Center for the Study of Representation
Michael Synar
Michael Synar was an eight-term Democratic Congressman from the Second District in northeast Oklahoma. He served in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1995. He was born in 1950 in Vinita, Oklahoma, received his bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1972, received an M.A. from Northwestern University in 1974, and received an LL.B. degree from the University of Oklahoma Law Center in 1977.
During his time in the House, Representative Synar championed many causes, including firearm sales waiting-period laws, increasing fees on ranchers who leased federal land for grazing, restrictions on cigarettes, warning labels on smokeless tobacco, and opposition to the trigger mechanism in the Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction plan. Representative Synar passed away after contracting a brain tumor in 1996.
After Congress, Synar served as the Chairman of the Campaign for America Project and of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. Congressman Synar received the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Profile in Courage Award in 1995.
Further details about Congressman Synar
- Video: Mike Synar: A Life, 1950-1996 (15min 10sec, Quicktime)
- Renewed push to take money out of politics: Campaign reform bills gaining momentum in both houses of Congress [San Francisco Examiner, October 29, 1995]
- Representative Synar's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Profile in Courage Award page and the transcript of Representative Synar's award acceptance speech
- Representative Synar's voting record [Washington Post Votes Database]
- Brief biography of Representative Synar from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Mike Synar Center, Northeastern State University, Muskogee, Oklahoma
