John Stephen Horn (May 31, 1931 – February 17, 2011) was President of

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

and later a five-term

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

man from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

from 1993 to 2003.

Early life

Horn was born on May 31, 1931 in San Juan Bautista,

, Horn served in the

United States Army Reserves The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

from 1954 until 1962. Horn earned his bachelor's degree from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1953 and went on to earn a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's Graduate School of Public Administration in 1955. In 1958 he earned his Ph.D. at

Government service

In 1959, Horn became administrative assistant to

Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...

James P. Mitchell James Paul Mitchell (November 12, 1900October 19, 1964) was an American politician and businessman from New Jersey. Nicknamed "the social conscience of the Republican Party," he served as United States Secretary of Labor from 1953 to 1961 during ...

. In 1960, he went to work for then U.S. Senator

Thomas Kuchel Thomas Henry Kuchel ( ; August 15, 1910 – November 21, 1994) was an American politician. A moderate Republican, he served as a US Senator from California from 1953 to 1969 and was the minority whip in the Senate, where he was the co-manage ...

(R-CA) as a legislative assistant and served in that capacity until 1966, when he left to become a Senior fellow at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

. Horn played a major role in the 1964 presidential campaign of

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

in California. He also served as Vice Chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission from 1969 to 1980 and as a member of the

National Institute of Corrections The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is an agency of the United States government. It is part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. History The NIC was created by the United States Congress in 1974, based on the recommendation of the National ...

from 1972 until 1988 (serving as chairman from 1984 until 1987).

University president

Horn was President of

California State University Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

from 1970 until 1988 when he stepped down to run for Congress. As President of CSULB, Horn reformed the university's graduation and

general education requirements In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

to emphasize learning skills, cultural literacy, and

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

education, as well as creating the first university and

human resource Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

opportunities course requirement in the United States. Horn also gained passage of legislation allowing California's

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

s to take courses for reduced fees on all 23 campuses of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

. Horn established one of America's first programs for women returning to college. He also created the CSULB Disabled Resources Center, which served as a model to institutions across the United States. Horn led the university through 11 major construction projects, including the North Campus Center and buildings for Engineering/Computer Science, Social Science/Public Affairs, and Student Services Administration.

Congressional service

Horn first ran for Congress in 1988 in a race to succeed Republican

Dan Lungren Daniel Edward Lungren (born September 22, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Republican Party, during his tenure, the district covered most of Sacramento Count ...

but lost the primary to conservative

Dana Rohrabacher Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (; born June 21, 1947) is a former American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. A Republican, he represented for the last three terms of his House tenure. Rohrabacher ran for re- ...

.California Journal Vol. XIX, No.5 (May 1988) "Campaign '88". StateNet Publications, May 1988. After the 1991 reapportionment, his home in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

was drawn into the neighboring 38th district, then held by veteran Democratic incumbent

Glenn M. Anderson Glenn Malcolm Anderson (February 21, 1913 – December 13, 1994) was an American politician. He was the 37th Lieutenant Governor of California and later represented Southern Los Angeles County (including Carson, San Pedro, and Long Beach) in t ...

. When Anderson announced his retirement in 1992, Horn jumped into the race to succeed him. He narrowly won an 8-way Republican primary before beating Anderson's stepson, then Long Beach city councilman Evan Anderson Braude, in the general election.California Journal Vol. XXI, No.12 (December 1992) "Election Results". StateNet Publications, December 1992. A moderate Republican, Horn won his Democratic-leaning district with relative ease four more times. In 1994 he rode the Republican tide to an easy victory over a weak opponent. In 1996, his reelection was eased when he became the only Republican west of the Mississippi River to be endorsed by the Sierra Club;California Journal Vol. XXVII, No.10 (October 1996) "Election 1996". StateNet Publications, October 1996. In 1998 he once again bested his 1994 foe despite a strong year for Democrats statewide in California. Only in 2000 did he have a close race, beating Democrat Gerrie Schipske by less than 1 percent. After the 2001 reapportionment, Democrats in the California legislature made this already Democratic-leaning district even more so.California Journal Vol. XXXIII, No.10 (January 2002) "Redrawing California". StateNet Publications, January 2002. Horn subsequently announced his retirement and did not seek reelection in 2002. He did, however, give a surprise endorsement to Democrat

Hector De La Torre Hector De La Torre (born May 29, 1967) is an American politician from Los Angeles County, California who served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010. A Democrat, he represented the largely Latino 50th Assembly district. Personal l ...

, who ran to succeed Horn in the re-drawn seat (now numbered 39) and finished second to Linda T. Sanchez in the Democratic primary. In 2003,

Project on Government Oversight The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a Nonpartisanism, nonpartisan non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., Washington, DC, that investigates and works to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and conflicts of interest in the Federal gove ...

, a government watchdog group, awarded Horn with its first ever Good Government Award for his contributions to government transparency and oversight, particularly his advocacy for public access to government information.

Death

Horn died on February 17, 2011, at the age of 79, of complications from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

Electoral history

References

External links

* *
Stephen Horn Collection
at the

Carl Albert Center The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to teaching and research related to the United States Congress and, more broadly, to strengthening representative democracy through engaged and infor ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horn, Steve 1931 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Harvard Kennedy School alumni People from San Juan Bautista, California Presidents of California State University, Long Beach Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Stanford University alumni United States Army reservists United States Commission on Civil Rights members United States congressional aides