John Murtha

John Patrick Murtha Jr. ( MUR-thə; June 17, 1932 – February 8, 2010) was an American politician and Marine Corps officer. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010. Murtha was the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and is the longest-serving member of the chamber ever elected from Pennsylvania. Murtha was a native of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. He was a Marine Corps officer in the 1950s and later volunteered for service in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1967, where he received honors including the Bronze Star Medal and two Purple Hearts. A member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1969 to 1974, Murtha narrowly won a special election to U.S. Congress in 1974 and was successively reelected every two years until his death. In the first decade of the 21st century, Murtha had been best known for his calls for a withdrawal of American forces in the Iraq War, as well as questions about his ethics. After the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections he made an unsuccessful bid to be elected House Majority Leader during the 110th Congress (2007–2009), losing to Steny Hoyer of Maryland.