Charles Vanik, long-time Cleveland congressman, is dead at 94 - an obituary

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http://www.cleveland.com/obituary/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/118854955375300.xml&coll=2

Friday, August 31, 2007
Elizabeth Auster
Plain Dealer Reporter

Former Rep. Charles Vanik, a longtime Democratic congressman from Cleveland who co-authored a landmark law linking U.S. trade policy to other countries' human rights records, died early Thursday at his home in Jupiter, Fla. He was 94.

Vanik, a grandson of Czechoslovak immigrants, represented parts of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs in Congress from 1955 to 1981. He spent much of his career - first as a politician and later as a lawyer - working on trade issues related to his Eastern European roots. By the time he retired from Congress, he was one of the most senior members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and chairman of its trade subcommittee.

In Congress, where he was easy to spot in his trademark black bow tie and suit, Vanik built a reputation as an advocate of programs for the poor and an outspoken critic of the influence of special interests in politics.

He was best-known, however, for his authorship of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to a 1974 trade law. The historic amendment, written with the late Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington, requires the United States to assess the human rights records of countries with non-market economies before granting them special trade privileges...