Jim Oberstar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jim Oberstar
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 8th district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	John Blatnik
Succeeded by	Chip Cravaack
Chair of the House Transportation Committee
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Don Young
Succeeded by	John Mica
Ranking Member of the House Transportation Committee
In office October 10, 1995 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Norman Mineta
Succeeded by	John Mica
Personal details
Born	James Louis Oberstar (1934-09-10)September 10, 1934 Chisholm, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	May 3, 2014(2014-05-03) (aged 79) Potomac, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Jo Garlick (Deceased) Jean Kurth
Children	4
Education	University of St. Thomas, Minnesota (BA) College of Europe (MA)

James Louis Oberstar (September 10, 1934 – May 3, 2014) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he represented northeastern MN's 8th congressional district, which included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing. He was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2007 to 2011, and ranking minority member prior to that. In November 2010, he was defeated by a margin of 4,407 votes by Republican Chip Cravaack. He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Minnesota.

Early life, education and career

Oberstar was born in Chisholm, Minnesota, and at his deathbed still owned his original family home in Chisholm. His father Louis, of German ancestry, was an iron ore miner and the first card-carrying member of the USW on the Iron Range of Minnesota. Oberstar also had some Slovenian ancestry.

Oberstar graduated from Chisholm High School in 1952, and went on to the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas) in St. Paul, Minnesota where he received his B.A. degree in 1956. He received a master's degree in European Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium in 1957, with further study at Université Laval in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

He spent four years as a civilian language teacher in the United States Marine Corps, teaching English to Haitian military personnel and French to American Marine officers and noncommissioned officers.

He served on the staff of Minnesota's 8th District U.S. Representative John Blatnik for 12 years, from 1963 to 1974, rising to chief of staff. He was also administrator of the Committee on Public Works for the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1974.

U.S. House of Representatives

Oberstar was first elected as a Democrat to the 94th Congress and was reelected to 17 succeeding Congresses; serving from January 3, 1975, to January 3, 2011.

He was an internationally recognized expert on aviation and aviation safety. He served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee during his entire time in the House. (His predecessor Blatnik had chaired the committee during his last two terms in Congress when it was known as the Public Works Committee, with Oberstar as staff administrator). He was also a member of the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism.

In 1965, Oberstar helped create the Economic Development Administration, the only federal agency devoted to the creation and retention of jobs in economically distressed American communities.

Oberstar was a strong supporter of the Duluth-based aircraft manufacturer Cirrus Aircraft, and even helped bring the company to Minnesota in 1994 from its first home in Baraboo, Wisconsin. That same year, he assisted in passing the General Aviation Revitalization Act, which was said to have reinvigorated the general aviation industry nationwide.

Congressman Don Young hands over the gavel to incoming Transportation Chairman Jim Oberstar on December 6, 2006.

An avid cyclist, Oberstar championed the creation of trails for cycling and hiking to promote active lifestyles. In 2005 he authored, co-sponsored and helped to pass the SAFETEA-LU act, a $295 billion program that funds transportation infrastructure, including highways, bridges, and public transportation, such as subways, buses, and passenger ferries and which includes the Safe Routes to Schools program. At both the 2007 BikeWalk California conference and at other bicycling conferences, Oberstar advocated converting the U.S.'s transportation system "from a hydrocarbon-based system to a carbohydrate-based system."

Oberstar generally had a liberal voting record, but opposed gun control. This stand was fairly common among DFLers outside the Twin Cities, as Minnesota is a "pioneer state" with a long hunting and fishing tradition. In 2007, Oberstar was one of 16 Democrats who voted against federal funding for stem cell research.

He was rated the third most liberal member of the Minnesota delegation in the 109th Congress, scoring 13% conservative by a conservative group and 86% progressive by a liberal group. Minnesota Congressional Districts shows the scores for the entire delegation.

Along with John Conyers, in April 2006 Oberstar brought an action against George W. Bush and others alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution in the passing of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The case, (Conyers v. Bush), was ultimately dismissed.

Oberstar in 2010

Within days after the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge, Oberstar introduced and succeeded in passing legislation to appropriate $250 million to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to quickly build a replacement bridge.

In 2004 Oberstar led the opposition to the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, a bill that established a regulatory framework for private suborbital spaceflight, arguing that the bill did not sufficiently safeguard passenger and crew safety. "I do not want to see people dead from a space experiment, and then the federal government comes in to regulate".

