gained control of the House of Representatives. In
the “Republican Revolution” in the 1994 elections,
the Republicans took control of the House for the
first time since 1954. Armey then became the major-
ity leader in the 104th Congress. During Armey’s
tenure as majority leader, much of the Contract with
America was enacted.
During President Bill Clinton’s administration,
Armey worked to support the North America Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in- While many conservatives opposed NAFTA,
Armey agreed with the free trade principles that he
believed the agreement reflected. He decided not to
stand for reelection in 2002 and retired from Con-
gress in January, 2003.
Impact Armey played a major role in the Republi-
can Revolution of 1994 that led to Republican con-
trol of the House of Representatives for the first time
in forty years.
Further Reading
Armey, Dick.Armey’s Axioms: Forty Hard-Earned Truths
from Politics, Faith, and Life. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons, 2003.
The Nineties in America Armey, Dick 51
Dick Armey.(U.S. Government Printing Office)