During his tenure in Congress, Oberstar held leadership positions on the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, was House Democratic At-Large Whip, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Study Group. He also served on the International Relations Committee. He was co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force and was a member of the Upper Mississippi Task Force and the Democratic Homeland Security Task Force. He co-chaired the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus and was a member of the following caucuses: the Bike Caucus; the Caucus for Sustainable Development; the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety; the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; the Congressional Steel Caucus; the Medical Technology Caucus; the Mississippi River Caucus; the Native American Caucus and the Renewable Energy Caucus.

Awards and honors

Bust of Oberstar in the Duluth International Airport

In 2009, Oberstar received the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished leadership in the field of commercial aviation.

In May 2011, a Great Lakes ore carrier, of the Interlake Steamship Company, which typically transports taconite pellets from Duluth, Silver Bay and Marquette to steel mills near Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago, was renamed after him, dubbed the MV Honorable James L. Oberstar.

On June 19, 2012, Oberstar was made Commander in the French Ordre national du Mérite.

In October 2015, the new passenger terminal of the Duluth International Airport was named in honor of Oberstar, who helped secure funding for the facility prior to its 2013 opening. A sculpture of him was also unveiled during the renamed terminal's introduction.

In 2016, he was posthumously inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame.

Political campaigns

When John Blatnik opted not to run for a 15th term in 1974, he endorsed Oberstar as his successor. Oberstar won and was reelected 16 times without serious difficulty. Democrats Blatnik and Oberstar held the seat from 1947 until 2011. Oberstar's lowest winning percentage was 59 percent in 1992, but after that, and until 2010, he did not earn less than 60 percent of the vote. He is the longest-serving member of either house of Congress in Minnesota's history, having served in the 94th through the 111th Congresses; from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 2011.

During the 2008 electoral campaign, Oberstar appeared alongside other public officials in a TV ad supporting the reelection of Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a fellow Democrat.

During the 2006 elections, Oberstar's Republican opponent was former United States Senator Rod Grams, whose home is in the southwestern corner of the 8th. Grams was by far the strongest opponent Oberstar had ever faced, and the first reasonably well-funded Republican to run in the 8th in decades. Although some polls showed Oberstar only ahead by two points, in the end he won by over 30 points and did not lose a single county in his district.

During the 2008 elections, Oberstar's Republican opponent was political neophyte and businessman Michael Cummins. Cummins campaigned throughout the district, but was unable to drum up enough support to pose a serious challenge to the veteran Democratic incumbent. Oberstar won with more than 67 percent of the vote.

During the 2010 elections, Oberstar lost a close race to political newcomer and Tea Party favorite, Chip Cravaack, who won a plurality of 48 percent of the vote. The race was seen nationwide as a major upset for Democrats.

Electoral history

2010

2008

2006

2004

2002

2000

1998

1996

1994

1992

• 1992 DFL Primary for U.S. Representative – 8th District
  • Jim Oberstar (DFL) (inc.), 78%
  • Leonard J. Richards (DFL), 22%

1990

1988

1986

1984

• 1984 DFL Primary for U.S. Representative – 8th District
  • Jim Oberstar (DFL) (inc.), 65%
  • Tom Dougherty (DFL), 33%

1982

• 1982 DFL Primary for U.S. Representative – 8th District
  • Jim Oberstar (DFL) (inc.), 87%
  • Bernard Sydow (DFL), 13%

1980

• 1980 DFL Primary for U.S. Representative – 8th District
  • Jim Oberstar (DFL) (inc.), 49%
  • Thomas E. Dougherty (DFL), 39%

1978

1976

1974

• 1974 DFL Primary for U.S. Representative – 8th District
  • Jim Oberstar (DFL), 49%
  • Tony Perpich (DFL), 29%
  • Florian Chmielewski (DFL), 19.5%

Personal life

Oberstar resided with his wife, Jean, in Potomac, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and maintained his boyhood residence in Chisholm, Minnesota. He died in his sleep at his home in Potomac on May 3, 2014, four months before his 80th birthday. He was survived by 4 children and 8 grandchildren.

Papers

The Congressional Papers of James L. Oberstar are available for research use. They include photographs, sound and video recordings, legislative materials, campaign and political activities, committee work, and legislative staff topical files documenting Oberstar's service as a U. S. Representative from Minnesota's 8th Congressional District (1975-2011). The collection emphasizes Oberstar's activities on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, demonstrated by a large series of staff office topical files, which address a wide range of issues, projects, and legislation related to aviation, highways and bridges, railways, waterways, and bike ways. Additional significant content focuses on economic development in the Iron Range, travel and tourism, trade, and environmental protection of Minnesota's land and water resources.

Boards and other affiliations

• Board Member, Board of Trustees, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1995–2014
• Board Member, Mineta I.I.STPS Institute, San Jose State University, 1995–2014